Road Trip March - Day 9

March 21st 2026 (Saturday) 

Today started with going to Camping World to get drinking water & gas for the van and some other bits and pieces Fred needed. I took this opportunity to go explore a hiking trail I had spotted on Google maps. The John Bartram Trail is a nice flat easy walk, being on an old disused rail line. Very popular with fellow walkers, runners & cyclists.

• 

  Old steel railway bridge

• 

  Part of the trail, lovely woodland and maintained footpath

• 

  A train station along part of the route

• 

  Lots of diesel locos at the train station along the route

On my return we decided to visit the Reading Railroad Museum. This was rather more than I expected with numerous locos, carriages & wagons to look at. Predominately run by volunteers, our guide was very interesting with lots of information about each of the many locos and history of the railroad. After the tour there's much to read & many artifacts to look at in the museum. A rather pleasant time spent here and they are always keen for volunteers or donations to keep preserving the history here.

• 

  The start of the tour showcasing two diesel train locomotives

• 

  More diesel train locomotives and carriages behind

• 

  A selection of train carriages

• 

  Inside one of the carriage and the workstation

• 

  An original switch board

• 

  a model train layout inside part of the museum

We then made a re to Cabela’s - the place we camped at last night - this place is amazing!! Covering all aspects of outdoor hobbies, hunting and pursuits. The centre display showcasing various stuffed animals creatively arranged and the aquarium are in themselves are worth stopping here to just look at.

The place is HUGE, unfortunately so are some of the price tags so no purchases for us today. But is was a fun place to visit.

Now fully topped up with fresh water & gas, we stopped for a quick bite to eat before heading west to our next overnight spot. Tonight will be another free stopover, this time at a rest stop that allows overnight parking. These are the places you need to find when travelling on a budget and just need to stop for the night. They generally have restrooms, sometimes showers, and usually vending machines, whilst larger ones have more facilities. Thankfully, the RV Life Pro app helps us locate them and plan our routes accordingly.

Road Trip Day 9 - Total miles travelled aprox 210 miles