Pottsville, PA

Pottsville, PA

We stayed in Lickdale, PA for our visit here.  Confusion set in as we made reservations for the Jonestown KOA.  Plugged in the Jonestown KOA on the RV navigator and hmmm.  When we pulled in the KOA sign was covered up and the handmade sign said "Jonestown AOK".  Odd.  We thought well maybe they just changed over.  We tried to check in, but yes we were in the wrong spot.  No longer a KOA, and yes we had made a deposit.  So off we went to Lickdale Campground which is now Jonestown KOA.  Weird and confusing for all.  We pulled in and there was a big sign for the public auction on Saturday.  They were selling everything off.  It was a bit of a mud pit and the sites were tight, water pressure was better with the pump.  Live and learn, it's all part of the adventure.

We did the required oil change at Speedco and had new brakes installed at Travel Center.  This is a good spot for this as there are lots of places to choose from for work.  Best thing is they are for truckers so you fit, and they get you in and working in no time.  

We were in the heart of Dutch Country, but didn't venture to the Amish areas at all.  We headed over to Pottsville, home of Yuengling Brewery, the oldest brewery in the US.  We took the tour, drank some beer (the Porter was my favorite) tried Birch Beer (I liked it a lot!) and of course bought plastic beer glasses perfect for the Beast.  Yuengling switched operations to their dairy during prohibition, but had beer ready for consumption as soon as it ended.  Wonder how they did that?

The caves perfect for storing beer

How would you like to climb this ladder?

The original copper sink

Not only beautiful, but filters the sun.  The brew kettle is in this room with temps reaching 140.

The original sign with Eagle Brewing

Hooray! Tours over, time for samples

The Ice Cream factory.  Closed now, in renovations for the gift shop.  Yuengling just  restarted their ice cream line, which I enjoyed!  Try the Black n Tan..a blend of Caramel ice cream and chocolate.

After the tour, we plugged in attractions on the garmin, and came up with Pioneer Tunnel.

Pioneer Tunnel is a horizontal drift mine.  It runs 1,800 feet into the side of Mahoney Mountain.      This was a working mine and is now an attraction.  I am not a fan of closed in spaces, but it didn't really bother me much.  I was amazed that people can work in this type of environment day in and day out.  We also learned about the Centralia fire.  This fire started in 1962 by a trash burn outside of town.  The trash burn site was connected to a coal vein in the mine which ignited.  The fire still burns today.

Hoping for no earthquakes

fungi was growing everywhere

The next day we woke up and decided to head to Philadelphia.  Because we didn't advance plan we kinda forgot it was a three day holiday with the Eagles playing a night home game.  The area surrounding the historic Independence Hall was jam packed and all the tour tickets for the Hall were gone.  Oh well, we wandered about the outside, waited to view the Liberty Bell and had a Philly Cheesesteak sandwich at a downtown festival.  We enjoyed the day and had a good time wandering.

Independence Hall

Site of the second Bank in the US

Carpenters Hall where they secretly met.

So this was delicious.  I almost forgot to take the photo.

Ben Franklin's grave.  His wife is beside him.

Next up....Gettysburg!  

I never made it to a quilt shop in Pennsylvania Dutch Country.  They were closed by the time we finished our mine tour and closed on Sunday of course.  There is always the next stop, right?