Day 46: The Smell of Money

"The smell of money."  That is how our friend Jerry Oldenkamp (whose family has been in the dairy business for generations) would describe the aromas that we repeatedly experienced today.  But if there are piles of money sitting around, we didn't see any of it - just heaps of cow poop!

I think we've found a good time of year to be in Pennsylvania Dutch country - this morning I saw a farmer plowing his field with a team of horses.  When we've been this way before we've seen the carriages on the road, but I don't believe we had ever seen animals working the farm the way we have this trip.

How convenient!

We are once again in the land of loony liquor laws.  Last week, we had shopped for wine at a Walmart in Maryland, and asked where we could find some.  A local told us that chains are allowed only one beer & wine outlet in the county, and this wasn't the right Walmart.  And today, in Berks County, PA, we needed to find a Wine and Fine Spirits (state liquor store) to do our shopping - there is no alcohol of any sort sold in grocery stores.   And if we had wanted a six pack of beer, we would have needed to have gone to another stand-along beer market.

Alea had 46 miles of rolling hills, without too awful many steep bits (there were some, most were thankfully fairly short).  She was on her own the last third of the day, as I had a pretty extensive shopping list to fill, which require that I detour off-route.  She was waiting for me at Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site when I finally caught up with her.  From there, we drove a short distance to French Creek State Park campground ($25, primitive), where we will be camping the next four nights.  This is sort of a goofy campground, as only one of the four loops allows pets.  It is always fun to see the real world impact of local politicians, with their goofy ideas on how to solve the world's problems.  Democracy at its finest!

Ron caught up with us here.  He had made it to Manheim last night, where he managed to negotiate a cheap stay at a local B&B.  There is still no sign of Robert, but we suspect he is at least a day behind us, perhaps two or more.