Mushroom Musings

After graduating from college, West Chester State University in West Chester, PA, with a BS in English Literature and Education (that was a Bachelor of Science degree despite the rumors that the BS stood for something else entirely), I got my first job as a Teacher of English To Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) at nearby Kennett Square School District. My day was divided between teaching English as a second language to migrant workers in the morning and teaching Special Education in the afternoons. I did this for a couple years, and this background has always given me a totally different perspective on non English speaking guests, residents, and aliens in this country. So many people complain that they don't speak English! My experience says that they would LOVE to learn to speak English, and that in fact they will do so if given the opportunity. Bilingual education in this country is a big can of worms right now, and my intention was not to open that can at the moment, but just to mention my slant on things. I find that all too often those who are most critical of non English speaking people in the country are coming at the issue from somewhere other than working with them - perhaps having them work for them (which is entirely a different thing all together). Rather, I worked with them, and always found them to be willing, even anxious to learn as much English as they could. Too often the real problem was that the work moved and so did they. Learning a language takes consistency, repetition, and access to good schools; this is often sadly lacking in our migrant population. I truly enjoyed that teaching English portion of my job there. And I have always wondered how many languages are spoken by those who think everyone SHOULD and MUST learn theirs. But all this is by way of saying: I worked, day in and day out, with migrant workers. Some Mexican. Most Puerto Rican. Some Chinese. A a handful of other nationalities. My job was to teach them all English...and I did. I can't name one student who didn't go into the course with gusto. But what brought them all to Kennett Square was mushrooms. Every single one of my students, no matter their age, their brothers and sisters, their mothers and fathers, and yes, cousins too, picked mushrooms in dark, dank strong smelling cinder block houses like the ones below. No fresh air really. No sunlight. No windows. Long shifts rooting with their hands through composted horse manure which is the basic ingredient for the soil in which the mushrooms are grown. It's a dirty job! But like many dirty jobs, someone has to do it if the product is as prized as the mushroom is. I learned to respect those that labor hard in poor conditions and for relatively low wages to produce something that is good. I know that many of them are always looking for the opportunity to improve their lot in life-a goal shared by nearly everyone in the country I would think.

I drove to the High School to show Marilyn where my first post grad job was and to give her a sense of the place and the culture. Not much has changed. The poor are still poor and working hard. The rich are richer and the number of big houses has grown tremendously in the area. The mushroom houses all look alike and all look the same as they did 40 years ago. I have nothing against rich or poor, so long as opportunity is the focus of our going forward. It should be.


If you would like to learn more about mushrooms, the Mushroom Capital of the World, or the annual mushroom Festival, give this link a try.

Willy Wonka's Favorite Vacation Spot

Even Willy Wonka would love to vacation in Lititz, PA, home of the world famous Wilbur Chocolate Factory and Candy Americana Museum. From almost anywhere in town, you can catch the smell of chocolate wafting through the air. It's a candy lover's paradise. Where Hershey Chocolate has gone "theme park" and moved part of their operations oversees over the years, Wilbur keeps true to its candy roots, turning out, according to the Amish Country News, "100 million pounds of chocolate products a year" and furnishing product to America's largest and best known food processors. I have friends and family in the area who say it's the best chocolate in the world. Who am I to argue? The factory is a short walk away from the country's first hard pretzel factory and both are in the heart of the Pennsylvania Dutch (Amish, Mennonite, Quaker, Brethren) Country. So a stop in and around Lititz will provide a veritable plethora of fun and educational adventures and opportunities.

The museum displays hundreds, if not thousands, of cocoa tins, antique candy molds and holiday novelties, along with original art work and photographs, candy making equipment and other items of interest to the company and the area. There is an "area" of candy making open to the public, but not the entire factory. Still we had a great visit, enjoyed some excellent samples and got to talk with some of the candy makers.

One of the companies first products back in the 1860's was hard candy which was made for the train boys to sell on the trains (the tracks run right by the factory- the old station is now the information center). They still crank it out today.

