A Van Down By The River

Dear Uncle George,

You ever see the SNL skit about living in a van, down by the river?  If you are asking yourself what SNL is, I would guess that you haven't.

I only know about it because The Girl's middle school teacher would play this clip for the kids as "motivation."  :)

Whenever I see a crazy van, I always think of this skit.  And my buddy, Dave.  Dave is a "car guy," so I always try to sneak pics for him to enjoy. You know, paint job ideas like this one here:

Golly, jea.lous.

We pick up our story in Kirtland Ohio and move onto to the amazingly green state of Pennsylvania.  Well, actually Ohio, then 8 minutes in Pennsylvania, then 33 minutes in New York, only to be welcomed back again to Pennsylvania.  I am from ALASKA.  I will never be able to wrap my mind around the fact that I could be in 3 states within about 23 seconds.  

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I know rivers. And I would be the first to admit they seem to have their own personalities.

I grew up on the Kenai.

As in river.  As in world's capital of King Salmon.  As in hundreds of thousands have come to catch a king. My house was right up the hill from the river, and even in summer in my bed at night, I could hear the fishing river boats race up and down the water all night.

The Kenai River is cold.  Super cold. It is melted glacier water. It is a strange sort of greenish-blue.  It is wide and it's current is fast.  It is a force not to be reckoned with.  Every kid that grew up in Soldotna knows that.  Certainly not the kind of river you would want to live in a van by, unless you want to freeze to death.

Now, I live by the Mighty Mo.

Missouri River.

The Missouri is wider than the Kenai.  It is not as pretty.  My Rotary friend, Albert, once told me that the Missouri is too thick to drink and too thin to plow.

As far as rivers go, it is not beautiful or glorious.  And there are no world record King Salmon swimming in it.  That I am positive of.  And if one wanted to live in a van down by it, I would recommend getting a gun-carrying permit.  Just in case.

But the Susquehanna River....is different.

I cannot imagine a river being so tranquil.  So peaceful.  So sweet.  

Even development has not interfered with its gentleness

This river is famous to the LDS folks because Joseph Smith was baptized there.  Lots of other folks have as well, for the historical connection, but none was as important as Joseph's.  Just keeping it real.

So I took me and the Mini to Harmony, Pennsylvania to see said river and baptismal spot.

It was raining.  It was dark light.  It was isolated.  Even the Mini looked a little nervous being out there alone.

But it was so worth the walk--as we used to say about my dorm at BYU (our girl's dorm was isolated from the rest of them and you had to walk up a hill to see us...so we made a dorm t-shirt that said "Worth the walk."  Cleaver, eh?)

This is my favorite

This is from part of a statue by the river.  It is Joseph Smith's hands on his heart.  Which, when the Gospel of Jesus Christ is boiled down, it is about love.

I loved being at the river.  Even when I had to walk back into the area for a second time because I got distracted by some new friends and forgot to take the George pictures the first walk in.

Even when it rained so hard I thought I might be flooded out.  Or the Mini would be washed away when I got back to the parking lot.  See this picture down below, the Mini took it.  

I will say, living in a van down by the river would have certainly been handy that day.

All said, Harmony has been my most peaceful stop so far.  

I met some old Jerry Garcia looking fellas in the hotel parking lot later that evening and they asked me I was on a "pilgrimage." I hadn't thought of it like that, but yeah, I guess so.  That is the way they processed why I wouldn't join them for a beer in their room, I guess.

http://www.wickedcampers.com/

I found this link for your next visit to the Susquehanna, George.   In case you want to stay in a van, down by the river.

Love

Valsy