2011 Rally-Bloomsburg,Pa.

henzilla said:

And you were making fun of Texas the other day

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Hey, we haven't even touch on West Virginia, yet

Seriously, you have to be from somewhere to truly know what makes it special. PA is a great place, but it's got some unique features. Hopefully, everybody will come and enjoy the rally. I suggest a large plate of Ponhaus for breakfast, a bowl of chicken corn soup for lunch (dinner) and a generous helping of Ham Potpie for dinner (supper). Yep, you get the picture........very unique, in a very special way, just like the uncle that the family didn't speak of.

Oh, and yes, don't forget to bring a big sense of humor.

kgadley01 said:

North/West...Forest County...Marienville...East Forest High, class of "71"

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I'm not sure if they still have a gas station in Marienville. It's pretty sad these days, the nice houses are hunting camps owned by folks from Pittsburgh and Cleveland.

Sad, ever so sad.

36654 said:

I'm not sure if they still have a gas station in Marienville. It's pretty sad these days, the nice houses are hunting camps owned by folks from Pittsburgh and Cleveland.

Sad, ever so sad.

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Yes but it was a great place to grow up. My youngest brother is still there. he works for the State park service. he's over Cook Forest & Clear Creek State Parks.

Bill's Old Bike Barn

Yeah! Finally in our "neck of the woods"!

I can't believe the best hidden treasure will be right under our noses and hasn't been mentioned yet!!

The absolute, positive, coolest, must-see place:

http://www.billsbikebarn.com/index.php?pageid=1

Diane

kgadley01 said:

Yes but it was a great place to grow up. My youngest brother is still there. he works for the State park service. he's over Cook Forest & Clear Creek State Parks.

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Up there, you have the following choices for employment, US Forest Service, State Park/Game Commission or the new prison. Anything else is pretty much a minimum wage job. It's never good when the government jobs are the best in town.

terham said:

Great to hear the rally is coming to PA. I may be a rally virgin no more.

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It will be kinda fun to have a rally in our own back yard. I think we will try camping and forgo the hotel dash.

PA Motorcycle Touring

Here is a web site that I ran across a while ago. Some good info about touring PA.

36654 said:

Up there, you have the following choices for employment, US Forest Service, State Park/Game Commission or the new prison. Anything else is pretty much a minimum wage job. It's never good when the government jobs are the best in town.

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36654, what town are you in or near? one of my best friends that I graduated with owns Dubois Harley-Davidson.

I live a few hours away in Altoona Pa and it would be great to have a national here. So many great places to see around that area and so many more great rides to get there from everywhere.

Brett Endress
Altoona pa

36654 said:

Remember this is the land of the PA Dutch......the folks that were asked to leave Germany by their neighbors.

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Let's not mislead any misnomer..this is 'Hard' (Anthracite) coal country and the locals are referred to 'Coal Crackers'... Though the Amish are found in this region..but found mainly in the Lancaster county area. Billy Joel's "Allentown" comes to mind..

If there is be a theme..Coal, Iron and Steel

Regards,

Clay
Kimberton,Pa.

Coal and sleepy river towns.

I will agree Bloomsburg is not considered Pa. Dutch however there are German surnames among the population since the 1700s. The Germans ( Moravians) of this region first settled in Easton and Allentown area, they performed missionary work among the Native Americans along the rivers till Sullivan's March occurred, or they worked on the Delaware, Leigh, and Pa canal to building railroads. They were separate from our Pa Dutch lot who have been moving to the area to escape tourist and establish farms for the next generation on former Quaker farms. The farms are well taken care of, the barns have a Quaker influence but as you go north they take on the Connecticut Yankee design. The typical Amish design is new construction.

Bloomsburg is Magee Carpet and the university.

Danville 10 miles south of Bloomsburg was once a 1700 Trading post for western expansion, a canal hub, a Railroad T rail factory and now the home of Geisinger one of the largest health care systems in the US.

Further south is Sunbury, Selinsgrove, and Northumberland which supported trade along the main and west branch of the Susquehanna river. Selinsgrove as with Bloomsburg have universities than began as teacher colleges and now offer advanced programs.

To the north is Berwick which was a foundry town that made rail cars, tanks during WW 2, and recent fabrication projects. The leading employer is a Nuclear Power Plant and it once was the home of Wise Potato chips. The residents here are mixed with English, Ukrainian, Poles and Italians. I never found any Penn Dutch food in this town nor north, east or west of it. Berwick's claim to fame; they were perennial high school football power in the 1980's and 90's. Coal Region high school football is an obsession and if you can't talk about the weather mention local football. I believe Mount Carmel has the most wins and longest establish program.

West and north of Bloomsburg is Williamsport who at one time had the most millionaires in the country due to the railroad, lumber and shipping industry. South Williamsport is the home of Little League Baseball. It was also home of the GRIT but there is no good news to report anymore. Just west of there you have Piper Aircraft, Woolrich, and vast tracts of farmland and woods. The lands north are state forest, state parks, and proposed natural gas exploration sites.

