West we went through Chambersville which appeared to be an interesting small town. Fort Loudon was our next possible stop. We somehow managed to drive right by the big sign telling us where that old fort was and found ourselves in downtown Fort Loudon. Yes it is one of those towns that you blink and you have missed it.
The fort is a reconstruction of one built in 1756 after the defeat of General Braddock and served as protection for settlers, a depot for supplies and a staging for troops marching towards the wild west of Pittsburgh.
While we were reading the signs a guy drove up in a Ram diesel pickup. Turns out he takes care of the place spreading mulch and mowing. He said his grandmother used to run the site but she recently passed away from cancer. The fort was closed but we could push the doors open to see it. The house with additional information and memorabilia however was locked. He said he didn’t have the key but they had given him one which he was not supposed to use to let people in which he didn’t. So we looked in the windows. He did mention a great place to eat – the Milky Way. Great breakfast for 2 for under $10 for the total bill. Coffee was free because it was Wednesday.
Full and happy we moved on blowing right by the abandoned PA turnpike tunnel entrance. We caught up with another portion of that old road 20 minutes later and took a walk on what had once been the interstate. A sign indicated they were trying to convert it to biking trails – Pike to Bike.
Sparty managed to sneak into the picture of the large US Quarter. Then we went for a large pot of coffee.
Our last stop of the day was supposed to be another large thing – an elephant. We input the coordinates and followed all of the stated directions. Finally she says you have arrived! We drove around the block but sadly no elephant. It appears that Roadtripper has the right address listed but the navigation link is not correct. However we were next to a building that said Laurel Arts.
The man inside moving chairs said there was no elephant here – it is on the other side of town. He gladly gave us directions – twice – on how to get there. We also spoke with the gallery director and she also gave us directions.
Even though it was not a planned stop we enjoyed looking through the gallery. They had a number of paintings from a recently deceased artist Merle Dowling who was self taught. Mrs. Ram liked them more than me.
Another bonus was discovering the National Paper Cut Museum (who knew there was such a thing). There were some that used wax paper (or something like it ) as layers to give depth to their work.
Wednesday night we opted for a camp site at the Outflow Campground. Though many people on line had indicated they liked it, we felt a little too exposed. The few trees gave us little privacy and the hydro electric plant across the way was just noisy enough to be annoying. Not the camping experience we had planned. But it was here and we were here so we stayed one night. On the plus side the cell service here is great – we could see the cell tower from our site.
Some may be wondering – what are you complaining about? You sleep in Walmart parking lots! Yeah when we sleep for free, its worth every penny. When we pay to camp we have higher expectations.
We wanted to stay the next night in Ohiopyle State park and after Mr. Ram climbed up the dam to view the lake we left to view the Ohiopyle Falls. The road was twisting and steep in sections but the Falls were worth it.
We got directions at the visitors center for the Campground and after a 20 minute drive again up twisty steep roads…it’s closed! Yup we were told at 4:00 in the afternoon that they were closed! Yes people were still there working but their supervisor told them to tell anyone coming in that they were not allowing more campers in. As we were talking to them others were waved by…definitely campers. We asked what the deal was? They said they were all ready there so they were ok so they must have seen us coming and said uh oh! They were paving so limiting access.
So we called another Campground but they were very expensive so we trekked back to Outflow and stayed a second night.