We spent quite a while talking with candy specialty maker Kathy Blankenbiller. It is always so wonderful to speak with a person who loves her job. The excitement and enthusiasm they have for their work reflects well not only on themselves but on the company as well, and for sure Kathy is one talented girl! Her one of a kind creations are something to behold (if not eat).

In the photo above of the ice cream sundae, everything is some form of chocolate and completely edible. Same is true of the mask, fruit, eggs, coins in the photo below...

and in this nearly life size sowing basket below. Even looking at it close up, you could not be sure it wasn't the real thing. Amazing work!
All of these "works of art" are behind the sanitary glass half wall that separates the product from the public. Good thing! I didn't have to worry about whether or not Marilyn was going to lick the goodies...

Tall Trees and Trouble

Ben Franklin, famous for a lot of things (and this is not a history lesson) had good reason to fly his kite in the greater Philadelphia region. There are a lot of lightning and thunder storms here, and we got a vivid example of the power of electricity while camped under tall trees and at the top of a hill at Thousand Trails, Hershey, PA. You do know, I am sure, not to seek refuge under a tall tree in a storm. But coming into a beautiful camp on a beautiful day, you don't think too much about that. Besides, many of the open area spots had already been taken by week enders who arrived earlier in the day than we did. So there we were. Dark fell on a balmy and otherwise pleasant night. A few hours later a storm raged through the area. The dog was scared. Marilyn was scared. I was NOT, well, OK , I was scared too. A little. But not so scared I didn't hit the sack for a good night's sleep. One bolt of lightening lit up the night sky in a real flash, followed immediately by a near sonic boom. A few seconds passed. No tree fell on me. So I went back to sleep. But in the morning the reason why the time between the lightning and the thunder was nearly non existent became abundantly clear.... A tall tree next to the site in front of us was hit by the bolt and literally split in half. The burn mark was apparent only at the point of contact. The bark- all of it, all the way around the trunk, was blown away. Half the tree came down, the other remained standing, but the crack that divided one half from the other was readily apparent, even on the portion of the tree that remained standing..

As I said, nothing had hit us. But this camper was not so lucky, and his truck which pulled his fifth wheel took a pretty good hit. That will ruin an otherwise lovely day!

Lots of campers tell us they love to set up under the trees for the shade and the birds and the cooler temperatures. We prefer the open sites. This is why! If you enlarge this photo- look to the right of the picture (to the left of the pickup)- that coach is ours- close!

Nothing Better Than A Really Good Pretzel!

There really isn't much that's better than a good pretzel. And since I grew up in the town of Reading, Pennsylvania, "Pretzel Capital of the World" I consider myself something of an expert. I have, after all, tried most all of them at one time or another. My favorite was, is, and has always been, Sturgis Pretzels. We visited the original and restored site of the Julius Sturgis Pretzel Bakery in nearby Lititz, PA. You can read all about the history (fact and presumption) about the development of the pretzel as we know it today. But in a nutshell, Sturgis was a bakery, first and foremost, and they made bread. Occasionally, the bakers made snacks for themselves- how the pretzel recipe came to them is open for discussion, but to be sure it was SOFT pretzels they were making. One day after work, they made a batch of soft pretzels, but were so tired, they failed to take all of the pretzels out of the coal and wood fired ovens. The next day, the ovens were fired up- and much to the surprise of the bakers, they found their now "dried up and hard" pretzels still in the oven. Can you say "twice baked?" But rather than throw the product away, they sampled it and thought it was pretty good. Surely no one would ever pay for such a thing, but they gave out some samples and low and behold they became a big hit. The family of bakers at the Julius Sturgis Bakery had invented the hard pretzel!

This nifty little animated model shows the old fashioned way of baking the pretzels and along with some other displays is in the lobby of the plant where the tour begins.

