A Trip Cut Short...

It was a beautiful morning that we woke up to.  Chilly, but lovely.  Mist quietly rose off the creek water.  Everything on the mountains was completely shrouded in fog.

A pair of Bald Eagles came and perched in a tree near our camping area.  I was able to get a couple pictures, but they were shy of the camera.

Our legs and ankles were still painful, but we could ride.  I came to the conclusion that my saddle had been set too high.  I had adjusted it during our visit, and must have put it just a little too high.  It caused my feet to extend with each pedal stroke, placing unusual stress on the Achilles tendon.  I lowered my seat, hoping that would enable me to ride the rest of the way home.

 Once again, we got going around 8.  There were about 10 miles of the trail left to ride before we came out at Route 6, or Grand Army of the Republic Highway.  We wanted to avoid the steep dirt road we had taken on the way down, so that meant we were on Rte 6 for probably 20 miles.  

20 miles with little variation.  There were a few small towns to ride through, lots of rolling hills, woods, and a few farms.  There was also a significant side wind that felt like a headwind.  After 10 miles, I was ready to be on a different road....

Finally we turned, and my mindset improved dramatically.  The side road was more interesting and fun to ride with decent downhills and lots of curves.  Twisting winding back roads I find quite enjoyable...

And...in only about 20 miles we would be in New York!

Unfortunately my Achilles tendons were becoming more and more painful as the day went by. 

We stopped for lunch at the same place we had on the way down, near a little creek and a side road.  I tried standing in the creek to cool my tendons, but it didn't help.

In the little Pennsylvania town of Genesee, we stopped at a gas station for some water.  There was less than a mile to go till NY!  We were pretty happy to be getting to the state line.  It was a very clear sign that we were nearing home.

Not long after riding into NY, we noticed that the driver here were definitely less courteous than PA drivers.  How annoying!  Why would a thing as small as a state line have such an impact on the behavior of a person?  I found it fascinating....

We made it to the little campground between Wellsville and Scio that we had stayed in on the way down.  There were only 80 miles between us and home, but my tendons were extremely painful.  I called home to find out if they thought, like I did, that it would be a bad idea to ride 80 more miles on an injury like that.  

Mom decided she could come out and get us that night. 

Here is a picture from when we were waiting...

We were very grateful to her, but I was sad to miss the last leg of the trip, and not finish the way I had planned.  I am glad I didn't further injure my tendons, though.  I hoped they would heal quickly, so I could get back on the bike before too long!

Wet Gravel and Jerky...

I slept better this night, but Tuck didn't sleep very well.  Strange.

We ate dry cereal for breakfast, and then were on the road by 8:30.  

This time I was planning on nearly completing the Pine Creek Rail Trail by evening.  First, we needed groceries and water. In Jersey Shore we stopped at a gas station to relieve our bladders and bought a gallon of water and some pretzels.  I asked the cashier if a grocery store was nearby, and he gladly informed me of a Weis just up the street. 

Since our diet had deteriorated considerably during our visit, I wanted to bring it back up to a somewhat healthy level.  I bought cabbage, apples, grapes, granola, cookies, soy milk(so it wouldn't spoil un-refrigerated), and peanuts.  

We then proceeded onto the trail.  It was a lovely place, but I got very tired of grinding endlessly along a flat gravel trail.  There were no downhills, and that meant few brief breaks.  Just pedal, pedal, pedal, until it was time to snack or go to the bathroom.  Ah, well, at least it wasn't uphill!

We met a group of interesting elderly cyclists on the trail.  They were from near Wellsville, NY and were working on riding 100 miles this year.  It was fun encountering them repeatedly on the trail, since we were headed in the same direction.  

We stopped at Cedar Run for some more of the amazing jerky we had eaten on the way down.  This time I bought 10 pieces!  It had started pouring just as we rode up to the little store, so we sat on the porch and chatted with a couple guys that were also sitting there.  The rain didn't let up very quickly, so Tuck decided we should eat some ice cream while we waited for it to quit.  The ice cream was good, and the conversations floating around were interesting.  By the time the ice cream was gone, so was the rain, so off we went.

Everything was wet, so the gravel stuck to my tires and swished through my fenders annoyingly.  

Here's a photo I took while waiting for Tuck near Rattlesnake Rock.  I took a quick walk down to the rock, and was pretty impressed, but saw no rattlesnakes.  Tuck had already run over two snakes today.  One may have been a small rattlesnake, but I'm not sure.  Yes, they were alive and slithering!

