ricochetrider
Out There Somewhere
Day Trippin' 2013- Ongoing RR
I am making this my go-to thread for posting this year's day rides out of my home, mostly around South Central PA, but perhaps where ever I may roam in a day's time.... Or maybe over a weekend. Please drop in from time to time to see where I've been.
With that having been said, let's get on with it.
Finally got out for a nice ride last weekend. My first of this year's riding season.
Here's my write-up on it:
4/6/13
I've been waiting to get a bike -ANY bike- out on the road this year, and between work and weather, and just plain bad timing, I hadn't had much opportunity. BUT eventually, even a blind squirrel finds a nut, right?
Today wasn't QUITE as warm as yesterday, so I waited about, killing time by jaunting down to the local Farmer's Market for some breakfast, and kicking it at the house... until FINALLY the temps topped the 40 degree (F) mark. Yesterday, I'd uncovered the good ol R100, and ran it for a few minutes. Today, it was as ready as I was apparently. It fired up with a roar and off we went.
As I rolled down the hill, the river to my left was as still as glass; the arches of the bridges down there reflecting nicely on the water. The sky was as clear as a bell- it was a gen-u-wine blue bird day, and right Spring-like in all its glory. I popped down thru New Cumberland to see if my buddy Deuce was gonna be around for a spin, but no. So I headed west and was in the country pretty quickly.
I rolled out across the great Cumberland Valley, following the Yellow Breeches Creek for a ways down to Boiling Springs. It's the 2nd Saturday of trout season, and all the anglers were out- as well as a few danglers, wandering along the roadways at creekside, noodling around in their pick-em-up trucks, gawking about and and generally creatin' a nuisance. The crowd at the BS lake was fantastic in its proportions, with even some wheelchair-bound folks out there wettin' a hook, tryin' to entice a trout to accept the invitation to dinner.
Having made it thru all that, I swung out to Mt Holly Springs and up into the South Mountain for some... well some more trout fisherpersons, as it turns out. Y'see, there's no shortage of creeks, streams, criks, runs, ponds, puddles, drainage ditches, ore-holes, and lakes hereabouts. The South Mountain is no exception to the rule, and the hooks were fairly flyin about the place like so many frisbees. Any bit of water them wily anglers thought there might be a trout lurking, had a gaggle of people all teeming about with glazed eyes- pick-ups all askew, their poles bristlin' like porky-pine quills.
Eventually, the crowd gave way to open roads. Up through the mountain I rode, turning to cross over the ridge, back out into the Big Valley i did go, riding across PA Rte 233 thru Newville, to cross over the North Mountain into God's Country- Perry County, Pennsyltuckey. Still occasionally dodging trout seekers, passing more than the occasional motorcyclist, I rolled the throttle on and on. Zig-zagging out across Perry County, I found myself wondering just exactly how a place so beautiful could SMELL so bad? Well of course it's all farm country, and most of them farmers was spreading what we call manure, I suppose with the end-goal (pun intended) of having all that bovine offal kinda re-fortify the ground that their chemicals have stripped of its original essence... but I digress.
Out across God's Country I did ride, smiling in spite of the smell. I meandered along detours, slithered down by-ways, and rolled on to cross yet another mountain ridge, up over PA rte 850, stopping at the top for some pix.
Up and over the ridge I went, down into some other county... Franklin? Hmmm. not sure, actually. I hot-footed it down to PA Rte 75, and turned east. This is pure Amish country here, but somehow, I passed nary a buggy out here where the [imagined] speed limit also happens to match the hiway number. I flippin FLEW down "75" going, well, you know. I began to notice the sun's lower angle, combining that with the lengthening shadows and deduced that it was getting on in the day. I made a right turn onto hiway 74, and back up over that same ridge I went, marveling some more to myself on just how little traffic there ever is out here in God's Country. Guess he don't like cars, or had everyone (and I mean EVERYone) on a mission for trout 50 miles south, or whatever. Anyway, there's a couple of my fave curves over here on this stretch so I stopped again to get a piccie or two.
Up, over, back down and around I went into Perry County proper, winding south for a ways. I turned east, picking up another leg of Rte 850. Towards the river I went, with the sun peering over my shoulder, as if watching my speedo. Following my shadow, I eventually wound up also following some rolling roadblock on a... well, on some *other* brand of motorcycle... and lemme tell ya he was moving a LOT slower than my shadow had been. He turned off sooner rather than later, so me and my shadow sped back up, only to run right up on another similar rolling roadblock... Honestly. I mean what IS it with these darn people doing the SPEED LIMIT?!?
Taking the hint, I slowed down & veered off onto a pleasant little road that winds thru its own secret valley. I seriously could have been killed, as I came around a bend to find some knucklehead fully and completely on MY SIDE of the road... Man if I'd been a few seconds ahead of myself...Hmmm, maybe those rolling roadblocks had SOME purpose after all, eh? I eventually came out at the River's edge, below Marysville. Down river I did ride, with the train tracks betwixt me and the cold water of the Mighty Susquehanna.
It was a sweet little hop down to Wormleysburg, and back up the big hill to the Sky Pad. I hopped off the bike, and got a pic of this:
and this
Didn't take too many pix this time out, so I had to make up a load of shi... er I mean stuff, to add SOME substance to this here yarn.
