Pennsylvania | CasaRodante - Our House on Wheels

Time to continue west, trying to get away from the humid weather, including rain! We headed southwest from Niagara Falls and ended up back in Pennsylvania. We joined Passport America and have been trying to use it whenever we can as it gives us 1/2 price rates. I found one in Mercer, PA. About 60 miles west of our stop in Penn Wood. Roxie wondered if we would ever leave Pennsylvania. Here is our spot in Mercer:

Mercer was a good time to get some rest and do the standard household stuff (laundry, etc.). Then it was time to move on and we headed into Ohio.

We were able to take advantage of some courtesy parking in Wooster, OH. This one was through the Airstream Courtesy Parking group on Facebook. Jason and Andrea were very accommodating and their spot was oh so nice. Top of a hill with great views and on grass.

It happened to be my birthday and we were thinking about going out to get something to eat but instead, we ate in like this (I actually cooked – grilled cheese):

On our drives around Wooster we saw a few buggies:

But we had to move on. We had a goal, Jackson Center, OH, the Mothership, Airstream HQ! We got there Sunday and found a spot in the TerraPort:

The next day we took the tour and saw Wally’s Gold Trailer and an original Bowlus. As most people already know you can only take one photograph inside the tour so I will not show that one. However, one of our fellow tour takers took a LOT inside.

Over by our spot, I found this plaque by some picnic tables. I am not sure what this means:

We ended up staying for 4 nights (at $10 per). We went down to Dayton to get my tires rotated on my truck and to see Dunkirk in IMAX. However, all fun comes to an end and we got on the road again but stopped up the road in Wapakoneta to visit the Neil Armstrong Museum. Wapakoneta was Neil’s hometown and they are very proud of him. It was a nice little museum.

We were talking with a fellow Airstreamer about this museum and we were recollecting about the lunar landing. I was 8 at the time of the landing (July 20, 1969) and I DO remember seeing it on TV but what I really remembered that the next day was declared, by President Nixon, to be a national holiday. That meant that my ninth birthday (July 21, 1969) was a national holiday, at least for one year.

There are a few “Airstream Only” parks scattered through the country. We almost stayed at one in Texas but we went a different direction. This time we were so close we could not pass it by. We were also looking for a place to relax after over 2 weeks of going and seeing things (Williamsburg, Yorktown, Jamestown, DC, Gettysburg, Johnstown). The price is $25/night or pay for 6 nights and get the 7th free. Go!

Pen Wood Airstream Park is in the Northwest quadrant of Pennsylvania, just south of Clarion and I80. It is a very nice, homey, well-kept park. Full hookups are provided and there was a steady stream of Airstreams coming in and out while we were there. Many of them on their to Escanaba MI and the WBCCI International Rally.

We used this time to unwind and take care of things. The usual one is laundry (FYI the laundromat there has EXCELLENT WiFi!). We do that once a week and Clarion was a great little town to do it in. We also took in a couple of movies while we were there. We threw in a day trip down to the Pittsburgh area as both of my parents grew up in the area. We found my Dad’s old house easily as we had the address and had seen previous pictures:

We actually chatted shortly with the owners that were outside but they did not seem impressed with the fact that my father grew up there.

We tried to find my mother’s old house but they did not have a specific address in those days so we could not narrow it down. We took pictures of almost every house on that street but we still don’t have a definitive house.

After the week was up we had to go somewhere else, see where in the next post.

Here are some Penn Wood pictures: