Day 81 (revisited) of our 2025 RVing Adventure with Historical & Musical Interludes

It's Monday July 21st, day 81 of our 2025 summer adventure. I walked by the cow every morning. It was not until today, that I realized this cow is the same cow that is on a mural in downtown Livonia! I did walk this morning and we did have some maintenance work done on the RV, but what I did not tell you was we left NY right after the work on the RV was done. We drove down Route 15A to 390 and picked up Route 15 or the future I-99. We have traveled this route many times before. Our ultimate destination today is Mechanicsburg PA on Route 11.

Heading south on 390 , we have always called the area near Cohocton. The place with the “windmills on the hills.” The Dutch Hill/Cohocton Wind Farm is a 125 Megawatt wind farm in Cohocton, NY. It uses 50 turbines of the Clipper "Liberty" type, which were the largest found in the United States when they were put up for sale. The wind farm provides power for about 50,000 Northeastern homes. It was installed in 2008 and was developed and operated by First Wind.

Route 15 is where we cross into Pennsylvania. This is very close to several corps of Engineer campgrounds that we enjoy. We did spend two nights at one of them on our way north this year.

Tioga Hammond Reservoir is part of the Upper Tioga River Watershed, which encompasses 280 square miles in northcentral Pennsylvania, is part of the Susquehanna River and Chesapeake Bay watersheds. The Tioga River Watershed makes up the greater portion of the county. The Tioga River proper begins in Bradford County and flows westward, near Blossburg it turns northward and flows that direction until it reached the Chemung River in New York State. The Cowanesque River Starts in Potter County, flowing eastward and joining the Tioga River near Lawrenceville. 

If you take Route 15 after Williamsport and before Harrisburg, you’ll pass by the Susquehanna River a stretch called Dauphin Narrows. Out there in the river stands a brilliant white replica of the Statue of Liberty, proudly standing in all her scaled-down glory on an old stone bridge piling. Distance plays havoc with your sense of scale in this area: Although Dauphin’s Lady Liberty looks tiny, but she is actually 25 feet tall and quite sturdy. She’s also the second replica of the Statue of Liberty to stand in the fast-moving waters. A local lawyer and activist-artist named Gene Stilp put together the first statue with some friends for a bit of a lark to celebrate the original Statue of Liberty’s centennial in the 1980s. When the ersatz replica was finished, they displayed it the closest thing they could find to the plinth on Liberty Island—an old railway bridge piling in the middle of the river. There it stood for years, raising a smile from motorists, until wind and weather finally carried it off in the 1990s. People missed it so much that Stilp and his team built a more durable replacement of wood, metal, and fiberglass, moved it onto the piling by helicopter, and lashed it securely to the plinth with cables. This patriotic example of folk art is always a passing pleasure, however, since it’s almost impossible to see from the nearest town, Dauphin. The best you can manage is a few seconds glimpse as you drive on Route 15 or 322—unless you’re good enough at kayaking to navigate the treacherous waters in that stretch of the river.

We overnighted at Appalachian Brewing Company, a Harvest Host location. This brewpub opened in the Summer of 2014. It features plenty of parking and a 26,000 square foot building. This huge building  features a bright and modern brewpub and grill, with more than 20 Appalachian Brewing Company craft beers on tap, and a full menu of innovative brewpub cuisine! 

Their 15-barrel brewing system is second in size only to their main Harrisburg brewery, and regularly turns out two to three seasonal specialty beers each month! 

We enjoyed our beers and meals in their spacious main dining room with regular and high top tables. They offer another ‘family dining’ section featuring comfortable booths. Who would not love to have a meeting here! They have a semi-private second floor mezzanine seating section overlooking the main dining area, and a private Brewery Dining section, which is separated from the main dining room. Additionally, they have a Conference Room which is perfect for any private gatherings.

We started out with a Bavarian oversized pretzel served with brew Haus mustard and warm cheddar dip. Neither of us were very hungry after that, so it was a second beer instead! I had the Orange Creamsicle Sour and Charlie had an IPA. 

Mother Nature gave us a beautiful sky over our RV when we headed back to the rig. 

Stay tuned for more Two Lane Adventures!