Travel through New York and onto the Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania

 On our first day’s travel from Mom’s we stayed in Franklin, New York at a KOA we’ve stayed at before. Here are two photos we took just before we left:

We had a nice visit with Mom, and didn’t elicit too many tears as we left.  Our travel out Rt 2 West of Greenfield was slow but lovely, as Rt 2 is quite the winding road. We arrived in Franklin, New York and were able to get set up before a huge rainstorm. Some of our fellow campers were not so lucky. The thunderstorm reduced the heat and humidity, which we appreciated.

Then it was on into Pennsylvania so we could ride the Pine Creek Trail that is at the bottom the Pennsylvania’s Grand Canyon. It reaches parts of the canyon that have no roads and plenty of wildlife. We spent two days riding the trail, as it’s 62 miles of crushed limestone. It is well maintained and nearly completely flat. Here are a few photos:

 

The station at Darling Run — our starting point the first day of triking.

A doe and her fawn right on the trail. Can you see her nursing in the next shot?

We decided these chairs in the river were the way to beat the heat and humidity. Wish they were closer!

 

This suspension bridge to this home looked usable, but we sure didn’t want to try it!

Another doe and her fawn. We also saw a bear on the trail, but we weren’t fast enough with the camera, and didn’t want to get closer.

Love the strata of the limestone.

Can you see the eagle? We saw another one take flight right next to us as we were riding. It had an amazing wingspan.

We also drove to a couple of the lookouts along the two rims of the canyon. While the views don’t compare with the Grand Canyon out west, it was still beautiful. Just imagine what it would look like during fall foliage season!

Our next stop was Hartville, Ohio at the Maize Valley Market. This was a lovely Harvest Host site with lots of farm land. They had wine and beer that they brewed there, a nice restaurant, and a gift shop. We enjoyed a small meal on their outside patio as we were too lazy to prepare food in the heat. We set up camp in a field, and worked to enjoy the small breezes, as the weather was hot and muggy. Overnight we had a huge lightning and thunderstorm — quite the amazing display. But it didn’t do much to lower the temperature unfortunately.

Check out some of their yard art:

Today we drove Miamisburg, Ohio to stay outside the Star City Brewing Company. On our way we dropped into Dublin, Ohio to say hi to my older sister, Wendy. We had a lovely chat before continuing on our way.

When we arrived at Star City Brewing we found that we’re the only camping guests; this has been fairly typical of all of our Harvest Host stays. This site is within a small town that is working to refine its cuteness to attract more tourism. They have some nice bike trails, but unfortunately we don’t have the time to explore them this trip. We did walk into a local bikeshop however — Whitman’s Bike Shop. We had a lovely chat with the owner. She’d been a life long cyclist in the area, and her family has had bike shops before. As a young adult she helped her family do lots of events in the BMX world. Great stories!

Here are a few photos from the downtown…

More news soon….

Last Couple Triking Days in Massachusetts

On Tuesday we decided we should try going through South Deerfield, East Deerfield,  Greenfield, Turners Falls, Millers Falls, Montague and Sunderland. Our goal was a loop that  gets close to the French King Bridge. There is a lovely bikeway that travels many low traffic roads that comes out to look directly at the French King Bridge. This day we netted 41 miles; it was a tad warm for this type of riding, but we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

From the bike/pedestrian bridge where Paula is, you can see the French King Bridge which is along Rt 2.

These rock ledges are in Sunderland. I love their ruggedness and how the trees find a way to grow despite the rock.

Yesterday we took the truck to Northampton Ford to have the wheels aligned and the transmission fluid changed. While the truck was getting service, we took a smallish ride on the  Northampton Bikeway. We accessed the trail a couple city blocks from the dealership, and then only had to contend with road crossings and not the road traffic of people going to work and dodging road construction.

The trail was tree covered nearly the entire way making it a delightful respite from the heat. Along the way we rode through Frank Newhall Look Memorial Park. What a gem of a park this is! 

This is the entrance to the outdoor theatre.

This shows the stage area of the theatre.

Love this half-sized house; credits for it are in the next photo.

This cute little covered bridge says “walk your bike or pay $3 fine”.

After rescuing the truck from the dealership, Paula & I went into Northampton for lunch at a Mediterranean restaurant. We appreciated their outdoor seating. Then we walked around a bit, admiring how they had created space for outdoor cafes by closing a street to car traffic.

And today we hugged Mom goodbye and started the drive back to the west coast. We had a lovely visit Mom! Until next time…