Milford Trip, Part 1...

For years now, Pam and I have wanted to do a road trip up through New England states in the fall to see the turning of the leaves. We didn't know if this would be a vacation trip while both of us were still working, or a road trip when we were retired. Well, neither of those has happened yet, but our trip a couple of weeks ago to Milford Pennsylvania was about as good as it can get. The leaves and trees along I-80 were just about perfect.

It can be a bit of a culture shock going from the flatlands of Ohio to the hills of PA (I thought they were mountains but a local told me they consider them hills there). However you look at them, it was a very nice trip over and back. The weather guessers called for rain and overcast skies for the whole weekend. We sure were glad they were wrong.

The drive was shortened somewhat with the completion of US Route 30. We made 2 fuel stops and a lunch stop which totaled about 1/2 hour, so the trip took about 9.5 hours to complete. We didn't have any traffic problems -- I-80 is kinda deserted most of the time except around Wilkes-Barre and Scranton.

Milford is a very small borough (1,200+/- citizens) which lies on the banks of the Delaware River at the head of the Delaware Water Gap region. Most of the houses in the area are very old with some dating back to the 1860s. We looked at quite a few houses in the area, both newer ones in the private developments outside town and ones in the borough itself. The homes in the developments meant home owner associations and dues, and usually had a lake/pond of some sort, an association clubhouse, tennis courts and playgrounds associated with them. The dues were generally around $1,100 per year. Unfortunately, these neighborhoods were really isolated and with the terrain being very hilly and curvy, we felt like walking and bike riding would be out of the question for these two "soon-to-be 60" transplants.

We are leaning very much toward living in the borough if we can find the right house. In terms of that right place, Pam has her opinions and I have mine but I'm sure we'll work it out when the right one comes on the market. We saw some houses listed by realtors and some for sale by owners. The borough has nice wide streets and a lot of the places have extensive gardens in place of grassy yards. As I said earlier, the town is pretty old but really full of charm and very well-maintained.

I have done some homework on the cost of living there compared to Ohio, and for us being retired it seems to be pretty favorable for an east coast area. I have also done some checking with the ham radio guys/clubs in the area and it appears that the mountains (hills?) don't impede the transmission/reception of radio signals much at all.

Well, so much for a general run down on the area. As I said, we'll keep looking for the right place to live.

Patience is the ability to let your light shine after your fuse has blown.

Hooah