US Naval Academy
Naval Station Marina
Halligan, Rd
Annapolis, MD 21402
GPS: 38.982346, -76.462862
Yesterday (Wednesday) was pack up day. After sending Adam and family on their way for a day of sight–seeing in Washington DC, we turned our attention to packing our stuff. We've been parked here for five months, so packing included a lot of acquired stuff. Seems like acquiring stuff is a human condition. By sundown, we had it under control and Thursday would be the normal Close–Up checklist.
This morning I returned my trusty golf cart to the shop, we closed up our rig, hooked up the truck, and said goodbye to the few Workampers still here. On our way out, we stopped at the office to bid farewell to Bob and Becky Miller, the park managers, who have been our bosses for the past five months. I cannot put into words what fine people these two folks are. It has been a pleasure working for them. I wish them the best in years to come.
Our travel today was due south. A short 169 miles which we accomplished in just under four hours. Pause a minute to look at the map and take a little geography lesson. We spent the summer in the Susquehana River Valley. Our trip south followed the river as far as Harrisburg. From there the river goes to the southeast and dumps into the Chesepeake Bay at Harve de Grace. The headwaters of the North Branch of the Susquehana River are in upstate New York, so the river bisects the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and cuts through the state of Maryland. I told Adam he could put a kayak in to the water at Yogi at Shangri–La and paddle to the USNA marina.
Here is what Wickipdea says about this river:
The Susquehanna River is a river located in the northeastern United States. At 464 miles (747 km) long, it is the longest river on the American east coast that drains into the Atlantic Ocean. With its watershed, it is the 16th-largest river in the United States, and the longest river in the continental United States without commercial boat traffic today.
The nation's 16th-largest river by volume, the Susquehanna rises and flows through New York, Pennsylvania, and Maryland into the Chesapeake Bay. It forms from two main branches: the "North Branch", which rises in upstate New York and is regarded by federal mapmakers as the main branch, and the West Branch Susquehanna. The shorter West Branch, which rises in western Pennsylvania, joins the main stem of the Susquehanna near Northumberland in central Pennsylvania.
Susquehana River Watershed
The river drains 27,500 square miles (71,000 km2), including nearly half of the land area of Pennsylvania. The drainage basin (watershed) includes portions of the Allegheny Plateau region of the Appalachian Mountains, cutting through a succession of water gaps in a broad zigzag course to flow across the rural heartland of southeastern Pennsylvania and northeastern Maryland in the lateral near-parallel array of mountain ridges. The river empties into the northern end of the Chesapeake Bay at Havre de Grace, Maryland, providing half of the Bay's freshwater inflow. The Chesapeake Bay is the ria of the Susquehanna. Ria means 'a long narrow inlet of the seacoast, being a former valley that was submerged by a rise in the level of the sea'.
Rising as the outlet of Otsego Lake in Cooperstown, New York, the north branch of the river runs west-southwest through dairy country, receiving the Unadilla River at Sidney and the Chenango in downtown Binghamton. It dips south into Pennsylvania briefly to turn sharply at Susquehanna Depot north back into New York. At Athens Township (just south of Waverly, New York) in northern Pennsylvania, just across the New York state line, it receives the Chemung from the northwest. It makes a right-angle curve between Sayre and Towanda to cut through the Endless Mountains in the Allegheny Plateau of Pennsylvania. It receives the Lackawanna River southwest of Scranton and turns sharply to the southwest, flowing through the former anthracite industrial heartland in the mountain ridges of northeastern Pennsylvania, past Wilkes-Barre, Nanticoke, Shickshinny, Berwick, Bloomsburg, and Danville.
The origin of the West Branch is near Northern Cambria, Pennsylvania. It travels northeasterly through Curwensville (where the river is dammed to form a lake), through Clearfield, Pennsylvania. The West Branch turns to the southeast and passes through Lock Haven and Williamsport before turning south. The North Branch joins the West Branch from the northwest at Northumberland, just above Sunbury.
Downstream from the confluence of its branches, the river flows south past Selinsgrove, where it is joined by its Penns Creek tributary, and cuts through a water gap at the western end of Mahantongo Mountain. It receives the Juniata River from the northwest at Duncannon, then passes through its last water gap through Blue Mountain, just northwest of Harrisburg. Downtown Harrisburg developed on both sides of the river, which is nearly a mile wide here. Harrisburg is the largest city located on the lower river, which flows southeast across South Central Pennsylvania, forming the border between York and Lancaster counties, and receiving Swatara Creek from the northeast. It crosses into northern Maryland approximately 30 miles (48 km) northeast of Baltimore and is joined by Octoraro Creek. The river enters the northern end of the Chesapeake Bay at Havre de Grace.
The USNA Support Facility is on the eastern bank of the Severn River just upstream from the mouth at the Chesapeake Bay. The marina there offered us a parking place for our unoccupied rig. There was also an RV Park nearby. Since our activities for this weekend are family oriented, we chose to park our rig at the marina and join Adam and family at their hotel.
We were settled into the marina parking place by 1500 hrs (3PM). We disconnected the truck and headed off to join Adam at his hotel. The day was a success.
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