In and on the steps of Rocky

Sunday, September 15th.
Exterior.
The crickets are chirping in the damp, humid night. The van and its occupants have made it to Timberlane Campground just south of Philadelphia.

Today we woke up to another overcast day. We abandoned our diet of Wonder Bread and cheese in favor of a breakfast of granola, milk and orange juice. And it really was a much more enjoyable experience. Which really doesn't say much. While we ate our breakfast we tried to recount our journey so far, in order to plot the route on our map. Just as we finished eating it started to rain. So we moved into the van and debated our next move.

...which ended up being a shower. After that we checked out of the campground and hit the road. Destination: Philadelphia. We were not really up for the entire historic tour. In fact, there was only one place we really wanted to go: the steps leading up to the Museum of Art. The very same steps that Sylvester Stallone ran up in "Rocky".

Quite possibly over half of the people that visit the Museum of Art come there only to walk or run up those steps. Which is a sad statement about the cultural horizons of many people. But on this day we were a part of that group. So we drove up and parked outside the museum, on the opposite side of the steps. We walked around to scout out the territory and to check with the security personnel that it would be alright to wheel out a sofa there. They had no problem with it, so we unloaded the couch and rolled it around the building -- prompting smirks, smiles and raised eyebrows all around us :)

We took a few pictures of both of us at the top of the steps. And while Dan stayed on the couch Jens ran all the way down the steps and across the street, stopping now and then to take pictures. Once he was back at the top we lined up for another picture, with the Philly skyline as a backdrop. Just then three people walked by and were so surprised by our little ordeal that they stopped to hear what was going on. They turned out to be José and José, visiting from Spain, and Alma, a charming Spanish-American girl. They thought the idea was great, so we invited them to get their picture taken on the couch :) We took a picture of them with our camera and their camera and then took a group photo as well. We gave them the website address and wished each other happy travels and rolled our way out of there.

After a great lunch at Jake's Pizza downtown and a trip to the Visitor's Center we found a nearby campground to head for. So after one night in Delaware and an afternoon in Pennsylvania we now crossed the river and entered New Jersey. We checked in at Timberlane Campground just over the border which turned out to be a pretty dull RV-park (our perception of everything is sort of influenced by the bad weather) but had the amenities we needed. So we made ourselves comfortable inside the van and settled in for an evening of trip-logging (and mosquito-swatting...)