Our Winter Trip to Otter Lake

Anticipation….
It’s always fun dreaming about and planning for a trip in RoadAbode, but nothing beats the excitement of being packed up, starting her up, and pulling out. Started Friday off by only working the AM, and Amy picked up RoadAbode after dropping the girls @ school. Amy proceeded to pack in the clothes and ‘stuff’ we had all picked out Thursday nite. After getting done my reports and stuff, @ work in the AM – I headed home, helped pack what I could, and set up the bike rack for the first time. Worked pretty easy, but good thing Amy picked up a “rack bar” for Emily’s bike. Her ‘girl bar’ was too small to fit on the rack without it.
We drove up with no incidents, just had to get use to being behind the wheel of something bigger than RoadToad, and how you get ‘sucked in’ as big rigs pass you by on the highway.
Headed up the Northeast Extension, the weather was beautiful – blue skies and little wind. Got off @ exit 95 – the Pocono exit – which connects to RT 940 and US 80. We stopped at the WAWA there to get gas, and some coffee and muffins. They also have a nice manned visitor center there, and got some great free maps of the area. We continued on to Route 80 east, connected with 209 North 2 exit 309, and followed the rest of the directions pretty easily to Otter Lake.

Amy & the girls had never been to the campground, but I had been there when I was 11 or 12 when my brother Frank had taken me with his then wife and her brothers & sisters. Otter Lake is located on a windy road about 9 miles in from Route 209.

We checked in easily (but - how come all these campground offices are run by 17 year old girls?) Only one small issue - getting the propane tank filled. Had not had to do that since we bought RoadAbode. We had to pull back out to the main road and back into a driveway that was down the road a bit. I couldn’t see well in the mirrors – cause I was backing into the sun, but we managed.
After that – got to our spot at J-15 – pretty level, and sized nicely. Only hooked up cable and electric, I don’t want to mess with frozen sewer hoses.


Walking around the campground, what hits you is the quietness and serenity. There’s hardly anyone around, though there are plenty of seasonal trailers on the premises. It’s great to be able to hear birds, wind, and not much more around.


We worked on getting the bikes off – carrier did great – and took a ride out to the camp store after adding air to everyone’s tires.
Emily did a great job keeping up, even with training wheels and sans any shifting gears. She’s working on true ‘kid power’.After getting back, I got the propane thru the lines, kicked on the heater (getting down to mid 20s) and Amy warmed up the oven for our traditional Friday Nite Pizza.

We enjoyed watching some Disney and Cartoon Network, took a walk to visit the restrooms, and enjoyed the stars in the sky – without the light pollution we are so use to in Philly. Time for bed!