5/9/06 – Tuesday: We had a short day today. We left Upper Marlboro, MD, and drove to PA, between Hershey and Lancaster. We’re at a KOA campground near the Susquehana River. We were surprised when we rounded a curve and saw some really big cooling towers for a nuclear power plant. There was a historical marker noting that it was the site of the 3 Mile Island accident!

We drove into the little town of Elizabethtown to pick up some supplies. I got a very nice haircut at a little salon on the main drag. Back at camp, I took Monkey for a little walk. She’s really enjoying this trip. When I got out the leash, she jumped into my lap and stuck her own head in the harness! Then she walked down the steps of the camper and set out across the grass like she’d been doing it all her life.

Tomorrow we’re going to Hershey and possibly Lancaster for a tour of Amish country. If we don’t get the Amish country tour in tomorrow, we’re undecided whether we’ll leave or do it Thursday. There’s a big storm coming this way, and I hate the idea of driving in the rain. Plus, I’ve been dreading this part of the trip. There’s no way to avoid the congestion of New York City unless we get into the mountains, which is also some stressful driving. Wiley’s been doing an amazing job of navigating on this trip. He’s managed to find nice campgrounds and figure out approximately when we’ll get to where we’re going.

It’s funny how the things that you worry about usually don’t happen. We’re having a great trip. I’m so proud of us for living our dream. It’s been very scary at times, but none of the things we worried about have happened. And there have been lots of unexpected pleasures. We’ve met some great people. The couple who manages this campground spent a lot of time talking to us about their experiences.

I’m hoping that the trip around NY will wind up being just another one of those things I worried about that never happened.