Three more days… whoosh, flying by way too fast as I come within what would be an easy, two-hour drive to my destination. I’m still not sure when it’s going to settle in, it many never, but in keeping with my just living the day, I lived three great days this week, so far.
I’ve also quit stressing about hurrying up to finish these (almost :) daily blogs. There are only a handful left, and I was worrying about getting everything said, but then it occurred to me… I don’t have to stop this when I arrive. Instead, when I get home and get some rest, I can come right back here, add what I think is missing and wrap it all up. Many evenings I have been battling fatigue, and you can probably be tell by the length and quality of the blog which ones they were. I’m kind of looking forward to a short walk, a couple of blocks to a coffee shop, laptop in hand, backpack set aside for the time being, and just going through all the photos, the stuff I’ve written, my voice notes, and writing without being this tired.
Monday morning, start of week 14, in beautiful Pennsylvania. Made my way from York to Lancaster along Hwy 23. It was okay, being quite “urban” and congested, combination of old and new, and not a lot of open space in between. Weather was great for walking, in the mid-fifties but it was just one of those days that I could have preferred a quieter road; got used to my rail-trail of the day before! I only took a dozen pictures, compared to over 200 yesterday - that tells you a little something about the day.
Wrightsville-Colombia Bridge, looking towards the East.
Interesting passage over the Susquehanna River between Wrightsville and Colombia. I have since learned that the Susquehanna is the longest river on the East coast, and drains nearly half of Pennsylvania, among other cool geographic things. This bridge upon which I walked is more of historical significance, in that its predecessor was deliberately burned by the Union militia to prevent the passage of Confederate soldiers, during the Civil War of course. They say never burn your bridges, but this might have been the exception to the rule, as it stopped the advance of the Southern boys. Also interesting is the fact that this bridge is only about 15 miles downriver from Three Mile Island. If 15 miles didn’t take me five hours to cover, I would have loved to go up there, but I have been there before, did a little side trip on the way to the airport during a business trip, a few days before nine-eleven. It’s definitely a bit eerie, but interesting, and from the Wrightsville-Colombia bridge, you’d never know it was there.
Had a nice rest in Lancaster, carefully watching the weathermen. The weather along this walk has been ridiculous, insane. I have now broken record cold temperatures in this part of the country, right through where I walked both yesterday and today. Thankfully, the beautiful views offset the cold.
The walk from Lancaster to Morgantown is really cool, even when it’s really cold. Yesterday was a new experience, made the Maryland cold feel balmy. We, the weathermen and I, had been watching this huge Arctic front come across the Midwest, dumping unseasonable amounts of snow in Chicago and parts of Ohio, and there was no way Pennsylvania was going to be spared. And there was no way I wasn’t going to keep going. I find it funny that this week is the only week on the entire trip that I’ve known where I was going to sleep three days in advance. And yes, the really cold front hit Lancaster overnight, and I set off in 33, feels like 23- degree weather. Fortunately, I had the right clothes. Five layers, running shirt, t-shirt, fleece pullover, down jacket and inward reflecting wind jacket kept my core very warm, even though the nasty little north wind occasionally made into through the cracks. Head and neck covered with wool beanie and fleece neck thingy, and good gloves. Thermal running tights kept my legs perfectly warm. I expected to shed a layer or two, as temperature typically goes up during the day; not so yesterday, it dropped hour after hour. The upside was my backpack being quite light, as I was wearing most everything I have! I was concerned about my laptop, so basically wrapped it with everything else that was left to keep it from freezing. This is what happened overnight.
This being the heart of Pennsylvania Amish Country, I shared the road with several horse&buggies which I love. Walking along roads you share with horses means they smell a little like a barn, which is quite alright, if you like barns. There were also several folks on bicycles. One lady in particular was quite impressive, and I have no idea how she kept her balance. We were going up a fairly steep hill and she was probably maxing out at a mile per hour, but she had a 35-mph freezing cold crosswind. It felt every bit like 22. Yet up she went. I thought I should help her out, but I didn’t think she would have appreciated me touching her arse for the push. I don’t know a lot about the Amish faith, but I am learning something about living a simpler life.
The farms are beautiful, and the light was spectacular. The sun came out yesterday afternoon after the front and everything was just shining. Slideshow below. Admit I was exhausted when I got to the most bizarre hotel I’ve ever seen. It was completely out of place in Morgantown, semi-modern, weird, pool and jacuzzi in the lobby, wanna-be convention center, but room was fine, and I passed out for a couple of hours when I arrived.
Woke up to a voice message from Garrett. Garrett is a dear friend of Jimmy’s and Jimmy has been my friend for 52 years. Last week Jimmy discovered that my projected path through PA would take me within 1.6 miles from Garrett’s farm as I walked from Morgantown to Pottstown, so he put us in touch. We were going to try and meet today, but instead, yesterday he happened to be near Morgantown, and kindly picked me up and we had a great dinner together. We talked about any and everything, essentially complete strangers with a dear friend in common. I’m glad I glued myself together for dinner, as my mom would say, for it was most enjoyable. I love talking with smart, interesting people. All we really disagreed about was whether our meeting was coincidental. He thinks yes, I don’t believe in coincidences :-)
And now back to the weather… as predicted, cold records broken all over Pennsylvania, and here’s dummy, about to leave a perfectly warm, albeit bizarre hotel room to venture out to Pottstown. I had to chuckle. for it was only six or seven weeks ago I was looking at the same maps on television, only the other way around! I do love walking in the cold though, and my prediction of discomfort was way beyond reality. Today, with my 5 layers and other paraphernalia, was actually quite comfortable, though I left in feels-like 13 degrees.
I’ve gotten better at finding nice quiet passages. Today it was the French Creek State Park, which made up about 7 of my 18 or so miles today. Very few cars, and at one point, about 2 miles of dirt road, nice crisp and quiet. The loudest things in the now mostly bare woods are the birds; they were making quite a racket this morning.
I had yet another nice little horse meeting. This guy was very friendly and curious. His buddy was having a snooze, so we left him alone, but he kept insisting on an iPhone 8 bronchoscopy. My report is negative, save some normal mucous findings. He was quite funny, and ours was about the only conversation I had all day. He asked I keep it confidential :)
