Day One: New York To Texas, Our Off Highway Travels, NY to PA

That's right...  Eric and I are driving from New York to Texas on US Routes, State Routes and County Roads.  We are avoiding Interstates as we drive through the towns and cities no one sees from major highways.

Eric waves goodbye to

his mom, Jerry, as he

leaves her driveway
on November 8th.

Our first stop: Adams Cooling
& Heating to fill our Propane
Tank.

It's a crystal clear

day....

I point out the Onesquethaw

Creek Sign's companion.

Eric designed the blue and white Hudson River Estuary Watershed sign with the Atlantic Sturgeon when he worked at the New York State Department of Transportation.

Outcrops of Shale

roadside

We stopped for
diesel fuel.







I need to clean my camera lens thoroughly.

Jerry's Care Package...

... has cookies & bags
of Almond Joy.






We can drive all day and into the night with this kind of fuel.

An old AirStream motorhome

waits for service at a

small garage.

Smoke wafts across the sky.

.Water sprays across gravel

 piles to keep dust

down.

My first crane sighting.

I LOVE cranes.

A retaining wall is being 

built as part of the access

to a brand new bridge.

There he is... Gnome Chomsky!







Eric and I are stopping at Kelder's Farm to visit Gnome and do some shopping.

Here's one of the many signs

 with Hebrew in this section

of the Catskill Mountains.

This sign is for bungalow rentals.

This rambling old resort

reminds me of the setting

of Dirty Dancing.

Hundreds of Catskill hotels hosted Jewish families escaping New York City's heat, by train, starting in the early 1900s.  This region catered to  those being discriminated against by many other hoteliers.  Young men and women met on vacation and fell in love.  Extended family members met to share summer getaways.  Many comedians got their start in stand up in the Catskills.  After reaching the apex of popularity in  the 1950s and 1960s, the number of vacationers began to drop.  The confluence of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and expanded travel options doomed the Catskill resorts.  

I took this picture of the Bethel

sign & our conversation turned

to the Woodstock Music

Festival in 1969.

I wonder if this is the

farm where so many

gathered for the love

of music.

We cross a metal deck

bridge that is being

rehabbed...

... & enter Pennsylvania.

Eric & I see our first

snowplow of the

season.

Northeast of Carbondale
we find snow dusting
the ground.

I take over the driving.

Eric needs a break during

today's seven hour drive.

This small Ferris Wheel-like
structure makes us wonder...

Ninety degree turn signs

are used for curves

in Pennsylvania.

Eric's time in New York Department of Transportation familiarized him with many road signs.  He often points out signs that do not fully describe the road conditions.

A stream flows next to
the roadway.

My favorite shot of the

looming bridge.

I think this is a side
view of what looks
like a grand home.

We stop for diesel at

Bowmans Creek

Service Center.

This is a super easy fuel stop, right next to the road. 

We turn south onto
Pennsylvania Route
42 South.

The Ultimate Answer to Life, The Universe and Everything is...42!  Yes, Eric and I are Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy fans.

Our first Amish 

buggy sign.

We will watch carefully for slow moving, horse drawn Amish vehicles.

The Montour Power Plant

near Washingtonville can

be seen from  miles away.

Sunset

We pull into the Walmart
parking lot in Lewisburg
to spend the night.





How did we pick this location?  Eric and I use OverNightRVParking.com to find free parking spots across the US and Canada.  I call ahead and ask for permission to stay the night.  When we pull into a free parking area, Eric and I know that we are welcome guests.