!! Central PA Mountain Truckstock 2018 is CANCELLED!!!
 

This is a copy of a post I put on the "Central PA Truckstock 2018, Plan Now" thread but I thought I would start a new thread to catch your attention.

Today at lunch with my wife I overheard someone say the Bald Eagle State Park is closed. The park was formed around a flood control dam built in 1969 to help control floods in the West Branch of the Susquehanna Valley. Well the water in the lake was almost to the top of the dam breast and there is a lot of flooding in the park in areas that normally are not under water. Dennis, Pinto Plumber, said he got a voice mail on his answering machine saying his reservation was cancelled. I called the Park. The Nature Inn was closed. There is 4 feet of water blocking entrance to the hotel. I spoke to someone in Maintenance at the park and he said half of the camping sites are closed but others are open due to flooding. He said you campers can not go anywhere else in the park due to high water.

So after much thought and deliberation I regretfully cancelled the Central PA Mountain Truckstock! I had considered having us rent rooms at a local motel but what would we do? Build campfires in the parking lot? That's no fun.... furthermore we are now getting rain from Florence. It started raining at 12 noon today and will rain until 12 noon Tuesday, so the water at the park will get higher.

I looked ahead to 2019. There is no Penn State home game on Saturday Sept. 21. So I picked September 19, 20, 21, 22 for Central PA Mountain Truckstock 2019. So Bob Jones and Jim from Wisconsin, and others, plan now! For PA State parks, you can only reserve campsites one year in advance. So on Sept 19, that's 2 days from now, call the state park and reserve your spot. I think you can call not to reserve a room at the Nature Inn if you don't camp.

Well that stinks Abe! After all your hard work too!

My brother lives in Charlotte NC - they got 15 inches of rain & his daughter
lives in Wilmington... They stopped counting at 30 inches.. Keep your head down as Florence
floats by up there in Pennsylvania.

Ben in Austin
1950 F1

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.for...4555483bb3.jpg
Abe, I was really looking forward to meeting you on Thursday and also meeting the other members who were coming.
I fully understand the decision to cancel. You did a great job setting this up and am thrilled that a new date is scheduled for next year. I'll make my reservation and try to get the same yurt.

Since my F3 isn't finished yet I was planning to take my Escape to Pennsylvania and yesterday I rigged up a '49 grille to attach to the front of my car and photobomb the group truck photos.
I'll be sure to bring the real thing next year...it is about 70% complete right now and I have a strong motivation to take it on a big road trip to the State Park. It is going to be a blast.
Guys, mark your calendars, book your reservations and let's make it a giant turnout next year. The more guys that show, the more great memories we will have together.
Tom

It would be great if all Pennsylvania FTE'rs could attend at least one day of the 2019 central PA Mountain Truckstock .

So you out of state members got a year to get your trucks in shape to face our famous PA roads! They say PA has two seasons: Pothole season and road construction season!

They are really not too bad lately.

Hey Abe,
How far are you from Happy Valley? My niece just moved there.. My wife has zero to negative interest
in seeing old trucks & guys... but she does miss her niece. Hmmmm… this might work for next year
if you are somewhere in the vicinity of Penn State.

Ben in Austin
1950 F1

I can answer that. About 45 minutes or less. Very easy drive, probably closer to 30 minutes from the park

Halemail is right. I live about 40 minutes from the PSU campus. My son commutes to State College for work everyday. The Bald Eagle State Park is a lot closer. PSU and the park are both in Centre County. Go to mapquest and out in Bald Eagle State Park in Howard, pa and State college, pa. That sounds like a plan!

well darn, Okay in light of my travel plans maybe I will not be so rushed. Long term, this means I have a much higher likelyhood of showing up with the bus. Thanks for the heads up.

william

Bringing the bus to TS would be cool!

I'll put this on my calendar again. Hopefully I'll be able to make it this time. Never know what the future will bring.

I am really strongly thinking of hosting another meet up here, maybe in the spring so I won't stepping on your meet.

That sounds good, Bob. I hope you can find time to break away from work and come back to PA and cross the Susquehanna in your truck at the Millersburg Ferry.

That's my plan. BTW, any idea of the condition of the Susquehanna? When we crossed the ferry operator said the water was about 5 feet deep but had overflowed the banks years before, something lile 30 feet high.

No I don't, Bob. Usually it is low in the summer, higher in the spring with melting snow and spring rains. In the spring is when loggers would float their logs or log rafts downstream to the Mills. This summer PA had higher than average rains. On the other PA truckstock thread I listed the inches of rainfall we got since July. I know the West Branch is high and and what we get flows down toward Harrisburg. The Susquehanna is the longest non-navigable river in East of the Mississippi. The North Branch starts in Cooperstown, NY and the west branch starts near Altoona, PA. It has a huge drainage area.

I would imagine the ferry doesn't run if the current is too swift or water is too high. But who knows what next summer will bring.

So today I called Pennsylvnia State Park customer service and re-booked my reservation at the park for September 19, 20, 21 of next year.
It did not cost me any money to re-schedule. Even though the Yurt I was supposed to stay at was not in the specific area that was flooded, they waived the cancellation fee and applied all my payment to next year's reservation. They also waived the 11-month-in-advance schedule lock.
I'll be in the same place, the Sycamore Loop. We now have exactly one year to figure out how to use that Yurt for an indoor welding clinic and swap meet. ;)

Tom