VA to PA (5/20/2023 Sat)

The end of this trip was extended a bit by Anne's idea to ride out an meet me before reaching home. On a past trip we had stayed in a campground in Shelburne VT, near the Museum. Anne thought that would be a good meeting point, since she knew the location and had taken many of those roads on past trips. The plan would be for her to head there Sunday, and secure a campsite for us. Assuming I covered a good distance these next two days, I expected to meet her in Vermont mid afternoon on Sunday.

I had left Ironhorse one day early to get a few hours head start of the approaching weather front. The predicted weather pattern had the front covering most of the US but with larger ends, like a dumbell. I was worried that leaving NC Satruday morning I would be someplace in the mountains attempting to puch through the weather front. In addition to the mountain roads restricting the ideal North West punch through route, plus the greater exposure of being in the mountains, this was also the fatest part of the storm to pierce. Getting through the moutains Friday allowed me to travel parallel to the stromfront for most of Saturday morning and reach a thin part of the storm to ride through or even just stop for a meal while it passed over.

So the race was on and I packed up quickly and left Claytor Lake State Park about 0800. I continued up Rt81 thinking I would stop for breakfast or gas soon enough. After riding awhile I spotted a billboard with "COFFEE" in 4 foot leters. Great idea, but I wasn't able to read the rest of the sign because it went behind trees and was a much smaller font. A GPS search didn't show anything for about 1.5 hours, but I added that stop to my route. Another 20 minutes or so up the road I saw another ad for Roadmap Coffee Works, that was only a few exits away. That sure sounded better, and might have been what the billboard advertised. That exit was a 90 minute travel leg, and just about the ideal time for a break.

It was a nice little pull off with seating outside and inside. They roasted and sold their own coffee, as well as all kinds of fancy brewing choices and pastries. I ordered a cinnamon bun and a "Peru/Maria Nieves" normal coffee. Both very good. I wondered around looking for a sticker and found they offered their own tea bag coffee options for in cup steeping. I asked about stickers, which they did have, just not displayed in the store. I added a sticker and the 4 pack of coffee. This wasn't a real breakfast, but I felt much more awake with my second cup of coffee.

Gas was needed just over and hour later. Just shy of 2 hours after that gas stop I decided that Arby's sounded like a good and quick lunch stop. I spent a bit of time at Arby's because I did a bit of chain mantenance. Passing the back end of my parked bike I got a scary look at my very flattened out rear tire. In some lighting it looked like all the center tread was gone. Not bad for around 14,000 miles, but not ideal when I'm still days from home. Just something else ot keep an eye on.

After Arby's I rode just over three hours. During that time I looked ahead for a campground and found far less than I would have expected for PA. My best guess is that I didn't have cell service while searching, since some of the campgrounds do appear to be coming from services like the iOverlander app. I used that hoping for a free campsite but the only thing I found was something just off the road once I got into New Jersey. It seemed rather odd to ride through PA to camp in NJ. But as I reached close to the boarder I found other PA free camping, but they kept mentioning that you needed a permit. So I found a state park with camping and figured I might get lucky.

Promised Land State Park was a bit of a ride from Rt81. Confusing because the office was at the far end of the park and two small villages seem to exist inside of the park. Once at the office there was a big sign indicating staffing shortages and how to get your reserved campsites. That didn't bode well for me but I tried the door anyway and found a nice young woman that probably doesn't see many customers in this otherwise vacant building. I purchased one of the remaining tent sites. She didn't know anything about the free permit camping. My campsite was fine and after a quick tent pitch I went to find dinner.

Dinner was close, just outside that park entrance at at Mountainhouse Tavern. Food was good, but it was a busy bar with live music from a single guy with a guitar playing loudly. I must be old. Back to camp before any rain hit and after a blog update I showered and crawled into the tent.