Carol runs the tour...and a good tour it is!! No one leaves without learning to twist a pretzel using the "secret recipe" dough. The demonstration is run on a portion of the original twisting table. There is plenty of original and restored equipment on display, including the ovens on the floor of which the pretzels were baked.
Step one, roll out the dough on the table with your hands. "Just like so..." as the Dutchman says. Make a "U".
Take the two ends on the U and make a twist- symbolic of arms folded in prayer, then simply take the two remaining ends and cross them back to the loop and.....
... a pretzel is born. Now a bath in baking soda and into the oven. In the old days, the brown of the baked pretzel was achieved by soaking in straw water and lye- no longer.
I shot a couple of pics of the ovens in sepia tone to give them the look of the old time photos that may have been taken a long time ago- before color was an option.


Click the play button on the video below to watch Carol demonstrate the quick action pretzel twist. I still remember touring a working pretzel factory when I was in grade school and watching the line workers twist as fast as they could go. Machines took over the process a few years later, and today pretzels are actually extruded and never touched by hand at all. Still, the tradition of twisting the dough is preserved and taught as a matter of history. And it's just plain fun to do.

A note: before you start the video lean your head hard to the side---it seems you can't re-orient a video clip and I held the camera incorrectly to film it. Sorry about that!



A final word on pretzels. One company and one company alone makes a great cheese pretzel, my favorite of all times. And since the Sturgis family runs a couple divisions (it's all in the family) I don't mind recommending the Tom Sturgis Factory in Shillington (Reading) as well. My family's home in the area is only about a mile or so away from the Tom Sturgis Factory. Follow the link to buy cheese pretzels if you like. They are not available nearly anywhere else! Hard to find in stores! Look for cheese pretzels, little cheesers, and spicy cheesers. Mmmm. Mmmm. Good

Quigley & Ebersole

Quigley and Ebersole. It may sound like some exotic combination of ingredients for a tropical medication, or rather like two actors that were paired together for a long time.....neither is the case. Both (companies) are in the car business in the Dutch country of Pennsylvania.

First Ebersole: When we arrived upon the scene we were sporting a warning light on the dash board of the "toad" (RV for "towed vehicle"). It suggested there my be some complication going on with the transmission- NOT a good thing. Since the toad is a Honda Odyssey we pulled into Ebersole Honda in the Lebanon area. They have helped us when in the area several times before, so we were hoping they might be able to fit us in again. Service consultant Zack Blessing (he IS one) saw to it that we went immediately into the shop for a hook up to the computer and a diagnostic run. The light was just that- a light- and no problem was found. Whew. We continued on.... But service that good should not go unmentioned, so we wanted to let anyone in the area know they are great if you need a helping hand along your travels. In addition to Honda, the dealership can also help you with Pontiac, Buick, GMC vehicles. They have a truck center as well.
Thanks again Zack and all the gang at Ebersole in Lebanon, PA.

At Quigley Motor Company in Manchester, PA, we received incredible service as well, but we were there for a totally different reason. We have been researching our next vehicle to tow along behind the coach. The search has narrowed down to two "options" at this point. The new 4 door 4x4 Jeep Rubicon or a Quigley van.
"A WHAT?" you say!
Yes, a Quigley van! Quigley Motor Company is world renowned for converting full size vans from Ford, GMC, and Chevrolet into super big, super amazing 4x4 vehicles that can actually outperform many if not most of the 4x4 units out there these days. I've provided a link to their site if you'd care to check out what they can do and I recommend watching some of the videos! We had spent a considerable amount of time researching them, but wanted to see for ourselves what they can (and perhaps can't) do in this regard. Dropping by the plant to take the tour was a GREAT decision. And the test drive (NOT your standard vehicle test drive) was not only an eye opener but also a great learning experience. We did put that van to the test! It passed with flying colors.

Sales coordinator, and all around good guy and excellent teacher, Larry Yates, gave us a full and very educational tour of the plant. He explained the process, the techniques, the possibilities, relative costs and much more. You can get a sense of that on their site. We were amazed at the place and what they do there. In fact while we were there, they were working on 100 or so vans getting ready and outfitted for Iraq. They also convert the Halliburton vans to 4x4 for that major American/International company. They do ambulances, rv's and a whole host of "work" vehicles for a whole host of companies and jobs. Here, Larry demonstrates how the 4x4 mechanism works with a special model. The company has specialty models to demonstrate all kinds of things that a non mechanic like myself would want to know- but probably never would without such tools at hand.

