Jeffrey joined us on the road for the first 10 miles after dishing up a great breakfast, it was nice to have somebody navigate us out of town for a change onto the route for the day which he had helped plot the night before and a great ride it was riding along the ridgeline which we would hop over tomorrow. Finding campgrounds was still proving difficult on this area of the ride but two motels were close by. The first, Fort Motel had a sign on the office door to ring some guy if you wanted a room. Several unanswered calls later and after speaking with another resident who looked as though he hadnt showered in weeks we decided to give the next place a few miles down the road a try. They had rooms a restaurant and bar, it was the cheapest so far at $45 including tax. It was clear to see why once we got in the room, this place was OLD, we ain’t fussy though. That night at the bar we had a great time with the bartender Mike Narvaez. A musician himself, he loved British music from the 60’s and 70’s and played us tracks from his stack of LP’s all night.

The last few rides we continued to zig zag with the Appalachian trail but on route to York, PA we would descend into rolling farmlands and Amish country! Almost immediatley we passed our first horse and cart being navigated by a plain clothed amish lady. We would pass more Amish people that day including some young Amish kids out the front of a big barn, I gave them a wave and hello and got a warm smile and a wave back, nice people and very interesting. I remember seeing a documentary about rumspringa, which is where teenage Amish go out into the towns and cities and live as we do before choosing which lifestyle they wish to follow, almost always they return to the Amish way of life after seeing how cruel and messed up normal society can be.

Leaving York we joined one of the well sign-posted cross Pennsylvania routes. After finding ourselves on some fairly busy roads now and again over the past 7 or so weeks riding its reassuring to see signs on the rode for bike routes. It helps create a more relaxed atmosphere on the road when you know cars are expecting cyclists, not that we have had any trouble but sometimes you can feel like a nuissance if there is no shoulder and your slowing traffic. Its only right that cars should share small county roads like this and cyclists should oblige by always acting in a predictable riding manner. We rode through some apple orchards as we approached Caledonia State park where the fields gave way to forests again. A mile from the campground and with lots of time to kill me an Eal decided to go in a biker bar we passed. ‘Welcome bikers’ the signs often read, a different leather clad type of biker but we usually get to exchange some sarcastic jokes in these places and the motorcyclists are always friendly.

After sinking a blue moon we rolled down toward the state campground, no alcohol in PA state parks. A guy at the campground office invited us over to their plot later that evening. Scott and Emily played host to passing Appalachian Trail hikers every year feeding them up with calories to carry on their journey. It was fun talking with the trail hikers whom as mentioned in the last post I spent a night sleeping with in Damascus, VA in 2010. One hiker had a great story which everybody who knew about it urged him to tell again. It was a great story about an encounter him and some others had on the trail a few weeks previously, he told it great whilst we all sat engrossed around the campfire. I couldn’t possibly retell it with any justice but an article from the local press can be found here…http://www.johnsoncitypress.com/News/article.php?id=100221.

Emily and Scott invited us for breakfast with the hikers the next morning and stuffed us with enough blueberry pancakes to last today and tomorrows ride. They even handed out carry out bags to me, Eal and the hikers to take with us filled with Ramen noodles, chocolate, leftover pancakes and more! Truly amazing people, as I told Emily upon thanking them; it sure beat the gas station breakfast we had planned that morning!

The ride to Mcconnellsburg took us over a few long ridge climbs, the heat was letting up and conditions overcast. We stopped atop the last climb at another biker bar before a final eye watering descent into town. We found another cheap as chips motel as again there was no camping with all the surrounding forests being state game lands. At the motel I asked the women if there was somewhere for me to get a long overdue haircut in town. She said there wasn’t but called her friend up who did do cuts and had her come round to the motel. Now because my mum is a hairdresser I have gone 25 years without having to visit a barbers or salon, never exchanged a penny for a cut or had another person take scissors to my head. Well sitting on a chair outside the front of a motel with some random lady chopping away was certainly a strange way to end the streak, but she was really friendly and did a great job. After it was done I asked how much, she told me she only ever accepts what her customers think it was worth. I gave her $15 which I thought was fair and I am still yet to visit a barbers!

Flying with a bike can be a little awkward due to the size of the box, even with the bike dissasembled. From the hotel in Lisbon we had to walk about 2 streets down to the airport shuttle bus stop. The bikes weigh a ton with all the gear on and now we had to carry all that gear to the stop, imagine a strongman competition where for very short bursts they lift and waddle as fast as they can before dropping the weight, that was us. After getting to the stop and have to wait for a quieter bus to get the boxes on we got to the airport and get checked in, SATA airline even waived the sports baggage fee for the bike!

