Friday, July 1, 2011

Day 9, June 30, 2011


My Campsite in Crawford's Park & Camp

Pittsburgh to Darlington, PA (30 miles)

I got up as soon as it was daylight. I just wanted to get up the road and away from that lousy spot where I had to camp. It was the loneliest night I’ve had since I started. Today was a short day, and, boy, did I need it. I also needed a shower! (I hadn’t had one since Frostburg, PA). I still had some more hills to climb, and I just wanted to find a good place to stop and rest until the next day. I found a campground (Crawford’s Park and Camp). It is owned and managed by an elderly couple, Mr. & Mrs. Crawford. The campground is primarily designed to accommodate long-term campers, basically people who keep their travel trailers there and spend the summer or weekends. After climbing some hills for a few miles, I arrived at the campground to find out that it is “cash only.” I had not been to an ATM and only had $12.00 and the price for a site was $20.00. I had planned on using my bank card. I certainly was not in the mood to ride back to a town and find an ATM, so I asked Mrs. Crawford how much she would charge me for a shower. She laughed and told me to just go ahead and grab a shower and don’t worry about it.

After my shower (it felt good, too), I just did not feel like traveling on. I asked Mrs. Crawford if she would be willing to accept $12.00 for a site. She graciously told me to put my money away and just go find a comfortable place to camp. (She must have seen how tired I looked from having pedaled nearly 160 miles the prior two days and took pity on my weary condition). I set up my hammock and took a nap. I woke up a few hours later and made myself some ramien noodles and ate a banana. I read for a while and went to sleep. I’m hoping that tomorrow I can find a hotspot so that I might post my blog entries.

I’ll be somewhere in Ohio the next time I get a chance to post!

Ron

1 comment:

  1. You really know how to charm those old ladies. She wanted to adopt you.

    ReplyDelete