The plant was immaculate. Yes, you could eat off the floor. No dirt. No grease or oil. No clutter. Not a single thing out of place. It was downright pretty in there!


This is just one simple illustration of the end product. I can't begin to illustrate for you the range of projects they tackle on those basic chassis models I mentioned. Need a tough vehicle with 4x4 drive and tons of storage? Gotta get a Quigley!

Ooooooo, Another Saturday Night....

It's Friday as I write this, but can Saturday be far behind? And since there aren't any catchy tunes or quaint old traditions about bathing on a Friday night, I decided to take a bit of poetic license with the post title. It's bath time with wonder dog, Abby, as she gets presentable to visit family and friends in the area. Abby, unlike many dogs who run away from water, loves her baths- (not that you care). The coach has a warm water "shower" outside so washing up can be a year round activity. Oh, joy! But more than the bath itself, she really loves the "fluff dry cycle" and the chance to play a bit of peek-a-boo in the beach towel following the festivities. I wouldn't have included this much personal family stuff if she didn't look so darned cute in the towel! Wouldn't you say?

But this is a "working" visit to the region. So if you're checking in to see what's up with us (or to see if your picture shows up on the blog), here's the scoop. We are in Pennsylvania. Southeast Pennsylvania. The land of my childhood: Berks, Lancaster, Lebanon Counties. We have already made visits to a number of places I would like to share with you. So over the next couple weeks, we'll be taking a look at the region in general and some things that I think Pennsylvania can "model" for much of the nation in this day and age. And some things that are fascinating about the place. And some things that people the world over may wish to visit should they ever come to visit the state. And some things that I grew up with and have held in high regard throughout my life as it has unfolded, and can now share with Marilyn as we adventure to the times of my youth, which gets refreshed every time I come to this part of our land.

Future posts will explore Longwood Gardens, the mushroom capital of the world at Kennett Square, the nation's first pretzel factory in Lititz, and a very fine chocolate factory in the same town. We'll give you a look at the rolling farm lands of the Amish people and begin a discussion of what "Green" is really (and always has been) about. So check back in as I get the time to put in print and picture what we are rediscovering in the area. And in the meantime, you can just look adoringly at the cool dog in the bathrobe....

Thar's Gold In Them Thar.........DUNES?

It's good to be on the move again. It was a great winter in Florida but we were admittedly chomping at the bit to get back on the road- as in really moving, not just living in the coach in a more or less fixed area. We finished out our time in Florida at Orlando Thousand Trails. Before they left, I gave Co(s)mic Bob (as in Cosmic Cousins Bob and Susan) a gold panning demonstration. I shaved a few small fragments off a lead pyramid sinker from my fishing tackle box, hammered them relatively flat to "mimic" gold flakes, then added them to samples of dirt, gravel, and anything else I could scoop up around the construction site for the new park models going in. Lead is a good training material to teach panning because, like gold, it is heavier (in water) than almost anything else you can put in a gold pan. It behaves like gold even though gold is again twice as heavy as lead. So if you can become proficient at panning for lead, you for sure will be good at panning for gold. And it is far less aggravating to lose a flake of lead than it is a single flake of gold at today's prices! So with pan, water trough, and materials set up and ready to go, we began our lesson. I did the first pan of "lead only" material as a demo. But much to my surprise, when I got to the bottom of the demo pan, there was not one, but two flakes of gold in the bottom of my pan.

FLASHBACK: When we knew we were to be pretty much tied to Florida for the winter for a variety of reasons, I wrote to GPAA, LDMA, and some other prospecting chat rooms on line and asked this simple question: "Where, if he MUST be in Florida for the winter, can a guy go to pan for gold with at least a possibility of success?" For days, I got no answer and that is not a usual thing for a chat room. They don't call it "chat" for nothing. Usually, them that know want to put their knowledge on display (or share their knowledge very generously, depending on your point of view). I kept checking back, less than enthusiastic about my chances of getting the kind of reply I was hoping for. But then, there it was: a direct reply from a guy in a gold prospecting club in Texas.