The plane landed early at Boston Logan International and we made our way towards customs anticipating the usual grilling. After a few tense moments and probing questions I eventually got my 90 day stamp which keeps me good in the US until Oct 2nd, although our flight to New Zealand is Oct 1st. We had arranged to stay with Norma and Bob in Jamaica Plains, a neighbourhood in Boston through a website for touring cyclists called warmshowers (I know, the name could be better). We cross the river by water taxi and navigate away from downtown to their lovely home where they greeted us on the front porch.

Bob offered up a beer called ‘Heady Topper’ an 8% double IPA that was unbelievavly refreshing for its strength, shame its only available in Vermont where they drive to get it, I think I’m going to email the brewers and see if I can’t get a box shipped out somewhere. That evening and the following morning Bob and Norma totally spoiled us with good food, we were especially humbled to try Bobs amazing signature waffles. The perfect start to the USA section of the trip and a huge thanks to Norma, Bob and the Ferris Wheels bike shop which gave us a quick turnaround on my cassette and Eals rear wheel. We have fun galavanting around on these bikes but all these people combine to make it more worthwhile and possible.

An uneventful first 60 miles ride followed as we adjusted our eyes from the old european towns and countryside to the more familiar yellow striped US roads, huge wood panelled homes and red barn farms. Another 70 mile ride followed to the town of Windsor Locks through crossing from New Jersey into Connecticut along the way, 3 states in a few days, as the heatwave from the previous week in the US began to ease from around 105F to a more comfortable 93F.

One thing we have loved since getting back to the US is the amount of options we have for food and drink, spoilt for choice at every turn often over doing the sugar and taking timeouts to let the food babies settle down. Heading out for food that evening however we had a problem, one thing that annoys me about certain towns like this one in the US is that the commercial areas have no sidewalks. A double lane road runs through past all the stores and chain food places with turns direct to parking lots, completely inaccessible by pedestrian. This isn’t the case in an around the cities and major towns but these smaller ones (and this occurs all the way across) have been setup in a way that can only be detremental to public health not to mention the environment as nobody walks anywhere! (Not to mention the drive-thru banks they have here, SERIOUSLY) We have bought beers from a liquor shop round the corner of a motel only to have the liquor store owner marvel that we have walked offering us a lift back in his truck and then see the motel owner on the walk back remark if she knew we wanted beer she would have drove us, it was a 2 minute walk. Alas, as usual we end up lumbering across the grass by the road and cutting through parking lots.

Riding through Conneticut has been a series of reasonabley long rolling climbs. That night we were heading toward our second warmshower stay with John Lynch, he had offered some great route advice along the way which took us on a bike path from Avon to Farmington. It was a glorious smooth ride and being a Sunday there were plenty of walkers, runners and cyclists making use of the paved trail that ran for about 20 miles. I thought about how logical the path must be for the local economies and what a contrast it was from the Windsor Locks commercial area. We stopped for food and drink along the path and I’m sure most people out that day would have. Thats about $7 x hundreds of people, makes sense.

John greeted us at the bottom of his driveway and gave us another great night of warm hospitality and wonderful food in their beautiful log cabin home. It was great looking over googlemaps with John tracking out a route for the next 3-4 days and again we can’t thank them enough for hosting us. Following John’s route the next morning over pleasant ridge gave us a nice climb and great descent at which point we crossed the Appalchian Trail. Right on que several thru-hikers came out of the woods beards, backpacks and all. I crossed the Appalchian trail in Virginia 2 years ago and stayed at a hostel in the legendary AT town of Damascus, VA called “The Place”. The afternoon saw us crossing over more rolling terrain toward the Winding Hills Lake campground which unsuprisingly was at the top of a very long winding hill. We had to bin our stove gas cannisters for the flight which we havn’t been able to resupply yet so it was a 2 mile cruise back into the town of Montgomery for some long overdue pizza.

2 Years ago I met a guy on the road whilst riding in Idaho called Siemen from Belgium. Last summer Siemen met and rode with Jeffrey Odolski in Spain. Our days riding from Winding Hills would take us through the Delaware Water Gap area where Jeffrey lives, so with that connection in place we had arranged to stay with him at the family home. It would be about a 70 mile ride in total with the last 30 being a real treat riding along ‘Old Mine Road’, almost no traffic 2 deep and chatting the whole way. When a car finally did pass us it stopped in the road up ahead and a bunch of girls stuck heads out of the window and sunroof toward the edge of the road. We pulled over with them to see a black bear walking off in the bushes that had just crossed the road. 20 seconds earlier and we would have had to ride around it. After getting to Jeffery’s we exchange stories of Siemen and bike touring, devour a phillie cheesesteak and hit the sack.