Buchanan State Forest

Lancaster, PA Week 3 | Camping in Buchanan State Forest | October 2023

During our last week and a half in Pennsylvania, the plant where Curtis was working had its shutdown, which meant long hours everyday and no free time. But time passed quickly, and we made it to the end — and all things considered, it’s a small price to pay for being able to live the way we do whenever he isn’t assigned to a plant.

When the last week came, the plant gifted us with another round of sickness, and by the last day we were more than ready to be done. We accepted that this just wasn’t going to be our favorite assignment of the year — but we’d be willing to go back another year and give it another chance. I really think staying a little closer to the plant and Curtis working the night shift would give us a better experience. We packed up, returned the rental car, and said goodbye for now to Southeastern Pennsylvania.

At this point, we had 5 days to go from Lancaster, PA to Joliet, IL. We planned to spend the weekend with Curtis’ parents, which gave us 3 days to drive from PA to MI. Since we were tired and still not feeling 100%, we decided to go only 2.5 hours on our first day, from Lancaster to Buchanan State Forest. We took I-76 for most of the drive, then exited and followed US-30 to the camping area.

Southern Pennsylvania was now at the peak of fall colors which made the whole drive gorgeous, but especially as we entered the Appalachians, left the interstate, and started driving through the rolling hills. Everything was bright yellow, red, and orange, and was exactly what we needed to feel energized enough to get through the day. When we arrived in Buchanan State Forest, we first drove to a scenic overlook so that we could sit and admire the view of the valley and opposing ridges. We sat, enjoyed lunch, and followed Charlotte around in circles as she enjoyed the fall colors through sniffing the fallen leaves (and everything else).

After that, we finished up the drive to our camping spot for the evening, a dispersed spot along a gravel road in the state forest. We relaxed here, and went for a long walk down the road for sunset. For dinner, we enjoyed some leftover chicken and fried plantains from Frisco’s Chicken — their family meal was enough to feed us for both of our dinners on our drive from PA to MI! We were happy to be back in the van, even if it was only for two nights. We were also thankful that it still wasn’t cold enough to have to run our heater… yet!