"Dear Greg," he wrote, "if you must spend winter in Florida and you must find some gold in that state, then I would suggest you take your metal detector to South Beach early in the morning on Saturday or Sunday morning with the idea that you might come up with a nice ring, a piece of jewelry, or a neat coin or two off a Spanish ship....cause that's about as good as it gets in Florida."

I now know that's not the way it is. In truth, at least according to the GPAA (Gold Miners' Association of America) there is gold in all 50 states if you are willing to look hard enough to find it. In fact, gold, at one time or another, was mined commercially in 48 of the 50 states. The two where it was never mined commercially? Kentucky and Hawaii. Please note, Florida was among the states where it WAS commercial viable at one time. Not in the region where I was to be sure- more along the border with Georgia which was a veritable "gold mine" at one time, but a bit of the yellow color made it via water (and/or glacier if you cotton to that theory) into Florida.

So I can't tell you where the Orlando fill dirt came from that I sampled and found a couple flakes in- but I'll take it none the less. And apparently, if you can find gold in Florida, you can find it anywhere. Memo to self: new goal - find gold in every state.

Back to Cosmic Bob. He too found gold in his pan. True, we salted it with "training gold" and black sand that we brought back from Chicken, AK. But never mind that. Gold once discovered by any means is gold fever contracted. Ain't no gettin' around it. You see, even the smallest flake of gold in the bottom of the pan, or the top of the sluice box is highly contagious. Far more addictive than caffeine or nicotine, but not nearly so harmful. In fact it's probably quite healthy as it comes with a full complement of exercise, adventure and fresh air!

But for now we are traveling north again. In the last two days, through northern Florida (the more north you go in Florida the more southern it gets), Georgia, South Carolina and tonight, near Charlotte, North Carolina. The air has cooled and freshened. Spring foliage is out at least this far north with Dogwoods and a whole host of other flowering trees coming into their own. Roadside flowers are laying out the red carpet (and the blue and purple ones) as we head into the unknown, even if it is through familiar territory. Adventure is where you seek it!

Lunch, Legos, and Singing Koi

As a follow up to the credit card fiasco that sent shock waves through our sometimes fragile on-the-road financial superstructure, I should report that calm and order have been restored now, thanks in no small part to some of our "partners." Bank of America, though we wish they would not have taken us by such surprise, did manage to get new cards out to us in an overnight fashion. Actually, they got the cards out to our mail forwarder, St. Brendan's Isle, who then went above and beyond the call of duty to get the new cards to us early the next morning, again via an overnight shipment. Any of you who may have need for the services of a mail forwarder, might wish to use the link above and check them out. They are, by some standards, a small and family owned and operated company. But they have services and capabilities far beyond the norm in the industry, even offering envelope scanning (I always know what mail they are holding for us because I can SEE it on line. And if the occasion mandates, they can securely open and scan the contents so that the normal delay that makes RV-ers crazy is virtually eliminated. They do all this, and much more, for a more-than-fair fee and when it comes to personalized customer service, I can't even imagine that anyone could do better! Thanks to Doug and Scott and all the gang at SBI!!!

With the financial house once again in order, we headed off to World of Orchids in Kissimmee. They do sell an awful lot of orchids and it is always fun to stroll through the orchid offerings, but the under glass gardens that are the large draw of the establishment were a bit run down and disappointing. As Marilyn put it, "They NEED us!" I try to steer clear of pointing out the less than stellar places we visit, but if you are ever interested in going here to see this venue, better to consider it a visit to the koi, catfish and pacu that swim freely (and look just like they are singing opera) in the garden streams. Feeding them was the highlight of our visit.




