We still can’t seem to escape the rain.   Last night torrential thunderstorms arrived.   We all heard them in our sleep, but we didn’t think much of it … until Emma called across the trailer in the dark to report that her roof vent was not closed.   Poor kid was lying in soaking wet blankets.   Rain had been coming in for quite a while before she woke up.   Eleanor quickly stripped the bedding and hung it out to dry, while Emma crawled into our bed and fell asleep again.

This morning the sun was out but the ground was pretty squishy, and a hike we had planned was literally washed out, so instead we met up with Alex and Charon and headed into the neighboring town of Clarion.   It’s a small college town with the typical old downtown main street, park square, and courthouse.   The downtown feels a bit like a time warp, with a few old-time clothing stores and restaurants that would have disappeared two decades ago in most places.

I was pleased to find an ideal barber shop for a haircut: a narrow shop with four chairs crammed between two other downtown businesses, complete with rotating barber pole outside and old-fashioned chairs inside.   For $10 plus tip I got a haircut that should last a long time.   We also found a terrific coffee-and-gelato cafe that was worth stopping in.

Trailers have been showing up at Penn Wood today, for a rally scheduled over the weekend. The field we are parked in has started to fill up, which is fun to watch even though we won’t be here for the rally.   There’s a certain excitement in seeing the Airstreams show up.

Thunderstorms arrived again and again during the day, bringing some explosive thunder.   This is the first time since May that we’ve had 30-amp electric service, so we took full advantage and ran the air conditioning to dry things out inside the trailer while the outside humidity soared.   Emma’s blankets and sheets dried enough to be used on her bed again.   I spent the afternoon working on the computer without any temptation to quit and go outside.

This evening Charon instigated a small dinner with some of their friends in the park.   With thunderstorms passing through, it seemed wisest to take advantage of the park’s “pavilion” and commercial kitchen rather than eating under the awning.   It felt like we were having a little rally of our own.   Eleanor contributed tiramisu, a favorite dessert.

Our visit has been short but I think I’ve started to get the vibe of this place.   Limestone PA is not exactly a “destination” you’d go out of your way to visit, but for everyone here it seems to be a getaway that they look forward to.   It’s very relaxing.   The area is green and quiet, and the sites in the park are generally private and shady.   The fact that cell phones don’t work in most of the park encourages you to disconnect.   You can go hiking, antiquing, browsing, exploring, bicycling, etc.   Like a lot of places, it is what you make of it.   I can understand the attraction, especially if you’re from some urban area where there’s too much going on.