Low Bridge? A Knife For What? Amish & Pennsylvania

Napanoch, NY has the fascinating Wawarsing Historical Society and Knife Museum. We saw it one day as we drove past. It is in an old school house. As we walked up to the door we were greeted by an older man.This place is unique in that the 2 large rooms have these older men as docents. They are all proud of the area, history, and knives. Their passion came through their body language. (I am deaf and can’t hear their words but I can tell a lot through body language.) The first room was history of the area. Blueberries used to be grown around here and the communities had blueberry festivals. The man said they don’t now, the area is hiking trails. Later I asked if there are any knife factories here and he said, no, now the area is hiking trails. And even after that I asked about the canal and lock that went through here. Not here, now it is covered and is hiking trails. HAHA 

Antique Fire Extinguisher, Wawarsing Historical Knife Museum, Napanoch, NY 08/24

A glass bulb on the wall was an antique fire extinguisher. In the late 1800s and early 1900s the Hudson Valley (New York) produced 50%-70% of the knives sold in the US. Between 1830 and the early 1900s the area was known for an axe factory, paper mills, grist milling, iron works, handle making, and more. The famous Yama Farms Inn (we had never heard of it) has a picture of Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, John Burroughs, and Harvey Firestone all together. The railroad also ran through there. Napanoch was settled in 1711. 

Docents Passionate About Knifes Made Around Here, Wawarsing Historical Knife Museum, Napanoch, NY 08/24

The other room held the knives. There were so many knives in display cases and on the walls. I quickly told Kevin he didn’t need to interpret for me; I am glad to see them and read the few signs, but I wanted him to not have to think about the words to sign to me and just take it in, learn and enjoy what he was hearing. But he did tell me about one knife….

“Rabbi Knife” Wawarsing Historical Knife Museum, Napanoch, NY 08/24

It is called “Rabbi Knife” and used for circumcisions. It looks like a large file! That isn’t the way we did it when I helped the doctors when I worked at the hospital in Maternity! Yikes! 

Getting Kevin’s Knife Sharpened, Wawarsing Historical Knife Museum, Napanoch, NY 08/24

As we walked out they offered to sharpen Kevin’s knife for free (we gave a donation). We were in those 2 large school rooms for 3 hours. We went home (footnote 1) and got all packed up for an early Travel Day tomorrow. Kevin did yearly maintenance on the water heater and water softener for which I was so thankful!!!

Rest Area, Susquehanna Valley, PA 08/24

Travel Day: Accord, New York to Manheim, Pennsylvania. 212 miles, some on twisty narrow roads. We were never more happy to see we would be Interstates for the last 2/3 of the trip. HAHA We came to the town of Port Jervis, NY. Following the map of Garmin RV 1090 we are going though town. All of a sudden, we both see a warning sign for a bridge ahead 12’8”! What?? We are at a stop light so that was good and we looked at the sign again and then we saw a tiny font sign to the side that said something about 13’ – but, of course, like normal around here, tree leaves are blocking the rest of the sign. So we immediately turn right to avoid the low bridge. We are going along and I quickly pull up RV Wizard App, which is known for having bad directions, and it also says to go that way under the bridge. Well, I turned on Apple Maps, which of course says to go that way, too, but offered another way, which we took. We were watching closely for low overhead lines, low bridges, etc but thankfully no problems and we got out of there, over the river on Hwy 209 – the road we came down on. We kept mulling it over in our brains throughout the day and in the evening I did a goole search. Read this article https://midhudsonnews.com/2023/10/09/crash-appears-to-have-been-caused-by-confusion-over-trestle-clearance-2/#google_vignette Turns out the sign and the sign ON the bridge say 12’8” but it “really” is 13’8”. Even after that accident they still won’t change the signs. I have seen that several places where “bridge height actually…” around here. Thankfully, we haven’t been pulling HOWE (footnote 2) through those other times but it begs the question – why not change the signs to be correct???? I am going to write to that city! By the way, the height of HOWE, with the A/C units is 13’6’.

Once we got on I-84, in Pennsylvania, we started up and down long hills. Still lots of trees but with the wider roads, it feels more open. Around Scranton, the hills drop off steeply so you are actually looking over the tops of the tall trees and seeing the valleys. That was nice. We noticed lots of long buildings – manufacturing and warehouses. I asked Siri on my iPhone if Pennsylvania is a blue-collar state and she replied that Pennsylvania is neither blue or red, referring to the politics. That made us laugh. South on I-81 was the same. 

We got to PA Dutch Country campground in Manheim, PA. The staff member said, “Good luck” on finding open sky for Starlink (footnote 3). He wasn’t aware of where to send us but thought loop F was the best. We went on that loop and found a spot that looked like it would work. Turns out we have the best site for that on this loop. A neighbor two sites over was out adjusting his Dishy (footnote 3) and having troubles. They had been in our site another time and said it worked great there.

I worked literally all morning trying to find Amish communities and Amish owned stores, like in Jamesport, MO and Shipshewanna, IN. I learned that Lancaster has about 55,000 people and the metropolitan area has 500,000 people. Only 6% of Lancaster Country are Amish or Mennonite. That was a shock to us! We thought it would mostly be Amish.

Packages In The Wagon Behind Horse & Buggy Arrive At Costco, Lancaster, PA 08/24

Later Kevin wanted to go to Costco and there was one that is only about 1/2 hour from our campground. As we pulled in, we saw a horse, Amish buggy pulling one of the green little yard wagon with big wheels on the back.

Horse & Buggy Parking, Costco, Lancaster, PA 08/24

Yes, you need that when you go to Costco! HAHA SO cute. Like us putting stuff in the back of the truck, right?

We stopped at Sheetz gas station for fountain drinks and saw a sight in the parking lot that we hadn’t seen before. I had noticed when we pulled in that there is a whole row of Tesla charging stations. Well, we saw a guy plugging in a car to charge…and it was on a tow truck! LOL The ladies around it must have ran out of “power” and had to have a tow.

1. “Home” is where we park it. Home is our 2022 Alliance Avenue, 36 ft, 5th wheel.

2. “HOWE” is what we named our Alliance Avenue 36-ft 5th wheel. See: Home On WhEels and we pronounce it Howie. We live and travel in it full-time around the country.

3. Starlink is satellite internet. It works even when you are out of cell coverage area. You can make phone call through it, too. The company named the user terminal “Dishy McFlatface” and every calls it “Dishy” for short. 🙂