Pennsylvania Saves the East Coast

Nate and I took a much-needed getaway from the Harpers Ferry KOA this weekend and went camping at the Hershey KOA in Pennsylvania (one of the perks of managing a KOA is great discounts at other KOAs). We were both interested in visiting the city that supposedly smells like chocolate and in checking out some new territory, so we loaded up the family station wagon (sorry, the Subaru) with the dog and all our camping supplies and set out for some relaxation.

It was a really great weekend. Touring Hershey's Chocolate World was pretty neat (and free) and I really enjoyed just lounging by the pool in the afternoon. We even decided to "luxury camp" this time and took the air mattress..it felt like we were cheating, but cheating has never felt nicer. :) We had time for another great DeNeff sermon on the car stereo (which will be a topic for later discussion) and slept more in two nights than it felt like we did in the last month. The absolute best part of this weekend, though, was that someone talked to me.

Several someones, actually. The first was a woman who was coming out of the campground shower just as I was going in. Upon spying my shower gear, she smiled and said, "Oh, are you needing the shower? Let me get my stuff out for you." I just stood there like an idiot with my mouth hanging open in total disbelief first of all that she had smiled, and second that she had spoken to me. Then, after my shower, Nate and I had a nice little conversation with a couple whose site we walked past on the way back to ours. A whole five minutes of talking to smiling people! And later in the afternoon, as Jasper and I waited in the car for Nate to finish a game of disc golf, a couple who had parked next to us and their puppy walked up and we chatted about dogs and the area until Nate came back.

It seems silly, but it has just been so long since a stranger initiated interaction with me that I've almost forgotten how to respond. People in the Harpers Ferry area are not friendly and do not even acknowledge your presence unless absolutely necessary. Cashiers at Wal-Mart will complete your entire transaction without speaking to you or even looking at you unless you make them. Sales people at various stores will not ask if they can help you and will even let you stand at the register for several minutes before putting aside their current task to ring you up. Drivers are rude, servers are not friendly, and campers...we won't even go there.

So even though Pennsylvania does not get great marks for appearance or road quality (sorry, Combs, but you know it is true), its people saved the reputation of the entire East Coast for this midwesterner. I feel a little bit alive again and like there actually is hope of making friends here.