East and north of Bloomsburg is the coal region, and farms that support the workforce. The Railroads are popular and today there are major shipping hubs for industry and retail along the RT 81 and RT 80 corridors. Some of the towns like that of Bloomsburg have universities, there are many defense contractors, high tech, Wall Street west thanks to well positioned Senators and there are many resorts that once supported a population that wanted clean air during to industrial revolution, gave refuge to those suffering from TB, and then came entertainment resorts for newlyweds to Casino patrons. There are few historic warehouses for the past mentally ill and few scattered state prisons. Oh I almost forgot to mention NASCAR.

The coal region fueled Bethlehem Steel that grew the Allentown area, and the New Jersey Zinc Company that once was in Palmerton. But regardless there are adequate roads, twisties that are mentioned in sources yet many others are known by the locals. Great place to explore, easy to get oriented to since you have RT 118 to the north of Bloomsburg, the slab and the river for boundaries. There is interesting history here, nice sites to visit but too early to share them without a ride report.

Nice report..but missing a very large employer in the area..

http://www.bop.gov/locations/institutions/alx/index.jsp

..not including some of this countries baddest of the bad boys that also take up residence here...

Regards,

Clay
Kimberton,Pa.

Clay said:

Let's not mislead any misnomer..this is 'Hard' (Anthracite) coal country and the locals are referred to 'Coal Crackers'... Though the Amish are found in this region..but found mainly in the Lancaster county area. Billy Joel's "Allentown" comes to mind..

If there is be a theme..Coal, Iron and Steel

Regards,

Clay
Kimberton,Pa.

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The hard coal, as I know it, lies south of the east branch of the Susquehanna and east of the main river below Sunbury. Bloomsburg lies at the eastern edge of a relatively flat area of good farm land that extends over to the West branch of the Susquehanna. This region was primarily settled by German immigrants in the late 1700's and early 1800's (i.e., my great grandmothers family). If you stop at a restaurant in these farm areas, you are not going to find polish dishes or decent Italian sausages, you're going to get PA Dutch food. If you want my advice, go south of the river when looking for food

kgadley01 said:

36654, what town are you in or near? one of my best friends that I graduated with owns Dubois Harley-Davidson.

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I live in lovely Bellefonte, exit 164 of I-80. Happily, I'm 10 miles outside of JoePa land

Did you know that people in Wyoming also know the correct pronunciation of Dubois.

Clay said:

Nice report..but missing a very large employer in the area..

http://www.bop.gov/locations/institutions/alx/index.jsp

..not including some of this countries baddest of the bad boys that also take up residence here...

Regards,

Clay
Kimberton,Pa.

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Nah, the worst of the worst go HERE

36654 said:

I live in lovely Bellefonte, exit 164 of I-80. Happily, I'm 10 miles outside of JoePa land

Did you know that people in Wyoming also know the correct pronunciation of Dubois.

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Yes I did know that. I have stayed in Dubois Wyoming on two different trips...

Newstar said:

It will be kinda fun to have a rally in our own back yard. I think we will try camping and forgo the hotel dash.

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Camping's where it's at. You have all that new camping equipment, right?

Wyoming Valley north of Bloomsburg.

The name Wyoming derives from the Munsee name xw?®:wamənk, meaning "at the big river flat."

According to the Jesuit Relation of 1635, the Wyoming Valley was inhabited by the Scahentoarrhonon people; it was then known as the Scahentowanen Valley. By 1744 it was inhabited by Lenape, Mahican, Shawnee and others tribes.

Pennsylvania and Connecticut's conflicting claims to the territory in the 18th century led to military skirmishes known as the Pennamite Wars. The conflict arose from the fact that King Charles II of England had granted the land to Connecticut in 1662, and also to William Penn in 1681. Yankee settlers from Connecticut arrived in the area and founded the town of Wilkes-Barre in 1769. Armed bands of Pennsylvanians (Pennamites) tried without success to expel them in 1769-70, and again in 1775.

During the American Revolution the area was the site of the Battle of Wyoming on July 3, 1778, in which more than three hundred Revolutionaries died at the hands of Loyalist and their Iroquois allies. The incident was famously depicted by the Scottish poet Thomas Campbell in his 1809 poem Gertrude of Wyoming. At the time, it was widely believed that the attack was led by Joseph Brant; in the poem, Brant is described as the "Monster Brant" because of the atrocities committed, although it was later determined that Brant had not actually been present. The popularity of the poem may have led to the state of Wyoming being named after the valley.

The only place I could find decent Penn Dutch food near Bloomsburg is in the Country Cupboard restaurant located in Lewisburg PA or at the local farmers market. Any recommendations ? The Country Cupboard has lost some of its charm over the years as far as their food, their accommodations are nice.

I am preparing a scouting trip in the next few weeks to highlight the site, coal region, farms, trains and places to see.

Hard Coal is in the Scranton to Nanticoke region, mostly Luzerne County. The other fields are south and east of Bloomsburg down to Pottsville. There is soft coal near Dushore.

In the Wyoming Valley to Berwick has a huge eastern European, Irish and Italian population. That sort of food begins a short distance from Bloomsburg in Berwick and increases in opportunity as you get close to Pittston, Old Forge for Italian and Nanticoke for Polish.

Please come WEST too

We'd love having all you folks in Oregon this year too. Hope ya can manage the ride out. I'll come to PA next year, as I do the national rally every year. I'm an old VA. beemer rider and always enjoy riding East. Ya'wls turn to ride West this year! We need ya out here too...Happy Trails, Randy