Cheers.
I am making this my go-to thread for posting this year's day rides out of my home, mostly around South Central PA, but perhaps where ever I may roam in a day's time.... Or maybe over a weekend. Please drop in from time to time to see where I've been.
With that having been said, let's get on with it.
Finally got out for a nice ride last weekend. My first of this year's riding season.
Here's my write-up on it:
4/6/13
I've been waiting to get a bike -ANY bike- out on the road this year, and between work and weather, and just plain bad timing, I hadn't had much opportunity. BUT eventually, even a blind squirrel finds a nut, right?
Today wasn't QUITE as warm as yesterday, so I waited about, killing time by jaunting down to the local Farmer's Market for some breakfast, and kicking it at the house... until FINALLY the temps topped the 40 degree (F) mark. Yesterday, I'd uncovered the good ol R100, and ran it for a few minutes. Today, it was as ready as I was apparently. It fired up with a roar and off we went.
As I rolled down the hill, the river to my left was as still as glass; the arches of the bridges down there reflecting nicely on the water. The sky was as clear as a bell- it was a gen-u-wine blue bird day, and right Spring-like in all its glory. I popped down thru New Cumberland to see if my buddy Deuce was gonna be around for a spin, but no. So I headed west and was in the country pretty quickly.
I rolled out across the great Cumberland Valley, following the Yellow Breeches Creek for a ways down to Boiling Springs. It's the 2nd Saturday of trout season, and all the anglers were out- as well as a few danglers, wandering along the roadways at creekside, noodling around in their pick-em-up trucks, gawking about and and generally creatin' a nuisance. The crowd at the BS lake was fantastic in its proportions, with even some wheelchair-bound folks out there wettin' a hook, tryin' to entice a trout to accept the invitation to dinner.
Having made it thru all that, I swung out to Mt Holly Springs and up into the South Mountain for some... well some more trout fisherpersons, as it turns out. Y'see, there's no shortage of creeks, streams, criks, runs, ponds, puddles, drainage ditches, ore-holes, and lakes hereabouts. The South Mountain is no exception to the rule, and the hooks were fairly flyin about the place like so many frisbees. Any bit of water them wily anglers thought there might be a trout lurking, had a gaggle of people all teeming about with glazed eyes- pick-ups all askew, their poles bristlin' like porky-pine quills.
Eventually, the crowd gave way to open roads. Up through the mountain I rode, turning to cross over the ridge, back out into the Big Valley i did go, riding across PA Rte 233 thru Newville, to cross over the North Mountain into God's Country- Perry County, Pennsyltuckey. Still occasionally dodging trout seekers, passing more than the occasional motorcyclist, I rolled the throttle on and on. Zig-zagging out across Perry County, I found myself wondering just exactly how a place so beautiful could SMELL so bad? Well of course it's all farm country, and most of them farmers was spreading what we call manure, I suppose with the end-goal (pun intended) of having all that bovine offal kinda re-fortify the ground that their chemicals have stripped of its original essence... but I digress.
Out across God's Country I did ride, smiling in spite of the smell. I meandered along detours, slithered down by-ways, and rolled on to cross yet another mountain ridge, up over PA rte 850, stopping at the top for some pix.
Up and over the ridge I went, down into some other county... Franklin? Hmmm. not sure, actually. I hot-footed it down to PA Rte 75, and turned east. This is pure Amish country here, but somehow, I passed nary a buggy out here where the [imagined] speed limit also happens to match the hiway number. I flippin FLEW down "75" going, well, you know. I began to notice the sun's lower angle, combining that with the lengthening shadows and deduced that it was getting on in the day. I made a right turn onto hiway 74, and back up over that same ridge I went, marveling some more to myself on just how little traffic there ever is out here in God's Country. Guess he don't like cars, or had everyone (and I mean EVERYone) on a mission for trout 50 miles south, or whatever. Anyway, there's a couple of my fave curves over here on this stretch so I stopped again to get a piccie or two.
Up, over, back down and around I went into Perry County proper, winding south for a ways. I turned east, picking up another leg of Rte 850. Towards the river I went, with the sun peering over my shoulder, as if watching my speedo. Following my shadow, I eventually wound up also following some rolling roadblock on a... well, on some *other* brand of motorcycle... and lemme tell ya he was moving a LOT slower than my shadow had been. He turned off sooner rather than later, so me and my shadow sped back up, only to run right up on another similar rolling roadblock... Honestly. I mean what IS it with these darn people doing the SPEED LIMIT?!?
Taking the hint, I slowed down & veered off onto a pleasant little road that winds thru its own secret valley. I seriously could have been killed, as I came around a bend to find some knucklehead fully and completely on MY SIDE of the road... Man if I'd been a few seconds ahead of myself...Hmmm, maybe those rolling roadblocks had SOME purpose after all, eh? I eventually came out at the River's edge, below Marysville. Down river I did ride, with the train tracks betwixt me and the cold water of the Mighty Susquehanna.
It was a sweet little hop down to Wormleysburg, and back up the big hill to the Sky Pad. I hopped off the bike, and got a pic of this:
and this
Didn't take too many pix this time out, so I had to make up a load of shi... er I mean stuff, to add SOME substance to this here yarn.
Cheers.
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