We stopped at the Tiadaghton Camping Area for the night.  We didn't have a camping permit, so we hoped any officials would just stay away.  It rained again, so the ground was rather wet.  We ate random food that we could find in the bag, such as cabbage, apples, grapes, fig newtons, and so on.  It was a very lovely place to camp, and we had it to ourselves.  We even saw some Bald Eagles glide majestically through the gorge.

Both of us were having great difficulty walking.  My Achilles tendons were extremely sore and had been most of the day.  Tuck's thighs were very sore.  I figured the extreme soreness was a result of the mountain yesterday, and hoped it would recede by morning.

The rain stopped enough for me to set up the tents.  Tuck was fixing his front tire, which had acquired a slow leak towards the end of the day.  The leak gradually got faster and faster, and by the time we were at the campground, he had little difficulty finding the puncture.

The sunset was very picturesque...

We bedded down and fell asleep hoping nobody would show up to kick us out... 

Rain on the Mountain

Tuck slept well in the graveyard.  I had a terrible time falling asleep, and then didn't sleep very well anyway.  I wasn't tired enough, after only 40 miles.  We got out of the cemetery early, rode to Boyer's to get milk for our cereal, ate there, and then were on the road by 8:30. 

We took Rte 61 to Sunbury and though it was mostly a 4-lane highway, bicycles were legal, and the shoulders were wide enough for us to comfortably ride.  

We picked up the PA bike route J in Northumberland. A few miles later, we stopped to eat lunch at a little river-side park in Milton.  

Here I discovered my back brakes had worn down so far they completely ceased to work!  I had no back brakes, and still had a steep mountain to descend at some point!  My front brakes were very worn also, but still worked well, thankfully.  I now know to carry an extra pair of brake pads!

In Milton we used the library - for their bathroom!  We appreciated the existence of public bathrooms in gas stations, grocery stores, and libraries.  It was very convenient!

Here is a random photo of the town of Milton...

It is right on the lovely Susquehanna River....

In Dewart we abandoned bike route J for motor vehicle route 44.  That took us through some Amish country, and I snapped a picture of a team of working mules patiently waiting on their driver. 

This particular farm had at least six huge mules instead of draft horses.  It was nestled prettily between some mountains.  One of which we soon would reach the base of.  Which I did not want to climb.  It was late afternoon and there was a threat of thunderstorms, but Tuck convinced me to do it anyway. 

It was a very long ascent.  I took my time, and had a lot of breaks, because I hate feeling sick from riding too hard.  It took us over an hour to get up to the top.  Near the top, the wind started blowing, the sky clouded over, and thunder could be occasionally heard.  Tuck was quite a distance ahead of me, and it suddenly started pouring.  I had put my holey rain poncho on just in time.  Now I just walked up the mountain.  Around the next curve, and there was the top!  Finally!  The rain was coming down like a water main upstairs just broke.  I took off my helmet so it could wash the sweat off my face.  It felt amazing!  In just a few seconds my face was clean and cool.  I wanted to take advantage of the free shower, but it would have been too chilly, and rather indecent, considering the circumstances.  The rain didn't last very long, but I enjoyed every minute of it! The view from the top was lovely; of the sun on distant mountains, rain in the valley, clouds moving away and the blue sky spreading.

We made it safely down the mountain, despite wet rims and no back brakes, in my case.  In a way, the water on the rims was helpful - water cooled brakes!  

The sun came out at the bottom and turned the wet road into a silver ribbon...

Our moods were suddenly improved - I think getting poured on at the very top of a mountain was the best thing that happened to us all day - other than the spaghetti...

We stayed in an old cemetery at the base of the mountain, in Collomsville.  We were right next to a cow pasture.

I cooked up some spaghetti for our supper...

It was very tasty, especially with cheddar cheese melted into it, but unfortunately I didn't make quite enough.  We finished it all, and were still a little hungry.

As we set up camp, the locals looked at us curiously, but nobody bothered us.  It was a pleasant spot, and I was glad we had come over the mountain.

Heading Home....Finally!

After six weeks of visiting our dear friends in Berks Co, PA, it was finally time to head home.  Thankfully, they weren't sick of us yet!!

I re-planned the first leg of the trip so as to avoid a few undesirable roads we had traversed on the way down.  This time, we took Rte 183 over Blue Mountain, instead of 645.  It was much more manageable, but also busier.  We sailed down the far side, reaching the fasted speeds we had reached so far - 37mph!  

