In the end, we just some really heavy rain. We were immensely glad not to be tent camping. It POURED for much of the night. We woke high and dry with just lots of new mud puddles around us.

Here, NJ is the wide tranquil Delaware River surrounded by lush forested hillsides dotted with patches of farm land. There is some odd looking monolith off on the next mountain ridge. We haven’t figured out exactly what it is yet.

We came upon a barred owl and a fox. They were anxious to get away from us but we got a pretty good look at them both. We were hiking in the Poconos checking out waterfalls and some pretty fantastic vistas of the Delaware River from a cliff trail high above the valley. The area is still covered with towering oak trees (safe from gypsy moths at least for now) and filled with very chubby, active squirrels. Supposedly many black bear too but we haven’t seen any yet.

We looked at the schedule and it seemed we would not be utilizing the boat for the next few months, so why drag it all over and complicate campground selection with it’s added size. We’ll pick it up after visiting New England and Nova Scotia. In the mean time, Lynn will be driving the car parallel with the motorhome between campgrounds.

A day on the lake then a cozy campfire. Top it off with a gooey s’more. Ah, life is good.

They made it through the Memorial Day weekend madhouse on the lake so they can make it through about anything! We are going to have to leave without seeing the nestling fledge. If their area closure is even close to right, he won’t be flying for probably another month. We got to see a parent bring him water. It was a quick, perfectly timed and balanced swoop from the “guard limb” by the nest to the lake below and back to nest side to the chirping youngster all in less than a minute. Pretty tremendous fliers.

It you like trains at all you need to checkout Steamtown National Historic Site in Scranton. They have filled much of the restored roundhouse with engines. There is a working machine shop where they do rebuilds and maintenance. It was a great look at that massive machinery and we got a good idea of the thousands of man hours it took to maintain the somewhat temperamental beasts. The museum tells of the links between the local coal fields and train transportation and the communities that grew up around them. I enjoyed the stop very much. They need more dollars to get more of the steam engines actually running. That would make the experience even more special. Still, I recommend it.

We checked out Hawley’s Memorial Day parade yesterday. It was a classic small town affair. It opened with military honor guard and some of the local reserves then the high School band, the queens from the county fair, and lots of candy throwing courtesy local proprietors. The local candy store had an old fashioned big wheeled bike in the parade. (They had pretty fair jelly candies in their store too.) The politicians were very low key, just waving while riding together in the same car, non-party affiliated. Then there were fire engines, lots of them but no sirens or horn blowing; that was a little odd. There was a really cool forest fire fighting truck. All four wheels steered. It could drive down the road side-ways or more practically, maneuver through thick stands of trees that they have around here. It looked like it would be fun to drive.

Thank you to the many who have served to protect our Nation. Thank you too, to every family who has shouldered the burden of sending their loved ones off to war. I don’t take the time to say it but I feel blessed to live in the USA.

A huge tom turkey appeared in front of us as we rounded the corner. He seemed to be really strutting his stuff just along the roadside. The hen or competing tom must have been somewhere back in the brush. He was still ok as he disappeared in the rear view mirror but I hope he headed for safer ground.