A worker in the "lab" transplants and packages "baby" orchids. You can buy a slug of them for about 10 bucks.
We stopped by Downtown Disney, a shopping, theater, and dining venue amidst the other theme parks in the family. This is a no charge stop on the Disney tour and it has a lot to offer. There is a building made of Lincoln Logs that sells retro toys of all kinds- would you believe Mr. Potato Head is making a huge comeback? But of major interest to us was the Lego pavilion. Below, this dragon, made entirely of Lego blocks, graces the lagoon. It was huge, and very cool!
There are lots of stations for "young engineers of tomorrow" to try out their creativity and hand/eye coordination. Talk about intensity!!!
This tourist family (and their pets) are all made of Legos. Can you find the real kid in the shot? The toys were so real looking, we had to take a close second look.
We'd hoped to have lunch at the famous Rain Forest Cafe, but long lines in combination with the rather high priced menu sent us nearby to The Wolfgang Puck Express cafe. It was a fun cafe featuring dining in full view of the kitchen, the wood fired oven, and the line chefs. And while it was OK, it was not great, and we still haven't come across anyone who can hold a candle to the meal Emeril offered up at Emeril Lagasse's NOLA in New Orleans

If you're reading this in a "time sensitive manner" you already know about inflation brought about at least in part by the skyrocketing prices of energy. But check out the sign below.....Is this what has become of the Dollar General???

And this one? Well, it can speak for itself....

WARNING! WARNING!

Please read this notice as it is NOT an April Fool's joke of any kind. We know this first hand and I will explain and give you a link to get more information.

Some apparently even more clever than usual computer hackers hacked into the credit card processing division of Hannaford Brothers Grocery chain. This is a large family of stores which includes Shop N Save and Sweet Bay, just to name a couple. If you used any credit card at any of their stores between December 7, 2007 and March 10 of 2008, your credit card number MAY have been compromised and there could be trouble ahead for you- as there was for us. Depending on your card issuer there are several means for dealing with the problem- none of which are subject to your input or control.

For us, without warning late last night, both of our Bank of America cards went "off line" and were closed on the spot. This was a preemptive move on the part of the bank and we are happy they are on top of things but it poses some immediate and difficult challenges to be sure- as we apparently have only three business days to get every last arrangement changed over to the newly issued cards (which we don't even have yet!). Because we are on the road non-stop, we have automated as many payments as possible to those cards and getting in touch with everyone in short order will be difficult at best.

But this is not intended to be a post about our temporary situation- rather a warning to you if you have used a card at any of the Hannaford stores. We would urge you to call you card customer service number and see if you have been exposed, because the closing of the account may come, as ours did, right out of the blue- no warning at all. In fact, when we knowingly used a card at one of their stores after the problem had been caught, they told us we would not have a problem as a result of using the card. WRONG!

Here is a link to the Hannaford site that discusses the breach. From this site you can research the matter as deeply as you deem appropriate.

Potentially ALL Hannaford customers who used credit cards during this time period are at risk for fraudulent use of their card account numbers. Beware.

Odie's Roadie-O or Battle of the Blogs

A last minute convergence of our Google mapping put us together for a couple nights with Jim and Chris Guld (Geeks on Tour) at Thousand Trails Orlando as we prepared to break out of Florida soon and head north. So we threw together some pot stickers and smoked turkey wings for some impromptu dining with them, the Cosmic Cousins, and some new friends who are blog readers of the Geeks (although we suspect it is Odie, the Guld's doggie, they really follow). A good time was had by all. We talked travel, blogs (Chris is "The Blogmeister"), finances, and a smattering of politics, just to keep it interesting.

If you follow the link above to Geekville and click on "blog" you will see some more photos and narrative of our visit. There is also a link to their web site at the head of this blog. You'll be given an opportunity on their site to sign up for a free newsletter that we highly recommend to anyone using a computer, but especially those challenged by using it on the road. Below is a shot of the whole gang getting ready to partake in Marilyn's extra special Maine/Alaska dessert- Moose Turd Pie. Good, though!


The Gulds used to write their blog under "Jim and Chris and Odie's Wonderful Life." They rapidly became known on the net as "Odie's Roadie's." Odie is one cool character - gentle little beasty with a free ranging spirit, a mind of his own, and both brave and curious beyond his years. In this incredible action shot, which for sure wins me the photo credit award in this week's Battle of the Blogs, Odie "herds" the Armadillo while we eat dinner. It's Odie's Roadies-O Show! Git along little doggie!