July 10th - Harrisburg, PA

​At 5 am, Hank awoke ready to get the day started. He woke the dogs up for a change and they all went out on a short one-mile run. After a shower and breakfast, he got a lot of work done on the blog.
The three of us drove to Jean's church, which met on a shady lawn. Jean is mobility-limited, so she had not previously attended the outdoor service. Having Hank and Angie along to help gave her a chance to check it out and enjoy church in the great outdoors.

After the service, Hank and Angie made a quick costume change and headed to the Susquehanna River where we met Hank's nephew, Ralph, and his half-sister, Rose for a kayak trip. Susquehanna Outfitter drove us up the river and dropped us off so we could float with the current back to our cars. The river level was extremely low, less than a foot deep for the first 30-minutes. We had a challenging time finding a route through the rocks, especially since we were initially paddling upstream.

We quickly tired and turned downstream. Soon the depth increased to about 18 inches for the middle part of the trip, which was a lot more relaxing. We beached the boats on an island to wade around among the crayfish and get a good group photo.

The last part of the trip was an easy paddle through three feet of water back to our cars. The view of the state capital on the east shore, with City Island in the foreground, was a highlight. Also, the views up-river to the gaps the river had carved through the mountains were captivating. Another highlight was an impromptu sculpture some created by a clever passerby who placed a plastic deck chair on top of large tree trunk and root ball sticking up out of the water. 

Ralph's half-sister, Tracy, met us for a meal after the float trip. Ralph discovered these two half-sisters just last year, as a result of a genetic test. They have had a delightful time getting to know each other over the past year. Hank and Angie were enjoyed meeting them.