We appreciated the wide shoulders on most of the highway...

There was a lot of evidence of coal mining in the areas we rode through today.  Towns with names such as Minersville, and Coal Castle.  Chunks of coal littering the banks along the highway.  Interesting...

Neither of us was feeling very well, and the uphills tended to make us feel rather sick, just from the exertion.

 We took a lot of short breaks, and one longer one.  The longer break was after lunch, at a little memorial for a chapel that had collapsed in a winter storm in 2003.  Tuck took a short nap and I snacked and took a few photos.  Here is a little poem in a display, about what happened...

  Only the grotto remained standing...

We continued on, and slowly worked our way up an endless hill.  I briefly thought it was taking us to heaven...it seemed to never stop going up!!  Disappointingly, it was only taking us to big busy highway intersections...oh well.

We had our first nasty driver encounter on this ascent.  We had paused for one of our many breaks, and I noticed a truck coming up the road, but his wheels were well onto the shoulder.  I motioned at him to move over, not sure if he had noticed our presence.  Sure enough, he knew we were there, and then moved over even closer to us!  He roared past, scaring us pretty bad, but thankfully not touching either of us.  After that, we were quite paranoid of truckers, but everyone else was considerate of the two toiling cyclists on the hill.  Some were even friendly!  Also, a few motorcyclists gave us the 'fellow cyclist' wave.  It was nice to feel welcome on the road, even if it was only by a very small percentage of motor vehicle drivers.  

That evening we stayed at a cemetery just outside of Mt Carmel.  I stopped at a Boyer's not far from the cemetery and got peaches and tomatoes.  That, and hard-boiled eggs, is what we had for supper.  I was hungry falling asleep, but my huge calorie needs hadn't kicked in yet, breakfast was only a few hours away, and supposedly it is good to eat a light supper! 

Pleasant PA...

During my stay in Pennsylvania, I did a decent amount of riding.  Most of it was between friends' houses, which were only a couple miles apart, but I did occasionally venture elsewhere.  The ever-present hills took some getting used to...but I did!  I sure enjoyed the downhills...and managed to reach speeds near 35mph!  I must add, this was on an un-loaded bike.  Actually, according to my speedometer, I have topped out at 76mph....but that must have been when I fell asleep for a moment, because I sure don't remember!

One longer ride that I took was about 40 miles.  I rode down Route 183 and spent some time at the Bernville library.  After that I continued down 183 for some time, then took some side roads and ended up all the way out in Leesport!  On my way back I stopped to eat a take-out sandwich on the steps of the Blue Marsh Canteen.  My lovely ride looked lonely waiting for me by a distant fence, so I took a picture...

On another ride, as I was heading back to where I would spend the night, the sunset was quite spectacular.  I was so happy to be right where I was.  And I took a picture.  Of my bike, of course.

For a couple of days there was a pretty good heat wave...the temps were in the 100s for at least 3 days in a row...

I did ride a little in the heat, and didn't mind it so much.  It was annoying to be soaked and dripping as soon as I stopped, though!

So, as it turned out, we didn't spend the summer in Buffalo...but neither did we want to, once we got to PA!  Summer in Pennsylvania farm country was good enough for us...

Blue Mountain...

Since we were staying in PA for a couple weeks, I decided to do a little exploring.  A friend had told me about some trails on Blue Mountain, and I wanted to check them out. 

North Northkill Road took me to the base of the mountain, where it turned into a dirt/stone old logging trail. It was steep at points, but since my bike wasn't loaded, I had little trouble.

 Once, when I stopped for a drink, I noticed some wintergreen growing beside the trail...it tasted nice...

 At one point, as I was working my way up the mountain, I suddenly thought I could hear a semi-truck behind me.  Since all traffic sounds from local highways were muffled by the forest around me, I was rather mystified.  It didn't take long for the mystery to become clear...an empty logging truck was lumbering its way up the one-lane road.  I thought of holding the lane, but since there was nowhere for the truck to go, except over me...I decided to pull off onto the shoulder, and give him plenty of room to pass.

At the top of the mountain I could have continued straight, where the surface became large rocks; or turned left, where the road was still rideable gravel.  I turned.

The road along the top was a few miles of flat, secluded riding. 

Here is a picture of an exceptionally long flat stretch...

The gravel on the surface varied greatly, but was all rideable.

