September 27 of to see Rich and Sue!!!!!!

It turned out the Mifflinburg Hotel was a great find!!!!!  reminded us of the old west.  had great dinner at the Scarlet D and good nights sleep. 

We turned off the trail yesterday before the end, so we went back and finished it!!!!!!

We were thinking of our son David, and maybe a new venture....heh, heh, heh.......

corn with mountain in background....seems to be a theme

One thing about this area is the Amish use their buggies on the road and this sections has WIDE shoulders.  Of course the horse lane is chewed up a bit, and lots of road apples, but I'm not complaining.

Somebodies house...not mine

Then there was this really really big up hill

with a funny name campground at the top :>)

Well almost the top

But she's happy so life is good.  Actually, long grade, but not too steep very doable.  First gear and crank!

We stopped for lunch (ice crème) and up drove this customer.  Guess he wanted ice crème too..

Cool rock cut

 

Sorry, but to inform, no more pictures today.  My bike's rear shifter went KAPUT!!!!!  So I adjusted the rear derailleur for first gear for the hills and off we went (I couldn't pedal much faster than 11mph but what the hay).  Fortunately we were only 12 miles out.

 

We arrived in State College (yes for you non-PA people that is the name of a city and it is home of Penn State).  When Barb was about 8 she attended YMCA Camp Soles for the first time.  Sue was her counselor.  Later in the story Sue met Rich at camp and they started their relationship that continues today.  They are still very active at Camp Soles, in fact I met them a few years back when Barb and I spent a "working vacation" at the camp.  So, we didn't just get to State College, we got to Rich and Sue's for a nice visit......but that is for another day ;>)  

 

 

 

 

 

 

September 26 off to Mifflinburg!!!!!

Gears working great, thanks to the Dutch Wheelman in Bloomsburg PA.  Also got new biking shorts, Barb seemed to think there was problems with the holes in my old ones......

The locals really wanted us to go to the fair.  Turns out it is a really really big one!!!!!!  We actually went by it.  Got turned around in the fair traffic, not to mention the roads were more like alleys.  But to put it in perspective, the reader board at the high school announced school was out for fair week.  I actually lost Barb for a while. 

The next stop was to be Lewisburg, which is a reasonably large town, home of Bucknell university.  We were hoping to make it to Mifflinburg, actually about 9 miles after Lewisburg....Then came the reality that Bucknell was having parents weekend and everything was booked.  the was one hotel in Mifflinburg, but they didn't open til 4:00 and it was above the Scarlet D  Saloon.  Kinda reminded me of lodging on an ill fated motorcycle trip about 35 years ago.  I did find a campground that was about 5 miles off route and not as far as we wanted to go, but....can't be too picky.  I did leave a message at the Mifflinburg Hotel.

during the period of time that Barb was missing, the hotel called and they had room, so GREAT,now only to find Barb, which, I did.  Unfortunately, no pics as it was crowded and we felt it was more important not to run into some type of farm animal transport vehicle.  We did get pics of the day, so enjoy.

 This is our starting point, the Patriot Inn in Bloomsburg.  Great room and hospitality!!!!!

 

 

town before the fair

 

countryside after the fair......

War memorial

We are determining our route via Google Maps bike routes with changes.  That is the main reason that I haven't been keeping up with the blog.  hopefully I will unclog in the next few days!!!!!!
So here is a trail that Google recommended near Danville.  nice break from the roads and traffic  

 Even abridge for the engineer!!!!!

oh my, I'm halfway through the blog and haven't mentioned fall colors.....will make up for that....

doesn't look like this gets much use anymore. I believe this is crossing the Lewis River into Lewisburg 

My buddy Earl has found a new venture

Amish country with large barns

Got a trail from Lewisburg to Mifflinburg...9 miles

Tall corn

did I mention tall corn...

met some friends

Walking to the hardware store ran into this

September 25...what a climb.....

We left today to Bloomsburg where we hoped a bike shop is located.  on the way we went through Freeland, where we saw signs for the cross PA bike trail that we cant seem to download information about.  But it wasn't going our way.  Some hills along the way, but not bad.  After Freeland more hills, but on back country roads so not too bad again, no walking.  Then there was route 93.....BIG FREAKIN HILL!!!!!!  Seemed about 3 miles long.  Still well graded, so first gear and up and over.  Hell of a downhill, could never see the bottom, so kept it in the 15 mph range as I wasn't sure I could stop anything faster.  They had a 15 mile an hour limit on trucks going down.  We got passed by a big truck riding his jake break, loud and unnerving as it was a big ditch next to us, but as far as we know we were unscathed.  Pics from the day.

We haven't left the campgrounds.. wardrobe change

more and more color

 I was think of my sister peg with the patchwork on the roads, one big quilt.  not too bad until a long downhill :)

 Who can identify this plant, seems to be lots of it and rotated with corn.

 For some reason Barb likes milk weed (childhood thing)  so here is a pic

Almost to Bloomsburg as we cross the Susquehanna River.

42 miles to our hotel, unload our gear and 12 mile round trip to bike shop.  GREAT service, not to mention I have all my gears now.  had to replace cable and sheath, less than 20 bucks with material and labor.  For some reason we were spent, so quick dinner and BED!!!