Category: La Tortuga’s Maiden Voyage

Our first trip in the Four Wheel Camper Flat Bed Hawk on a RAM 2500 Cummins Diesel

Driving Home with a Rainbow

We used to trailer our boats to Canada for a summer cruise up US 15 through Pennsylvania. It was a hilly, narrow two lane road but also the most direct route to where we were going.

We needed to be home tonight so we drove US 15 back to Maryland. Much of it is now divided highway and controlled access but there is still a little of the narrow hilly road remaining.

We took a detour through Woolrich to visit the Woolrich factory store and museum. We enjoyed the stop and were delighted to find that they still weave wool fabric in Woolrich.

We ran out of vegetables so we stopped at an Amish market that had great prices on fruit, vegetables and handcrafts.

As we approached Maryland we were greeted by both rain and a rainbow over the highway. The first time we went out on our Shearwater sailboat, a rainbow ended on the hood of our car as we towed it over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. We enjoyed many great years of sailing in that boat so we considered it a good sign to have a rainbow over us on the last day of our maiden voyage in La Tortuga!

The house felt both huge and stuffy when we returned. We left everything in the camper to unpack another day.

Exploring the Pine Creek Gorge Area

We have been off the grid for awhile so we drove to Wellsboro, a lovely Victorian lumber town on historic US Highway 6. Wellsboro has lots of historic building and gas lights down the center of the main street. We walked around town noting that it was extremely quiet and many businesses closed at 3:00 pm on Saturday. There were three brightly painted pianos on the sidewalks inviting people to stop and play them.

We visited a sort of indoor micro-mall and had turkey salads for lunch. It was our first and only restaurant meal on this trip.

Next we explored some side roads near Pine Creek Gorge and visited Colton Point State Park which is on the opposite side of the creek from Leonard Harrison. Colton Point is a primitive campground and sites 21, 22 and 25 look suitable for a camper.

We went back to Leonard Harrison for the night and grilled bison burgers with camper potato salad for dinner.

Maiden Voyage: Waterfall Hike

We came to Ricketts Glen specifically to do the hike past 18 named waterfalls and numerous small drops and cascades. It is steep, rocky, there are a lot of stairs, and it’s glorious!

A yearling bear ran across the trail in front of us at the beginning of the hike so Dean set his bear bell loose to ring. We took our hiking poles and were glad of it.

We concluded the evening with a drive to buy firewood, a shower, more laundry, and dinner by the fire.

La Tortuga Debuts at Mid-Atlantic Overland Festival

Two days after taking delivery of our new camper we headed out on our maiden voyage starting with the Mid-Atlantic Overland Festival. Thank goodness I am a compulsive packer and had almost everything we needed already staged in the house for loading in.

We had a Four Wheel Camper encampment next to the Mainline Overland vehicles and each of the five campers was a different model and vintage. La Tortuga was a big attraction which we gladly showed off when we were near it, which wasn’t often since we spent most of our time at workshops and visiting with other overlanders.

It was great to meet people of all ages with all kinds of vehicles and especially nice to spend time with other Four Wheel Camper owners.

We attended workshops on a variety of subjects including photography, personal safety, traveling with children, off-road driving, first aid, and self-rescue. There were more interesting workshops than we could attend which I consider to be a sign of a good event.

Each day started with great coffee and ended with happy hour, a speaker or live music and a bonfire. I was delighted that my film festival submission received many complements.

Many thanks to Mainline Overland and the Henwood family for hosting such a great event. We will definitely plan to attend again next year.