Monday is depart Mass day as we start a little west to avoid NY, NJ and the big cities. The most notable occurrence is we manage to drive in 5 different states. We left Mass and went through RI, Conn, NY, and stopped in Matamoras, PA. I would love to post photos of all the welcome signs but they are blurred with rain drops.
I had developed a bursitis in the left elbow and it had gotten pretty tender so we sought medical attention. Several hours later we were back at the campground. We would have stayed an extra night there but it was right next to I-80 and we wanted to get closer to Punxsutawney. We moved on and found a terrific campground, Woodland Campground in Woodland, PA. Nice sites, excellent wifi, reasonable warm shower house and great owners. The drive was mostly on PA back roads through lush farmland and lots of trees and hills. I would estimate 30-40% of the trees had already lost all there leaves. The rest were mostly still green but occasionally we would see some color.
We had a couple conversations with other campers here that also commented on the lack of color. The speculation is the amount of rain caused the issue. The camp owner said all his maple trees got a leave mold and just dropped their leaves. One camper had done the Blue Ridge recently and said it was green, green. Again the amount of rain being the suspected culprit according to a ranger there. He said maybe the last week of Oct if at all. Could be lucky timing for us.
Wed we decided to do some touring of the area. The camp owner recommended at Elk Center.

Interestingly this place had the most color as well, a group of maybe 6 trees. Needless to say this was in the mountains and lots of scenic backroads.
Coming back down from there we stopped at Parker Dam.

Then on to Punxy. I wanted to go there for a couple reasons, part of my Mom's family lived there and I had fond memories of family reunions and Phil the groundhog. I found the street my Grandmother and Aunt lived on and stopped in front of the house. An elderly women working on her patio took notice so I got out. I realized it was my 92 year old Aunt that I had not seen in over 50 years. She has lived in that house more than 70 years. We had a nice visit and then moved on to see some of Phil's trappings.

They have certainly made a big production of Phil. Back to the campground and rest as this medicine tires me quickly. Next stop Dumfries, Va.

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