The Wilson's trip to Washington DC

[NIsaacs]

Wanted to get clear of the heavy traffic zone. Now we'll calm down and look around..

I can understand that, I think Phoenix, Denver and Salt Lake City is bad, nothing like where you are. Navajo County where I live is almost double the size of Connecticut. Population 108k v/s 3.6 million

Enjoy and drive careful.

Nick

 

[Wayne M.]

Mike, what's the route down past NY?*

 

[mwilson]

Mike, what's the route down past NY?*

I used I-84 to Scranton, then South on I-81. That's the route most snowbirds use to avoid the city....once you clear Hartford and Danbury it's pretty good sailing..

 

[Wayne M.]

That's out of the way for DC, but my favorite. Love 81 head to tail.

 

[mwilson]

Once we awoke Thursday morning and got our act together it was mentioned that Hersheytown sounded like a must see. So we headed on down...while enroute we decided to get a site at the Hersheytown RV park, unhook quickly and boogie over to Chocolate Town. Set GPS and followed it in. Took us in on a secondary road with a few hills, nothing serious. Get into town and wife asks "What's that smell??""...well there were several smells, Chocolate, freshly spread liquid manure and maybe hot brakes??? Yup, hot brakes...get to last light before campground and dual plumes of smoke rolling off the front brakes...nice....

Wife then wonders if we will catch fire, reassured her we were fine and pulled into the campground...

 

[mwilson]

Checked in and dropped the trailer. Deal with the darn trailer brakes later...over to Chocolate Town we go. Step in to the entrance and Chocolate fragrance hangs heavy in the air, I'm pretty sure they pump it in with the A/C....like Vegas baby...

Take the simulated tour which by the way is the ONLY thing free on the whole complex. Everything else costs plenty...Chocolate prices were fair but any gift items are jacked a good 25% or more higher than any other tourist trap I have been in. Adult rate for Hershey theme park was $66.00 each...can't remember child rates but it would have over $200.00 for the four of us....decided to pass and save money for stuff in DC..

 

[Wayne M.]

We were going to make the Hershey area our retirement locale but that's on hold. Anyway, rates at a major park aren't cheap, and coaster people consider Hershey one of the lead places in the country. It is a nice park. There are old fashion mini cars (they're not karts) to drive in a track. It's a nice park.
Sorry to hear about the brakes.

 

[mwilson]

No doubt it was nice but not everything up and running. Pools not even filled at campground but were not shy about charging full rate of $69.00 for first night and $79.00 the second night...(weekend rate). ...if everything was working then ok .....but it was not...

The amusement park in the same semi-ready state from what I heard....had some kind of episode over Easter weekend, short on staff...scathing reviews from the public on that debacle...

I'm sure they do better than that, but not while I was there..

 

[DavidC]

I don't know why but everytime I see the title to this thread I think of

Remember the Clampetts ?

Dave

 

[mwilson]

. Exactly!!!!

 

[mwilson]

We were going to make the Hershey area our retirement locale but that's on hold. Anyway, rates at a major park aren't cheap, and coaster people consider Hershey one of the lead places in the country. It is a nice park. There are old fashion mini cars (they're not karts) to drive in a track. It's a nice park.
Sorry to hear about the brakes.

As far as location it looks like a really nice area.....

 

[mwilson]

We decided to run over to Allentown PA and visit the Mack museum Friday and stay the second night at Hershey. We called the campground in DC and set our arrival back to Saturday with no issues.

Mack was well worth the visit if you are into trucks at all. I have pictures on the phone, will upload as I can...

 

[Wayne M.]

There's also the AACA museum on 39 as you come into Hershey from 81. Great bus exhibit downstairs. The orange DM wasn't there a year ago. Nice.

 

[mwilson]

The DMM was rescued from a salvage yard...it is a monster with 24" tires and a triple frame...they think it hauled the hot ingots across the yard at Bethlehem steel. People that used to work there have seen it and told about the tires glowing from the heat...

 

[DavidC]

Keep it coming Mike. Appears the Wilson's are having a good time.

Dave

 

[TFucili]

Sounds like a nice trip, Mike. Thanks for the Mack pictures. That DM reminds me of a funny story. An old-timer in Alpha drove for Bean Inc site contractors in Easton, PA as long as I can remember. They were not Mack exclusively, but had a ton of them. He had just been issued a brand new DM, and he brought it by the store to show off. He was proud as a peacock, and, while chewing on a stogie, points to the emblem and says, "See that kid? You know what that stands for?" and before I could say a word, he says, "DIRT MOVER, DIRT MOVER!".

 

[Northfork]

Thanks for sharing it all. I am ashamed to admit that at 59 Ive only been east of the Mississippi River once, that was to Fort Knox to see our eldest son graduate from Basic Training. It rained the whole time, LOL.


There is so much to see in this country, I bought my 07 with the intent to see a lot of it as soon as my wife retires.

 

[mwilson]

We are back home, will get pictures and such transferred from phones into my laptop and continue the story as the week goes on.

 

[mwilson]

Returned from Allentown and kids wanted to go back to the Hershey store. So over we went again... the boys bought a few trinkets and we returned to the trailer for a good night's sleep.


Got up Saturday morning and got my tools, jack, etc. out for a brake adjustment on the trailer. Chocked and blocked and jacked each wheel. Couple were down a ways and I got to thinking that I had not adjusted them since installing all new assemblies two years ago while replacing the springs and everything...

Hooked up and checked trailer brakes. Much better but still not 100%...off we go to D.C.

 

[mwilson]

We arrived at Cherry Hill RV Park about 2.30 pm...I will make mention of this park several times in this thread but the main takeaway is this...Hands down one of the best RV parks that I have ever stayed at!!! It is well run and all that work there are impressive..

I will give a better overview tonight when not using thumbs.....