Day Nineteen - Twenty Three - A Summer of Bluegrass, Camping and Friends - Thursday 5/16 - Monday 5/20/2024

Our first full day at Ives Run is today, Thursday May 16th. It's our 19th day of our summer adventure. I did not set an alarm, but I was awake by 6:30, so I might as well walk! It was in this campground almost two years ago that I committed to my journey of change. Walking these roads holds so much emotion for me.

Ohhhhh, it's just a day for us to take our time and put a few things out and get set-up comfortably, because we are going to be here for a while! We have almost a week until any of our friends show up to camp with us! The most important thing we did today was wash the car! There is a small self-service wash not too far from the campground, so we headed out with a very dirty car and came home with a nice clean car! 

  

On Friday May 17th, I took my normal walk. I enjoyed the beautiful flowers and flowering weeds that are in this park! We had a couple errands planned. Charlie needs a haircut and we need to do laundry! I found a barber in Mansfield and a laundromat close by. He dropped me off to start the laundry and he went to get a haircut! 

He was back so fast, I thought maybe he needed an appointment. Nope, Cora got him right in and she did a great job! Need a haircut while you are in Mansfield PA, check out Head Hunter Barber Shop! The laundromat was good. It was clean and all the machines appeared to be in good working order. $3 for a standard load washer and $ .25 for 8 minutes in the dryer. However, it did not have a customer restroom. So, go before you come to the Mansfield Laundromat on East Main Street!

Charlie did kick back and enjoy the sounds of nature, we are still in shorts but it is cool enough for a long sleeved shirt!

On Saturday, May 18th I enjoyed my morning walk and the beauty of this area. Let me tell you about Ives Run. The campground has almost 200 reservable campsites. It is located on the eastern shore of Hammond Lake. The surrounding land paints a scenic picture of rolling mountains and open fields. It's named for the tributary that flows into the lake.

The partially forested campground sits in the pristine setting of the Endless Mountains region of Pennsylvania, along the Allegheny Plateau in the Appalachian Mountains. The Tioga-Hammond Lakes Project consists of two separate dams and reservoirs. One on the Tioga River and the other along Crooked Creek. The lakes formed by both dams are joined by a gated connecting channel. The Tioga-Hammond Lakes flood control project was constructed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The project was operationally complete in 1978. 

Hammond Lake has 685 surface acres of water. Hammond Lake, which sits 5 feet higher than Tioga Lake, is a source of “good” water. By allowing that water to flow into and mix with the acid-mine-tainted waters in Tioga Lake, it improves the water quality in Tioga Lake enough to support aquatic life, both in that lake and downstream. Tioga Lake, with 498 surface acres of water.

Since it is a bit cool for us, we have been enjoying a fire everyday around 4pm or so. I love the campfire most when camping.

For my walk on Sunday May 19th, it was a great way to start to the day! Later in the morning, we ventured into Wellsboro to shop at Tops Friendly Market. The story of Tops began in the early 1920s when Ferrante Castellani moved from a village outside of Rome, Italy to Niagara Falls, NY, where he opened his very first grocery store. He opened two more stores under the name Great Bear Market. In the 1950s, he met Thomas Buscaglia. Excited by the growth of modern day "supermarkets", Castellani and Buscaglia partnered with a group of independent Bells store owners, in their early and expanding retail grocery enterprise.

In 1962, the group opened its first true modern supermarket, a 25,000 square-foot store on Portage Road in Niagara Falls, NY. The name Tops was suggested and the team chose that name because they were determined to give customers the best shopping experience possible. In the lingo of the 60s, that meant it was 'tops'. The 1970s saw Tops continue to grow in Western New York and thrive where competitors struggled. By the mid-70s, the company had expanded into the Rochester area. Store growth continued throughout the next decade and during this time, Tops opened its first Pennsylvania location in Bradford, PA.

In 1991 Tops was acquired by Ahold. In 2007, Ahold announced that they would sell Tops Markets to Morgan Stanley Private Equity. In 2010, Tops acquired The Penn Traffic Company, a deal which resulted in bringing 64 new stores into its family. In July 2012, Tops announced its purchase of 21 Grand Union Family Markets stores. In November 2013, six members of Tops' executive team, led by Chairman and CEO Frank Curci, purchased the company from Morgan Stanley Private Equity, returning it back to complete local ownership.

In February of 2021 Tops Markets and Price Chopper/Market 32 announced that they entered into a merger that created a powerful alliance between the two storied independent supermarket chains. It nearly doubled their collective Northeastern footprint. Tops Friendly Markets operate 149 full-service supermarkets including five operated by franchisees under the Tops banner, along with 59 fuel stations, across New York, Pennsylvania, and Vermont. They are headquartered in Williamsville, NY, and operate two distribution facilities in Lancaster and West Seneca, NY.

My favorite thing about Tops is the deals. We went to restock Charlie with coke. They had buy 2 and get 3 free. So, 5 8-paks of Coke for the price of 2. Does that say groceries are over-priced or what?!

My favorite story about Tops deals involved our dear friend Jackie Sperring. She is a dedicated Wegmans shopper. I don't know how she ended up in Tops in Avon. But they had a buy 2 half gallons of Friendly ice cream and get 3 free. Jackie had to ask an employee if this really was true. They confirmed it was a real deal. Her next call was to us to see how much room we had in the freezers at the fairgrounds!

For my walk on Monday May 20th is was foggy. This was my view of the sunrise. 

When I got to the water's edge, you could not even see the area surrounding the lake.

Away from the water, closer to the end of my 4-mile walk, you could still see the fog in the distance against the mountains.

We spent the rest of the day getting ready for our friends, Ted Decker and his wife Linda. They will be coming in on Tuesday and staying for 3 nights. We have not seen Ted and Linda for a couple of years. The last time we camped with them was the summer of 2022 at Park Station in Chemung County.

Stay tuned to follow us on our #TwoLaneAdventures