Day 59 – Emlenton, Pennsylvania

Today was tour day, and a long day it was.  We really shortened up our usual morning routines, and got on the road a little after ten.  We headed north up into Pennslvania’s Oil Country, and landed in Oil City in time for lunch.  No, really, that’s the name of the town, Oil City!  It’s right in the middle of the oil production area, and was the early consolidation point for oil shipments heading down the Allegheny River.  The downtown area has many old office buildings dating from the late 19^th century, including one where the Rockefeller oil monopoly was started.  We all thought that it was a very attractive town, and Geri and Don selected a restaurant downtown for their lunch.  They thoughtfully had brought mine with them, and I had it in the truck.  They came back from the restaurant claiming that they had been served the absolute best cheesesteak sandwiches that they had ever eaten.  I understand that this is a Pennsylvania thing, but Don had told me that they had originated in Philadelphia; my rudimentary geography tells me that we’re at the other end of the state!  Well, I’m glad they enjoyed their lunch.

We then continued north to the original oil discovery area, in Titusville, and stopped at the town park where I was allowed to depart the truck and stretch my legs.  It was a pleasant place, and we wandered around looking at the memorials and historical markers that had been placed there over the years.  Back in the truck, we did a driving tour of the town, viewing some lovely old homes and churches, and finding a motel entirely composed of cabooses from the railroads that served the area.  Cute!  Don was pleased to find a huge building that had been a boiler and oil equipment manufacturing facility, and later made naval guns and parts for ship engines during both of the World Wars. 

We found our way out to the site of the original oil well drilled in the United States, known as the Drake Well, for the guy who drilled it in 1859.  It’s really a museum site, with lots of displays of oil well drilling and production equipment, and a very realistic reproduction of the actual equipment that Drake used to drill the first well, or so Don tells me.  My level of interest in this is a bit less than Geri’s, which is substantially lower than Don’s.  The thing that excited Geri the most was a display in the museum building that extolled the virtues of fluorescent light bulbs as a means of preventing global warming.  I thing we have a photo of her demonstrating her enthusiasm over this presentation. 

We returned to our temporary home via a detour to Foxburg, where they had dinner last night.  They felt the need to take some pics of the Country’s oldest golf course and the American Golfing Hall of Fame at the Club House of the Foxburg Country Club.  I’m not totally sure, but I have a feeling that their need to document their presence has something to do with some of their relatives who play golf, in lots of different places, but haven’t played on this historic course.  Or maybe they just thought it was a neat thing.  I don’t know. 

On our way back the coach, we stopped at the local truck stop restaurant, which advertised America’s Worst Best Apple Pie.  They have strong feelings on this subject, having experienced the famous apple pies of Julian, California, and judged them to be the finest that they have experienced.  Geri bought a couple of slices of their pie, and we took them back to the rig.  After she took me out for a pleasant walk, she went to the Park office and purchased some of the Hershey’s vanilla ice cream that they are very proud of.  Back in the coach, she topped off the pie slices, which they said were as thick as the hamburgers they had last night, with the ice cream, and they both dived in.  There was mutual approval of the quality of the pie, but two thumbs down on the ice cream, which they said didn’t have a strong enough vanilla flavoring.  The pie, they judged, was very good, but fell a bit short of the Julian variety.  Well, that’s our excitement for the night.

We are back on the road tomorrow, apparently to some place in Ohio.  I remember a campground in Ohio where old Buddy and I had a lot of fun chasing through the woods after squirrels, and I tried to climb a tree to catch one!  I’d like to go back to that place!  Whatever happens, I’ll keep you up do date on our fun and foibles.  Sayonara, guys!