Today we left there early- about 7am, after being waved off by 2/3rds of the crew. Stacy was a great help with getting us onto sites about maps, trails, and campsites. She got us on track for a bike path back to Rt. 30 business in Downingtown proper, where we found our morning diner- Chef's that smelled a bit like history. In contrast with the Frazer diner where we ate before this place was still empty except for the Chef himself and the 'dishwater blond' waitress (The both of them were classic for their respective roles.) watching Fox News and Friends, a totally weird name for a show as it sounds like PBS children's special. Chef gave us a dose of his politics, regarding the new UN president and warned us that the US would probably now be invaded, but his eggs were good, although a bit excessive (3!)
Then we were off and onward to 372 and 10, passing a lot of little towns, all with very different flavors. The things Andy and I noticed about the towns were not always congruent, which provided an indication about how nothing could ever possibly be objective.
Rolling farms, both the organic Amish, whose stand we stopped at to have the most delicious strawberries I have ever tasted, gluten-free coconut carob cookies, and fresh snow peas for dinner, but there was also Herr's potato and angus farm and factory. This area totally wreaked of cow manure in a not-so-healthy way.
A bit further down we stopped at the Neuchatel Swiss chocolate factory (this was a day of satisfying our sweet teeth), where we purchased four chocolates that began to melt in our hands, a honey bee, dark chocolate ginger, a caramel cream, and a mint. Highly recommend, although apparently purchasing chocolate doesn't qualify you for using their restrooms.
272, 273, more stops, each without public restrooms (I thought that this was just an NYC thing, but apparently it extends far beyond), of course it was a McDonalds that finally answered our bladders' prayer, but we were simultaneously depressed by the long line of cars waiting to pull through the drive through.
The hills got much steeper and longer in MD after we merged with Rt 1. The dialogue going through my head got pretty monotonous, yay downhill, whee, oh durn, better start pedaling, my legs, my chest, groan, why do we have all this junk!!! yay downhill! then the heat that had been foretold started to descend in a serious way, the sky cleared up, our pores opened and offered sweat up tothe sun gods.
We crossed the Conowingo dam over the Susquehanna (where this beautiful hawk soared beside us the entire way across, as if protecting us from the traffic, watching his seemingly effortless flying our burden seemed a bit lighter.) We ate a delightful lunch of granola, trail mix and clif bards in the park across the way, picked up some bike maps, and filled up on water. Andy only jumped twice because of a daddy longlegs.
We left around 3:20 to head to the Pines Camp grounds, but now the heat was on! Lathered up with suntan lotion our sweat seemed even more slippery and those hills were a b*t$#! We turned right onto Rt 623 and then onto Castleton way where we began our ultimately unsuccessful search for these campgrounds. Grumpy and hot, all we wanted was a successful conclusion to our good day. Ultimately, using newly discovered maps, we found ourselves at a BoyScout camp, which I had no interest in dealing with and was ready to pitch a tent back in t he woods. The ranger's welcoming home was unfortunately empty, so we headed into hte Boy Scout camp, fortunately Andy had good instincts and determinations at this point. Ultimately we made our way down "Cardiac Hill" while I complained that we were just going to have to come back up it. The ranger Andy ultimately encountered, the generous Paul Semke, ()while I waited at the Scout store checking out merit badges), was super nice, had sympathy, and rented us the campsite for super cheap, when it should have been $50. Thank you Paul!!! So we were able to cook our first dinner of Punjab eggplant and snow peas, do some yoga on pallets, and avoid wasp stings. And there were showers (yay!) We did however have to go back up the hill.
So we are realizing that the trick to doing this is to be like the little engine that could. (awww) If your heart and/or head believe that you will get up that hill or whatever, your body will cooperate, but if you let yourself be lazy, your body will scream bloody murder at you, and you will find yourself on the side of your bike pushing it up that hill and rubbing grease on your growing calf muscle.
Even though we slept on a pallet (not so comfy) and it was on a slant (so we kept sliding down into the bottom of our tent), we got to sleep without the raincover and look up at these beautiful trees and listen to the gorgeousness of the bugs and reptilian songs.
