Good morning! Despite a brief rain shower the skies are now clearing quickly here in Ohiopyle State Park. Partly cloudy and 46 degrees in Ohiopyle. There is a northwest breeze at 9 mph. Much cooler then last night for sure.

Today will have isolated showers between 10am and noon. Partly sunny, with a high of 54 degrees at 2pm. Six degrees below normal. Northwest wind 9 to 13 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%. A year ago, we had partly cloudy skies. The high last year was 68 degrees. The record high of 88 was set in 1947. There was a dusting of snow in 2009.

The sun will set at 6:36 pm with dusk around 7:03 pm, which is one minute and 28 seconds earlier than yesterday. At sunset, look for partly clear conditions and 50 degrees. There will be a northwest breeze at 11 mph. Today will have 11 hours and 5 minutes of daytime, a decrease of 2 minutes and 31 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will be mostly clear, with a low of 31 degrees at 6am. Eight degrees below normal. Northwest wind 5 to 7 mph becoming calm in the evening. In 2016, we had mostly cloudy skies. It got down to 59 degrees. The record low of 21 occurred back in 1940.

It was nice having that hot shower after sitting out in the rain after the front came through. I didn’t mind getting soaked — I didn’t set up a tarp, because I had dry clothes to change in an I knew a nice hot shower would warm me up well before bed. I probably would have sat our later, but my chair collapsed.

I knew for some time that my chair was falling apart, and with the rain the last of the fabric finally collapsed. It looks like I will be passing a Walmart today on my route, so I should be able to pick up another chair. Lantern has been burning dim, so I want to get some replacement mantles, because it looks like the ones in it are getting holes in them. Also want to get some stuff to make pizza tonight. I knew I was going to have to replace the chair on this trip, but it’s fine I’ve had that chair for 2-3 years and those folding camp chairs seem to wear out after a while, especially with my big fat ass flopping in it.

Not as cold as I expected this morning, and it will be even warmer once I get that nice hot shower in. After a brief rain shower, it looks like a sun is peaking out and there is a lot of blue sky showing up. So hard to complain about that.

Pennsylvania State Campgrounds don’t require you to check out of your site until 3 PM, but I want to be on the road by 10 AM so I have time to explore some of Ohiopyle, the overlooks and Frank Lloyd Wright’s Falling Water. I don’t know if the later is open on Mondays for tours, but maybe I can least see the outside. If not that’s find. Then I’m heading down to West Virigina to camp in the northen Monghella National Forest, with the plan being to visit Blackwater Falls tomorrow and maybe go to Virigina on Wednesday.

Campground camping in my opinion, except for the warm showers, is really kind of for the dogs. The campsites are rather close together here at Ohiopyle, it seems like the stuffed them in whereever they could find room. Not my kind of camping. They ban alcohol, so I had to keep my beer tucked away when the campground ranger came around, but once it was dark, it wasn’t a problem. I just like having my space in the wilderness. Well tonight. At least the bathrooms and the campground are very clean and well maintained and the bathrooms are warm, with good showers and very clean.

Looking ahead, there are 10 weeks until Christmas when the sun will be setting at 4:59 pm with dusk at 5:29 pm (Standard Time). On that day in 2016, we had drizzle then mostly sunny skies and temperatures between 43 and 21 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 33 degrees. We hit a record high of 66 back in 1889.