Had two good days Friday and Saturday at the Ford Nats at Carlisle. The weather was great! Jafo Joe stopped in to visit. Dennis (Pinto Plumber) stopped in a couple of times and we chatted for a while. And Ken from northern VA stopped by. I didn't sell a whole lot of stuff but enough to cover expenses and make some money (which is money I can spend on my trucks) and get rid of some inventory. And a chance to talk trucks with a lot of passers by.

My buddy who went last year couldn't go this year, so my son agreed to go. But Thursday night he twisted his ankle real bad. I sat with him at the ER for 2 hours. After I got him home I then had to load my truck. It wasn't broken but we both knew he'd be useless to help me. So I went to Carlisle alone. I got to bed at 12:45 and planned to leave at 6:00 am.


On my way early Friday morning.



Along the way in Centre County.



My top speed on the flats. I didn't keep it this high very long. This was on the only 4 lane highway I drove, route 322 between State College and Lewistown.

To get from Lock Haven to Carlisle I had to go over 4 mountains, 3 of them with switchbacks and hairpin turns. Beautiful drive through PA's ridge and valley topography.


I passed this stinky load going up the third mountain.


The view coming down the fourth mountain looking at the Cumberland Valley.


My vendors spot at Carlisle.


Coming home Saturday evening.

 

Looks like you had perfect weather for an early summer adventure!

 

Great travelogue and pictures.
I went to Carlisle five years ago and had a great time. We smuggled a front bench seat to a '57 Chevy I bought up into the hotel room because we needed the space in the car to get more parts. We covered it with a blanket and made it look like a loveseat. The cleaning staff never said a word even though there were 'no parts allowed' in the hotel.
We left them a very nice tip.
On the way home we had a Ford Escape fully loaded with parts jammed into every corner and also strapped to the roof.
Beautiful country in PA.

Tom

 

Abe I am going to get a load of parts next year to take up.....will stay in touch with you and try to get spaces next to each other... last year I had given some parts to a buddy near my house who sells early bronco stuff......I did about 1100 dollars with stuff I had laying around!!!..... see what next year brings

 

Hey that's pretty good, Joe!

By the way I got 9mpg's on the way there. On the way home it took 2.5 hours to go 110 miles.

 

Here's my shot of the businessman. Dennis

 

Abe, Nice pictures of a great area of the country. Looks like you had a nice drive.

West of there sometimes on the way home from Philly we get off the turnpike at Bedford and take Route 30, the old Lincoln Highway, across the mountains skipping some of the traffic and tunnels. As you know that used to be the main road between Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. Lots of old tourist-type attractions.

We like to stop at Jean Bonnnet's Tavern as they have good food. It was built in 1762 at the intersection of 2 indian trails. It is a great spot to stop for dinner on a cold night as they always have log fires in their large fireplaces.


Art deco Gulf Gas station still operating in Bedford


Just off Route 30


My wife at the top of the Allegheny Mountains on Route 30. Driving up the switchbacks from Bedford would be a nice test of our old trucks.

 

Damn those pictures make me miss home! Too freakin flat out here.

 

Sorry Indy! You're from McKean County aren't you. Our preacher is from Crawfordsville, IN. And he likes our mountains.

Pete, did you know the highest point in PA is not in our northern tier where we have lots of mountains, state forests, and State Parks. It is in the south in Somerset County, which is next to Bedford county, Mt. Davis.

 

Looks like a great trip. Good to see you blow out the cobwebs a bit as well.
Where else can it be exciting to get a vehicle up to almost 65 mph.
The headache rack looks great in that picture. It makes me ponder my current one.

 

I did not know that. The highpoint on Route 30 where that picture was taken is only 2,489' but I see that Mt. Davis is 3,212'. Ritchey **** north of there is where my Great Grandmother's family (Ritchey) lived and it is 2,865'. And the highest point in the Appalachians is about 2 hours south of Mt. Davis in West Virginia named Spruce **** at 4,863'.

Now I'm sure that the guys in Colorado are giggling at this with their 56 "14ers", but they can't match the verdant green of the Appalachians. Completely different.

 

Joe, thanks about the headboard. I was looking at yours in the working Ford trucks thread. All you have to do is add some more boards to it. Of course you would need longer stakes in the front. The scary part (sort of) was descending those bills especially when it came to the switchbacks and gearing down to avoid using the brakes too much.

I used to teach geography, LOL. It is cool to have a peak named after your family. I've never seen the Rockies or the Sierra Nevadas and I'm sure I'd be in awe but our tree covered mountains are pretty in spring, summer, and especially fall.

 

During my career at Jeep luckily I got to spend time in both the Rockies and the Sierras. We always used the Rubicon Trail as our engineering test bed. The TJ and current JK models were developed there. Great scenery.

 

Close...Potter County... Gods Country!

 

That's even closer to Clinton County.