Then we were off and onward to 372 and 10, passing a lot of little towns, all with very different flavors. The things Andy and I noticed about the towns were not always congruent, which provided an indication about how nothing could ever possibly be objective.
Rolling farms, both the organic Amish, whose stand we stopped at to have the most delicious strawberries I have ever tasted, gluten-free coconut carob cookies, and fresh snow peas for dinner, but there was also Herr's potato and angus farm and factory. This area totally wreaked of cow manure in a not-so-healthy way.
A bit further down we stopped at the Neuchatel Swiss chocolate factory (this was a day of satisfying our sweet teeth), where we purchased four chocolates that began to melt in our hands, a honey bee, dark chocolate ginger, a caramel cream, and a mint. Highly recommend, although apparently purchasing chocolate doesn't qualify you for using their restrooms.
272, 273, more stops, each without public restrooms (I thought that this was just an NYC thing, but apparently it extends far beyond), of course it was a McDonalds that finally answered our bladders' prayer, but we were simultaneously depressed by the long line of cars waiting to pull through the drive through.
The hills got much steeper and longer in MD after we merged with Rt 1. The dialogue going through my head got pretty monotonous, yay downhill, whee, oh durn, better start pedaling, my legs, my chest, groan, why do we have all this junk!!! yay downhill! then the heat that had been foretold started to descend in a serious way, the sky cleared up, our pores opened and offered sweat up tothe sun gods.
We crossed the Conowingo dam over the Susquehanna (where this beautiful hawk soared beside us the entire way across, as if protecting us from the traffic, watching his seemingly effortless flying our burden seemed a bit lighter.) We ate a delightful lunch of granola, trail mix and clif bards in the park across the way, picked up some bike maps, and filled up on water. Andy only jumped twice because of a daddy longlegs.
We left around 3:20 to head to the Pines Camp grounds, but now the heat was on! Lathered up with suntan lotion our sweat seemed even more slippery and those hills were a b*t$#! We turned right onto Rt 623 and then onto Castleton way where we began our ultimately unsuccessful search for these campgrounds. Grumpy and hot, all we wanted was a successful conclusion to our good day. Ultimately, using newly discovered maps, we found ourselves at a BoyScout camp, which I had no interest in dealing with and was ready to pitch a tent back in t he woods. The ranger's welcoming home was unfortunately empty, so we headed into hte Boy Scout camp, fortunately Andy had good instincts and determinations at this point. Ultimately we made our way down "Cardiac Hill" while I complained that we were just going to have to come back up it. The ranger Andy ultimately encountered, the generous Paul Semke, ()while I waited at the Scout store checking out merit badges), was super nice, had sympathy, and rented us the campsite for super cheap, when it should have been $50. Thank you Paul!!! So we were able to cook our first dinner of Punjab eggplant and snow peas, do some yoga on pallets, and avoid wasp stings. And there were showers (yay!) We did however have to go back up the hill.
So we are realizing that the trick to doing this is to be like the little engine that could. (awww) If your heart and/or head believe that you will get up that hill or whatever, your body will cooperate, but if you let yourself be lazy, your body will scream bloody murder at you, and you will find yourself on the side of your bike pushing it up that hill and rubbing grease on your growing calf muscle.
Even though we slept on a pallet (not so comfy) and it was on a slant (so we kept sliding down into the bottom of our tent), we got to sleep without the raincover and look up at these beautiful trees and listen to the gorgeousness of the bugs and reptilian songs.
4 comments:
I love the descriptiveness of these updates....keep em coming! And let me know how close you'll come to the DC 'burbs....
You are the little engines who could, and did! Love to hear about the kindness from strangers too. Heart warming to know others (bless them), are looking out for you. Just keep these beautiful stories of life on the bike trail coming, so we know your mental and physical well being...calf size and all. Hugs, judy S
WOW! You guys are awesome! These are so fun to read! Good Luck! Love ya!
Becca and Andy--Chefs! I should have warned you. Glad to see that things are going well. Keep up the blog we love reading the updates! We think of you often and hope you are surviving in this heat! Have fun at the wedding. Love Vince Stacey and the girls
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