Promised Land State Park

 Vanlog, Lancaster, PA

October 11, 2020

For mid-October, it was a pleasant temperature to sleep last night--not too hot, not too cold. We slept in a little this morning and took our time getting underway. Then we drove about 15 min to Promised Land State Park. After walking around the beach area for a few photos, we drove on Park Avenue to Conservation Island, a part of the park that we had not explored on our previous two outings here. We made a 1.3-mile loop around the island, just admiring the fall colors. 

Then we explored the Little Falls Trail near the campground. This was an easy (but muddy) 1.1 mile out and back to a small cascade set in a lovely glen of golden maple trees. The trail was a popular one with families, so there were dogs, kids, grandparents, and people of all shapes and sizes. It was a little too crowed for my tastes. We had a lovely picnic lunch by the lake and then headed home. We both remarked how the leaves are especially good this year--the best in many years. 

On the drive home, we stopped to visit my family near Reading, PA. Dad helped us with a few repairs in the van. The flip-up counter in the doorway next to the sink was loose and had fallen off last weekend because the screws for the hinges were a little too short. So we went to Dad's Hardware Store and got some longer screws to hold the hinges on better. Then, the swinging door on the outside of the fresh and gray water cabinet was not closing correctly. It appears as if one of the hinges got bent backwards. So we took that off, straightened it, and added some new magnets to the closure mechanism. Everything else worked great on the trip. We are both very happy with the Dometic fridge and how spacious it is with the dual zones and how little DC current it draws overnight when the solar panels aren't charging. Likewise, we used the WeBoost cell phone booster to greatly enhance our upload speed when writing the vanlog or downloading photos from the Cloud. I was able to use the sink faucet and heat up some hot water in a pot and have a hot shower out the sliding door of the van this morning and we are getting used to when it's worth using the bucket toilet and when it's just better to go in a Solo cup! Not everything about vanlife is glamorous and space is certainly a premium, but you can't beat having everything you need in one place permanently and being able to just pack a few things on a moment's notice to get away for the weekend. The DCNR in PA is excellent. Usually, I can reserve a campsite for the weekend only a week in advance at one of the state forests and it is 100% free. Free camping, reservable, and usually very private with a fire ring and picnic table. You just can't beat vanlife especially during fall foliage season.