320 miles today
723 miles total
4:00 came and went this morning and, unlike yesterday, everyone was asleep, the result of the 403 miles we rode the day before combined with our margarita and Budweiser visit to Los Agave.
Breakfast was basically a repeat of yesterday. There's no going back. We apparently will sacrifice a pig each and every morning of this journey.
After breakfast, we once again hit the interstate and headed north.
At 12:43 we finally exited the interstate and joined the one-lane highway world. It's a world of small towns, court squares, little league parks and mom-and-pop stores. Nothing against cities because we live in a great one. But small towns are the real America.
We made our first Walmart stop today. It is probably only the first of many. Bo's digital camera quit working and we needed a cheap replacement. While there, we also purchased reading glasses. Not because we need them, of course.
We had lunch in Parsons, West Virginia, at Trisha's Family Restaurant. A delightful BLT provided Bo with his first vegetable of the trip.
Passing through Tucker County, West Virginia, we came across an impressive mountaintop windmill farm, one that Bill and Bo saw a couple of years ago while on their way to New England. Some of the white metal turbine windmills reach 200 feet in height. Critics contend that they are unattractive and kill birds.
Bad picture of bird killing windmills in action.We had a fabulous ride through the Monogehela National Forest. The freshly resurfaced road serpentined through an incredibly dense forest. Nothing beats riding a motorcycle through the twisties and these are some of the best.
We had originally planned a route that took us directly from West Virginia into Pennsylvania. A last minute change vectored us through Maryland and into Pennsylvania. The part of Maryland we traversed is the westernmost part. It's the small, almost triangular, section that is connected to the rest of Maryland by a small sliver of land. It almost looks like it became a part of Maryland by accident.
Speaking of accidents, we found ourselves riding through Accident, Maryland. We tried to figure out why someone would name a city "Accident." We decided it must have been a mistake. Sorry, couldn't resist.
We were interested by the contrasts we saw along the way. Within two mountaintops we traveled from a place in West Virginia where most families have to work a full week to make enough money to buy John Edward's a haircut to a place in Maryland with ski resorts, million dollar condominiums and a lake full of very big boats.
That's enough political commentary. After all, we're on vacation, particularly from politics.
The riding day ended with us being chased by a rainstorm we could watch approaching from the west. It caught up with us just as we reached a gas station in Duncansville, Pennsylvania. It let up enough for us to ride to the local Comfort Inn, which is our home for the night.
Tomorrow we plan to find a cave. Jim has never been underground and we must do something about it. This area is full of caves so we're gonna make it happen.
Like you, we also plan to enjoy Independence Day.
We didn't show any photos of Jim yesterday because they were lost in Bo's camera. So, here he is:
Jim channeling Peter Fonda
Jim channeling Peter Fonda
Arrival at Trisha's Family Restaurant
Testing out the new reading glasses