You, Me, and the Dog: Stories From the Mobile Mojo Dojo Casa House: July into August, 2024

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We packed up and moved out of Stafford after being parked for a month. I was a little concerned about getting back behind the wheel but other than sending a forgotten candle shattering to its doom, the trip out went very well. We even got the car properly positioned on our first go.

We drove a zig-zagging North Westerly route of interstate and four lane highway to Bedford, PA – home of the “Coffee Pot” for an overnight. It was comfortably scenic once we’d cleared the sprawl of DC and readjusted to the rounded hills of the East from the dramatic volcanic shape of Hawaii.

After a Harvest Host overnight at a Bedford church (pleasant and surprisingly peaceful despite its closeness to the highway - and they gave us cookies) we continued north through the mountains of Western PA to the border town of Olean, NY. We both grew up in NY, spent decades there, yet had never ventured into this corner of the state. If I hadn’t gone through a brief period of wanting to go to St. Bonaventure, I probably wouldn’t even have known the town existed.

We had a site along the Allegheny River at a quiet and clean private campground. It’s a big muddy thing (the river) that reminded me a lot of the Schoharie Creek, but with water. The far shore was all woods so we were treated to deer, ducks, a beaver cutting and collecting saplings, and even an eagle that swooped in for some fishing one morning.

We settled into the day 1 routine of exploring town – finding a decent coffee shop, the local grocery and dry goods place, and getting a feel for the local vibe. That last was challenging in Olean, it’s a town that seems to be unsure of what it wants to be when it grows up. And what’s with all the giant statues of squirrels?

For the rest of the week we relied on tourist brochures and the internet.

First up was Rock City, right on the PA border. The pull off from the road looks promising. The parking lot is ok. The gift shop/office/theater/museum looks like the set of a horror movie, the low budget kind that has such a well written story you can’t sleep for a week. It’s okay, press on. There’s a walk reminiscent of Bear Town that we thoroughly enjoyed, an easy hour wanding through boulders and eroded channels with one that looks like a perfect map of NY – Long Island isn’t part of it. The trail isn’t long but is uneven and there are stairs at both ends.

We drove out to the Kinzua Bridge State Park rising through the Allegheny Forest’s gentle mountains and narrow glacial valleys (not gorges). The park is situated at the National Engineering Landmark of the Kinzua Bridge which, a few years ago, was blown over by a tornado. The remnants have been repurposed as a pedestrian walkway with a platform (including 1” glass floor) out into the valley where you can, as my Father poetically put it, look down on the flying birds. Enjoying the views and nice hike, and feeling lucky, we continued on to the “Serenity Glass Park” in a town about 20 miles away.

Don’t go to the Serenity Glass Park. There’s a reason it doesn’t have a website.

On our last day, Renee discovered we were only an hour from the Lucile Ball museum. She is a huge fan so we had to go. It was definitely worth the drive. It was split into two separate downtown buildings, one about “I Love Lucy” and the other about Lucy and Desi. A few blocks away was the National Comedy Center (interactive museum) which was also a lot of fun. This may not surprise many of you, but we played a contest where we told jokes trying to make the other person laugh and I didn’t win. All three museums were accessible with clean restrooms and places to sit and rest.

Saturday was our travel day, but we were able to just beat most of the rain and it went smoothly. Even the part where there was no turn around for the road our site was on and I had to back out. Then turn around. Then back back in to get the tow dolly. But we got the car on the dolly first try so there was that, and an easy drive to Ithaca.