I greatly appreciate the tires on my bike, and the fact that she's a hybrid...she handled all the surfaces like a champ!

I rode out into a grassy field to take a look at the view from the top.  My camera wouldn't focus, so the picture REALLY doesn't do it justice.

Occasional hiking trails turned off the road, and I stopped to explore some of one.  It was surrounded with blueberries!  Yummy!!

 Here's a photo of that trail...

I passed some wild turkeys, but that was all the wildlife I spotted.  Unless you count the lone elderly hiker....

Near the end, the Appalaichan Trail crossed the little road.  I stopped to walk the trail,,,but only went about 100 feet along it...

It surprised me by how insignificant it appeared.  Somehow, I had though it would look a little more important.  It was definitely well used, though...

The road emptied out onto Route 183.  There was a steep descent to the highway, and I managed to stay upright despite all the loose gravel!

I stopped to take a scenic shot on the way down 183...and the camera co-operated this time!

All - in - all, it was a very enjoyable ride...

Mountains...Three of Them!

We were able to get started pretty early this morning, since we had little packing to do.  Of course it didn't rain...we had a roof over our heads!  It was a foggy morning, but the sun was shining, and this was going to be our last day!  I had enjoyed the trip, but was ready to be at our destination.  It didn't take long to ride out of the fog...there was just a pocket of it...

 Right away we had a mountain to climb...but it wasn't too bad.  The first few hundred feet were steep, but 

 the rest was quite manageable.  There was very little traffic, and that made it that much more pleasant. 

The stripe across the mountain was our road... 

Shortly after that mountain, we worked our way into mining country.  We ended up taking a mining road over a mountain....lots of trucks, and a narrow, worn-out road.  Thankfully the way up wasn't steep...just long.  It felt like we were climbing that mountain forever!  We had some moments of confusion right before the extended climb...and weren't sure if the road was the correct one until we reached the top!  According to the way my map was drawn, we should have turned left to get to Good Spring, but road signs and a passerby both said to turn right.  We turned right.  It was the right way to turn!

Here is a photo of the destruction from strip mining...

 The quick descent was pleasant, but we had to stop a few times to cool our brakes.  We were becoming more confident at higher speeds now...and allowed ourselves to nearly hit 30mph at times.  It was exhilarating! 

We had one more mountain to cross....and we both were dreading it.  It was bigger than any we had scaled yet, and Route 645 took us straight up one side, and straight down the other!

The town of Pine Grove was right before the monster, and we stopped at a gas station to fuel up before the climb.  We had used up the last of the cookies we had brought from home, and had no snack food of any kind left.  I bought orange juice, gross pastries, gross jerky, and some other snack food.  We ate most of it there, so Tuck sent me back in to get stuff to eat while riding up the mountain...then we pedaled hill-ward.

We couldn't ride up it. It was incredibly steep, so steep that it was impossible to ride.  We walked all the way up Blue Mountain.  I had never sweat that much in my life!  The trip down wasn't much better, since our brakes heated up so quickly we had to stop frequently to cool them. 

Only a few miles to go after the mountain....what relief!

A view of the beast....

Another view of the same beast....

We arrived around 6:30...and our dear friends were surprised to see us!  I had told them to expect us in a couple of days....but the trip had gone more quickly than I expected...

A Day of Firsts...

We woke up ready to ride this morning... 

Packing went smoothly and quickly, and we were back on the road between 8:30 and 9:00....if I remember correctly.

The trail ended in the PA town of Jersey Shore...where we stopped to take care of our now-dry, but very smelly, unwearable clothing. 

Squeaky Kleen Laundry did the trick...

Across the street from the laundromat was a store I had never seen before.  A store of addictions...and it was very busy...

We had two route options after Jersey Shore...we could take route 220 to Williamsport and then pick up Bike Route J, or we could take the smaller route 44 down to Allenwood, again picking up Bike Route J across the Susquehanna River.  We decided to go with route 44, since 220 was limited to only motor vehicles...

This added one mountain, but we thought that would be okay...

We did survive...but some of it was very steep!

Here are our bikes near the top...with the final murderous incline in view...

There were no shoulders, but the traffic wasn't bad at all.  We even saw a couple other cyclists on our way up!  They were on fancy racing bikes, and were breezing past us on their way down, but it was encouraging to see them...

Here is the not very gradual incline we just rode up...

And here is the very steep bit we were about to tackle...

After we conquered the beast...this is what she looked like...

