D19 NE To Hill or Not

Up and down is often hard to tell with a picture. In this case, the little tiny twig shape on the horizon (not the trees), at the top of the hill, is Gloria. She couldn’t go as slow as me and stay upright. When you’re pedalling, and can’t stop because you will fall over due to a sudden lack of forward movement, you are likely going uphill. Similarly, if you can stop pedalling for like a mile and you keep going, you are likely going downhill. We did lots of both today despite Google describing the route as mostly flat. I would agree with that assessment as long as Google also describes the area between southern China and northern India as somewhat hilly.

True confession – again – we ate at Tim Horton’s despite my promise of eating local. But taking Gloria to Tim Horton’s is almost as good as taking her to Canada – or at least that’s what I told her. Tim Horton’s is found even more frequently in Canada then Starbucks in the US. So, I had to take her there…..a couple times. Compared to Dunkin Donuts (the coffee house of the Northeast apparently), Tim Horton’s was like a 5 star restaurant. Or maybe we were just really hungry.

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The first thing you do each morning, when you are going to be on your bike all day, is look out the window. You’ve reviewed the weather report repeatedly the day before, but you still look out the window hoping the weatherman was from Colorado and smoking dope. This morning, fully expecting rain from the weather report, we looked out the window and saw everything wet with an overcast sky. Regardless we had 60 miles to ride from Erie to Mercer rain or shine. We headed out and there was no rain falling. In a few miles the clouds were breaking up and sun was shining on us – we felt blessed and grateful.

We also got to ride down about 10 miles of quiet, backcountry dirt road! I’d really come to believe that dirt roads were not to be found in this part of the world. It was not muddy, it was well packed, and we felt like we were on the Great Divide except we were surrounded by endless and innumerable species of beautiful trees. Some with wonderful reds and yellows.

This is our second day in Pennsylvania and I have nothing but good to say about it on several levels. Our time along Lake Erie was, as noted, like riding the ocean coast but without millions of people. Now, heading south toward Pittsburgh, the countryside is gorgeous AND there is a shoulder on the rode.

When you have to go from point A to B on a bicycle you never know how the road might be: a white line on the edge of blacktop, or a white line with a couple feet of blacktop for riding. We noted that Pennsylvania, like New York, had designated multiple “bicycle routes” across the state. Finding one from Erie to Pittsburgh we were hopeful but unsure. Gratefully, Pennsylvania not only designated a route but put some blacktop to the right of the white line. It was also a relatively low traffic road making things almost completely enjoyable.

There were a couple people that drove a bit too close. It tested my Christianity and maybe created a need for my mom to get a bar of soap out and clean my mouth. My mom isn’t around anymore, but I’m constantly blessed by the lessons she taught me – even the bubbly ones.

The entirety of our ride today was surprisingly rural. In fact, by mile 30ish we hadn’t seen a gas station or convenience store. We usually depend on them for healthy nourishment like soda pop and Cheetos. Beginning to feel a little concerned and thirsty, we finally topped a hill and saw a Marathon gas station AND convenience store.

It made me laugh thinking about a story my dad told me. Decades ago – when gas stations were just gas stations – my dad worked for Marathon Oil. He recounted a meeting in which the higher ups at Marathon discussed the idea of adding convenience stores to their gas stations. One of the bosses flat out refused saying something like – no one wants to buy food where they pump gas. Thankfully for us today, that boss was eventually overruled.

BTW we repented this evening and ate local. The food was quite good. The waitress – about our age – was quite hateful. I’m not sure if she just hated everyone or we were special. Maybe she wished she were out riding her bike instead of serving us. In any case, I tipped her well, to confuse her:).