OK, here's a quick and dirty map... Blue = Freischteet Pensilfaani (Free State PA), red = Schuylkill County (Robertsons), and Gray = German control (I'm guessing that the Germans would be directly occupying Erie...)
The slashed lines indicate where Freischteet control isn't total/areas that are heavily raided by bandits, clans and other malefactors...
Oh, and your idea was pretty much what I had in mind for such a meeting...
A few more bits of trivia before I go to bed:
In the Freischteet areas (particularly the stable "core" areas), the main sources of energy are what we'd consider "Green"... I.e. Biomass-derived biogas (a.k.a. natural gas derived from organic garbage, human and animal waste, etc), Bio-diesel (which accounts for the prevalence of soybeans) for armored vehicles (tanks and tank destroyers), wood gas (derived from gasification of wood, paper or coal... burns like regular gasoline) & ethanol for military trucks (when gasoline is unavailable).
Due to the relative lack of petroleum and the use of said renewable sources, very few civilians own vehicles, but thanks to modifications and improvements made to pre-war railroads, nobody really NEEDs a car, since electric trains run on a regular schedule (electricity is provided by the previously mentioned solar panels, wind turbines and biogas)....
Essentially, the Freischteet is largely self-sufficient, except for certain mineral commodities, such as Iron Ore, however they are able to buy/trade for those using manufactured goods and/or agricultural products (the region is one of a relatively few places in the Northeast with this kind of industrial capacity)
Thanks to dredging the Susequehanna, York PA now has its own seaport in the form of Columbia-Wrightsville... One of the purposes of said seaport is for loading barges with radioactive soil scraped up from the eastern counties, which haul it out to the mid-Atlantic for disposal... This was how Lancaster County was reclaimed (although the area still has trouble with bandits). In addition, the radioactive soil disposal barges also serve a far more nefarious purpose (as far as the Nazis are concerned) as well.....
Finally, a quick note about some of the more unusual fruit products: Trifoliate Orange is a HARDY member of the citrus family from Japan, Korea and China, which produces tennis-ball sized orange fruit. The fruit is extremely sour/bitter, but it can be used as a citrus stand-in for Marmalade recipies, Lemonade (just add plenty of sugar), orange peel teas and orange extract. I can definitely confirm this is plenty hardy in southern PA: I have three saplings in my back yard that have survived the past 4 winters with no problems, and there are numerous larger specimens planted at the Pittsburgh zoo.
Paw Paws are the only temperate member of the Custard Apple family, and are actually NATIVE to PA... 25 years ago they were somewhat rare where I live, but have since spread out and can be found growing along just about every creek and stream in the area. Paw paws bear fruits that taste (and somewhat look) like bananas, and can be used in just about any recipie that calls for bananas. Even though the fruit have a very short shelf-life, they take well to being frozen and can also be canned. The trees prefer light shade, so most Pawpaw plantations in the area also double as chestnut and/or Pecan orchards...
The reason these two have become important crops is because REAL oranges and bananas have become rare luxury items, due to expenses involved in shipping them into the region.... The Penn State University (relocated to Harrisburg) agricultural department has been experimenting with certain varieties of bananas that can be planted in the spring and bear fruit before October, when the frost would kill the top part of the plant and require the roots to be dug up, but have been unable to do so, thus far.
...and that's my infodump for now.