On our way down the mountain we had to stop a couple times to cool our rims since we tried to keep our speed under 30mph.  A cyclist passed us going the same direction...on his fast light bike.  At the bottom of the mountain we passed him....he had stopped for a snack.  A few miles later he caught up to us and chatted for a bit...

We then had our first flat....Tuck had noticed a slow leak on our way up the mountain, but just pumped it up hard, and watched it carefully.  A few miles after our cyclist friend left us, Tuck's tire went splat...patching was necessary.

In one the small towns along the Susquehanna that we passed through I stopped at a grocery store and picked up bananas, apples, fig newtons, cookies, walnuts, and yogurt.  I had started craving fruit for the last few days...especially bananas...

When we left the store, I was suddenly incredibly tired.  It was only mid-afternoon, but I felt like setting up camp and going to bed right away.  Unfortunately that was not to be...

We had decided to try to make at least 60 miles today, because that would make it possible to get to our destination tomorrow....

By the time we got to Shamokin Dam, I was getting slightly irrational in my handling of tractor trailer passes...I even panicked once and almost crashed.  After that, I was very careful and made sure I was relaxed and didn't freeze up whenever one went by.  Thankfully, almost every truck was very courteous.  One even forced oncoming traffic to get over so he wouldn't intimidate us!

Riding through Shamokin Dam and Sunbury was pretty frustrating.  We had a hard time finding the correct roads, and the traffic was pretty bad...

The dam itself was interesting though...

A few fisherman were wading and boating just past it...

As we were riding along a street that I was desperately hoping was the correct one, a young man stopped us with great enthusiasm.  He had been thinking of bike camping and thought we were "rad".  It was a "sign from God" that we rode past his house...nobody like us ever comes up his street.  He was very excited, and I sure hope we didn't discourage him by our lack-luster responses to his questions.  We were tired, frustrated, and not even sure if we were on the right road! 

Thankfully, not far out of Sunbury we came upon a cemetery with an old church-turned-dining-hall, parsonage, new, larger church, and outside pavilions and bathrooms.  We stopped and asked the parson if we could camp in the graveyard.  He was very generous....gave us the key to the dining hall and told us we could sleep inside if we wanted...oh joy!

I was so exhausted this evening that it was wonderful not having to set up camp!

We didn't even fix supper...just ate fig newtons, walnuts and yogurt...

It was great to sit on real chairs...with backs!  We brought our bikes inside the little sanctuary, and were able to take sponge baths in the bathrooms.  Flush toilets and plenty of easily accessible clean water were also welcome luxuries!!

It was a wonderful place after an exhausting, 63-mile day...

Day of Rest

Once again it rained in the night...but this time only a little. 

We decided this campground would be a convenient place to rest for a day.  I was very tired and needed to rejuvenate.  
We installed a temporary clothesline and hung our now-pungent clothing up to dry, hoping it would do some good...

We had the rest of the cheap milk on granola for breakfast...I thought it was disgusting, but Tuck was still in great appreciation of the substance...

My hair looked terrrible after three days of lots of sweating and no showers...I decided to try washing my  hair in Pine Creek.  I had brought baking soda to use instead of shampoo, so it wouldn't damage life in the creek the way soap would.  It worked very well...

The creek was a lovely and peaceful place to hang out at.  There were quite a few kayak-ers, tube-ers, and canoe-ers...probably because it was Saturday...

Tuck was fine, and felt ready to roll...but I was so tired I took two naps!  He rode around the immediate area checking out lots of stuff...and discovered what looked like an old abandoned farm, and the area of the camp where the Adirondac shelters were...which is actually where we were supposed to be staying...

Today we also got to see a bald eagle for the first time!  It flew down near enough for us to see it's white head and tail...so beautiful and wild!

Here is a photo of an eage flying high above the mountains...

 My feet had acquired pretty intense tan lines from wearing sandals all the time...

That evening we decided to try making a fire to cook over instead of using the slightly frustrating little camp stove.  Firewood was terribly hard to find...but we did manage to get enough and get a fire going good enough to cook soup!

I cut up all the woody carrots and threw in some bullion, pasta, garlic, cayanne, salt, pepper, and some dried onions too.  It tasted pretty good...though a little smoky....

Our clothes had dried by evening, and so had everything else....

The food bag was actually pretty easy to hoist into the tree since both the rope and the tree branch were dry and slipped easily against each other.  I had been so exhausted that I was ready to go to bed in the evening in spite of the two naps!