The temperatures were more normal for summer time in western Pennsylvania. I pulled Maggie out of the barn to go for a spin to close out vacation. I have two different ideas on how I plan my rides: I either plan the route from start to finish or I ride by the seat of my pants. Today’s ride was kind of half and half. I knew I wanted to ride to Foxburg PA to the Foxburg Inn on the Allegheny River. From there, the destination was all up to how I felt and what the weather was doing at the time.
I started out a little after 1 pm. I stopped at Hermitage Sheetz for fuel for Maggie and myself. I set the GPS for Foxburg Inn via back roads. I love this GPS app for my iPhone. When you tell it not to take highways, it listens. LOL I ran Route 318 from West Middlesex to Mercer, then caught Route 58 clear to Foxburg Inn. Once you get past Route 8 in Harrisville, the road becomes twisty and wooded. Riding temperatures were cool and comfortable. I saw lots of other bikes on this leg of the journey.
I stopped at the Foxburg Inn complex which sits on the Allegheny River. There was a wedding reception going on down on the deck so I couldn’t go down to take pictures there. There are several buildings in the complex. The actual Foxburg Inn and Restaurant sits right on the bank of the river. A small store with Foxburg Pizza Shop is at the intersection as you come across the bridge. The highlight of the day (foodwise) was just across from the pizza shop. Divani’s Homemade Chocolate Shop sells all sorts of goodies. They had handscooped icecream and various natural drinks. I had one of the best rootbeer floats I’ve had since A & W closed. The Foxburg Winery is right there as well. They had a band playing out on the patio. Not too shabby either.
I debated just coming home from Foxburg. Nah… Too nice of a day for that. I continued out Route 58 to meet up with Route 38 which would take me to Route 322 and on to Franklin, PA. This was the ride by the seat of my pants portion of the ride. I hadn’t been on most of these roads in a long time, if I had been on them at all. I hit Route 322 and turned toward Franklin. Almost immediately, I came across a sign for Kennerdale Scenic Overlook. I had never heard of an overlook out there so what the heck… Let’s go. I cranked a left and then attempted to use the voice activation of my iPhone to find a GPS course to the overlook. Couldn’t find anything under Kennerdale or Kennerdell. Ok, we got signs. Let’s just follow the signs.
The road to the overlook was beautiful. It was freshly paved twisty country road. I arrived at the overlook to find several other motorcyclists enjoying the view. The overlook is built on sheer rock along the Allegheny Trail above the Allegheny River. Story boards along the railing describe how the area played a pivotal part in the oil history of Pennsylvania in both rich oil reserves and plenty of forests for wood products. Wow!… Two surprises in one day! This beautiful storied location in the middle of nowhere, on a road I didn’t even know existed and a great rootbeer float within two hours time. I took a few pictures. Grabbed the bottle of water out of my pack and sat down on a stone to enjoy the breeze coming up the hill.
After my lovely little break, I decided to continue down the road I was on. It would take me down through Kennerdell and back up eventually to Route 8. I decided that even though I could run up Route 8 and back known roads either to Harrisville or up to Franklin neither option was appealing. Nah… This had been my lucky day for riding by the seat of my pants, so let’s just continue on that theme. This time I would cheat a little to find suitable back roads. I called up the GPS for a route back to Mercer without any of the major routes. The back roads it chose for me were previously tarred and chipped but it had been long enough that all the excess chip had been worn off. No other motorcycles on these roads. Heck! There weren’t even many cars on these roads.
I wish I could have stopped at the Bugle Point Elk Farm. I don’t know why I didn’t stop. I wasn’t on a schedule. Plenty of daylight left to stop and snap a few pictures. I did manage to catch a glimpse of some Elk near the barn. Their antlers were in velvet. Double dumbass on me for not pulling in the clutch and turning around. I’ll have get back out on Kilgore Rd so I can stop and take some pictures. Lots of summer left for that.
From Mercer, I came back home Route 62 and across South Keelridge Road to Route 318. I tested video recording with the iPhone while riding. It was amazingly stable. The audio can use a little help though. The default video app uses the internal mic. I wonder if I can get it to use my bluetooth mic in my helmet? Hmmm…
A stop at Dad’s chased away his one neighbor who tends to make a bit of a pain of herself. She’s a widow and lives alone. Her mind is going to some extent. Whenever she sees Dad out on his swing, she comes over, whether he invited her to or not. She left. Dad and I went to the Middlesex Diner for dinner. Guess who was there?
I closed out the travel day getting cereal, milk and something to take to work for lunch this week. A couple loads of laundry went in the washer when I got home. Tink gave me a hand with that. I rewarded her with some cheese for helping. I’ve been babbling on this blog since. I guess its time to check the last load of laundry and set the alarm to wake me up in the morning for work. So much for this week’s vacation.
~Cappy