Miles: 85.71 Today / Total 2030.21
Elevation Gain: 3970 ft. Today / 42,734 ft. Total
Remember when I mentioned that I have decided to not let rain get to me? It’s a good thing, because it rained most of the day today, but this rain affected us differently than we expected, which I’ll explain later. We were expecting a long 83 mile day of riding, so having a couple of famous places on the schedule gave me something to look forward to.
As we headed to Lancaster, I dug in and peddled, then when I arrived there, it was such a cool, laid back town that I almost forgot about the rain. Most of the houses and businesses lining the streets are in historic buildings, some just a few feet from the road, and the town has a hip vibe, with a lot of small businesses. Wish I could have spent more time there, but I had to keep moving.
Once out of town, we were in Mennonite country, and everything was different—neat, tidy, ordered and beautiful. There were miles and miles of gently rolling hills covered with farms and farm houses.
Instead of the lineup of large pickup trucks a typical US farm would have, homes and farms had bicycles and horse drawn carts and wagons. Even the farm machinery was horse drawn. The homes and yards were big, tidy and well maintained, with large vegetable gardens and flower gardens. Women wore dresses and bonnets, and men wore pressed pants, long sleeved shirts and hats. It felt like life in the 1800s.
Horse drawn carts passed us on the road as we peddled along, but prior to us arriving, a lot of other horse drawn carts had already been on the road. And how do I know this? Because there was a lot of horse poop on the road being dissolved by the rain. The resulting foaming puddles of watered down poop mush were splashing and spraying on us as we rode along and as cars and trucks raced through the puddles. We, our bikes and our gear were completely covered in stinky poop water and globs of muck, but it was a small price to pay to see the beautiful setting we were riding through.
Just before leaving Mennonite country, I bumped into Craig and John, and we came across a bakery, stopping for some delicious baked goods. Believe it or not, this was my first bakery stop of the tour, which, as you know, has not been my way in the past. What is happening to me? I normally eat like a 17-year-old by on these rides. Am I broken?
Now we were on busier roads, sometimes with no shoulder, so it was eyes on the mirror and peddle to the metal for 35 miles of rain that acted like it was going to quit, before it started up again. When we arrived Valley Forge, most of the guys pushed on to our destination, but I had to stop and look around. The last time I was there was the summer of 1970, when my family and cousin Rebecca camped our way across the country and into Canada in a tent trailer for 3-4 weeks.
I met the Schneiders, an LDS family from Cedar City, Utah, on my way into the Valley Forge sights. They are on an impressive, epic, 28 day church and US history vacation with their 6 kids. Oh, I forgot to mention—they’re traveling in a Cruise America RV! They reminded me if my parents and some of the epic trips they took our family on when I was growing up. Great memories!
Things turned hilly and trafficy as I left Valley Forge, and I was racing against the clock to get to Chonshohocken Firestation 2 before it got dark. Two of my lights ran out of battery, and it was almost 7:30 PM when I finally arrived.
All the guys had already showered, so I could take all the time I needed to scrub the horse poop off my clothes and gear, before scrubbing it off myself. My bike was a disaster that could wait till tomorrow.
So what do you think? Does this sound like fun to you?
Living Our Bucket List 
Wow I never heard about the trip up the east coast! Was my dad on that trip?
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Nope. He might have just graduated from high school. I was just out of 8th grade, and I was the oldest of us on the trip, beside Becca.
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Hi Eileen, I haven’t stopped reading we got to Oak Island, NC. We have been visiting with family. It has been great too because I have not seen them in so long. Since Christmas actually, but for me that’s awhile. The wedding is on the beach this evening and a dinner afterwards. Last night was a rehearsal and a out side dinner. It was fun, but tiring. I am so excited for my cousin!
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Sounds like a wonderful wedding and celebration and great times with your family there! Enjoy!
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Wr did and relaxed, but now home again the dpg gets picked up in the morning. Zack goes back to work, then Dr’s appointment s on Tuesday. It’s really great to be back in my own bed. I am sure it is a great thought for you too.
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Definitely looking forward to being home again. I miss my bed and food and routine. And my friends and grandkids. Here is my cell phone number so we can text instead of communicating via WordPress. I don’t check messages there consistently.
480-616-4450
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Eileen, I want to apologize for the typos I was reading and commenting while riding home in the car.. I didn’t receive your reply till I had sent today’s post to you. I have been doing my best to keep up with your accomplishments and ride since you visited our church. I also wanted to say thankyou for trusting me with your number. I guess I shouldn’t send my replies to that way, but again I have been totally tired today from the trip. I also had some laundry and some clean up to accomplish after the dog got home. Tomarrow I have a appointment in the midday and then I have to catch-up on my exercises and my exercycle. .
JoBeth DeVore
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You crack me up quick! How can you catch up on exercise? I am overdosing right now, but when I get home, I have to work yet doing some form of exercise at least three days a week.
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P.S. I’m not an English teacher. I make mistakes all the time when I write. I just love hearing from you.if you had errors, I didn’t notice them.
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Thankyou, I just wanted to be truthful. Riding in the car and typing is a challenge.!
JoBeth DeVore
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Hi Eileen, We went o Wilmington, NNC first and stayed a few days. I saw the USSNC, I haven’t seen it since I was a child.Zack had never seen it, so we visited again. It was more impressive than last time, I d admit. We also checked out the train museum too. It was smaller than the others I have seen. We stayed at the Fairfield Inn. Almost forgot we went to the aquarium too. Had a bunch of fun. We went there at Oak Island because we couldn’t get in the house till four pm.
Later at the house we saw my parents, Aunt and Uncle , and cousin. It was just like we had never been apart. My family is a small one and very close. My sister came with her two daughters . We all stayed together, which was great since my family is so important in my family. We all had such a good time together. Unfortunately we live in Virginia SC and NC. Zack’s father lives in Harrisonburg. VA where he is biology professor at JMU. He lost his mother last year. His family is mostly in Muscaeiten, Iowa.
His mother and I were as close as a mother in law and daughter in law could be which is good . I miss her as well. His sister lives in Tennessee
Now we are driving home. I swear the trip is longer coming home, than going. Next week thie June doctor’s appointments start it’s going to be a busy one. I will include that at beach we found a lot of shells. I wore my sunscreen, but the tops of my feet got sunburned because I forgot to put sunscreen on them. Opps! It’s uncomfortable.
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