Bedford County

With the prospect of a three day weekend ahead of me and beautiful weather predicted, I decided to head about two hours west of Reading to Bedford County for a planned weekend of camping, touring, meandering, postcard collecting and, of course, letterboxing.  After stopping to visit my grandchildren, African Wild and Squeaks, who were also spending the weekend camping in Chester County, I made my trip west, reaching Cowan's Gap State Park at dusk.

When I "camp", I really stay in my car, camping just means that I sleep at a campground.  I spend most of my daylight hours exploring the area, sometimes hiking, sometimes driving.  My Rav4 is just the right length to sleep on an air mattress in the back so I can pick up and go very easily.  I enjoy going alone although most people are horrified at the thought.  I have a new traveling companion these days, though.  Bill had given me a Walther PK 38 handgun last year for my birthday and taught me how to use it.   Legally, I am allowed to have it almost everywhere that I travel in Pennsylvania except near schools.  Although I am not really comfortable with the thought of using it, I do keep it nearby now when I am on some of my solitary adventures.

 My first exploit the next morning was to look for a box at the Felton Mill Covered Bridge.  I was rewarded with a very pretty autumn view when I crossed the creek to get to the bridge. The box turned out to be missing but I was happy to have looked for it.   This bridge is on private property in the middle of a "farm" of sorts.  

 The bridge is in need of a lot of TLC but in a conversation later in the day with a local lady, I found out that the owner is 80 years old and the bridge may fall down because it won't be repaired by him.

 I was on the bridge looking for a letterbox when I heard some rustling and other weird noises in the leaves outside of the bridge.  I was a little nervous because the bridge IS on private property in a mountain area and in my mind, I saw a hillbilly with a shotgun coming to see who was on his property.  I nervously peaked around the corner of the upright and laughed when I saw this huge pig rooting for his breakfast.

 Off to the town of Bedford now.  Hello, horse!

 Hello again, horse!  Bedford is a very quaint little town and on this day they were preparing for their annual Halloween parade so everyone was bustling about.  I did pick up a letterbox in the tourist bureau here and also a stack of Bedford county postcards.

 One of the touristy attractions in Bedford is this art deco fully functioning service station.  Yes, there was a postcard for that!

 Interesting tile work put into a service station.  I guess at the time that this building was constructed, service stations weren't as common as they are today and probably worthy of the artwork of the time.

 

Here is the official postcard.