Final update before hitting the road!
Well we got home on March 23 and did the obligatory 2 week quarantine and then we went camping only to be exposed to 2 of our friends who tested positive for the Covid 19 virus. So we had to quarantine for two more weeks! After two Covid 19 tests, both negative, we felt safe to go out again, but we managed to lose a month again this year to the Covid 19.
Just before Memorial Day weekend we had a great weekday camping adventure with our camping club which was a lot of fun. Why we never thought about having our monthly campout during the week is a mystery to me. We ventured up into Pennsylvania Dutch Country and had a fantastic time. We did several tourist type day trips and of course we had to go to Shady Maple for dinner at least once. But the second best thing for me was that we got to visit a shop that builds Amish buggies. It is an interesting thought of how much technology the Amish have adapted to their buggies. The floor of them are now made of fiberglass and the rest of the coach is wood and flexible materials. I always thought that the walls and roof of a buggy was wood but it isn’t, at least not in this shop. The Amish have adopted the use of LED lighting due to lower currant draw and greater illumination. Since the lighting uses so much less currant they have started using the same type of battery that is used on portable hand tools. The Ni-Cad batteries have a longer charge life and weigh quiet a bit less than the old lead acid battery they used to use. However the wildest thing, in my opinion, is the fact that they are not using leaf spring suspension. The running gear comes from the supplier equipped with Torsion Arm Suspension on each wheel spindle and air bag suspension between the running gear and the buggy cab. This allows the owner to customize the ride of the carriage based upon how many people are in the buggy. Some of them are even adding a small DC powered air compressor that allows them to adjust the ride as they are travelling down the road.
If you have ever been to Shady Maple Smorgasbord you have seen the fantastic 3-D art work done by Abner Zook or his twin brother Aaron. I can’t believe the detail that goes into these pieces of art and more than that, I have known the artist Aaron Zook since I was a child. Before Aaron became well know as an artist he tried to be a farmer and one of the farms he tried this on was sold to him by my father. I have known for years that one of Aaron’s sons had a body and paint shop somewhere in Lancaster County and while we were on this camping trip I finally found his son’s shop and after almost 60 years Sam Zook and I got to meet up again.
Tomorrow we start a summer adventure to points west. Well tomorrow we are going to Temperanceville, VA for this month’s club campout, on Sunday we will drive to Harrisburg, PA for service and a recall on our Cummings Diesel engine. Once that is done we are headed west and all we know is that we want to be in Gillette WY for a FMCA rally by July 3 . I know that we are planning on going to Yellowstone Park for a day or two the later we are looking a Frontier Days in Cheyenne WY near the end of July. Hopefully we will have a great time but as long as I can get some kind of internet I will let you all know what is going on.