Our first morning in Pennsylvania

October 8th

We woke up in our cute little room just in time for breakfast. I was a bit fatigued as Nicole had given me some "decaffeinated" tea before bed last night and I'm sensitive to that stuff.

Nicole on the other hand feels refreshed and ready to go. She wonders why I look tired after sleeping on such a comfortable bed after spending the last two nights in cheep motels. I tell her about the tea.

"I'm sorry," she says, almost horrified.

"Don't worry about it," I say as we exit our "hideaway" and walk down two flights of stairs to the dining room.

"Oh, you must be the cyclists." Said the host. "I took me a while to recognize you without your cycling clothes on."

Breakfast is great. We start off with a fruit bowl with yogurt and granola--a great start for a long day of cycling. Then we were treated with some sort of egg, cheese and broccoli square.

We had loaded up our bikes and were ready to go when another couple approached us. Apparently the man in the relationship loves to ride his bike and wants his wife to go with him. She would love to go on a ride, but knows her hubby isn't going to stop for anything. They ask how we do it. We tell them that we do have a schedule in mind, and we try to strike the delicate balance of reaching our destination and still taking time to enjoy the scenery.

They smile and wish us well, and then we head out towards Norristown. We don't get to far from our starting point before we see something worth stopping for. There's an abandoned mill of some kind that someone tried to turn into a private residence. Most of it is just ruins--walls with no floor and no ceiling. The rest of it is for sale. I still think it's more of a fixer-upper than most people would have patience for.

We ride past some rural farmland before entering some very bland suburbs of Philadelphia. Everything looks the same until we reach the Schuylkill River. On the north side is a bike path. East is Philadelphia, west is historic Valley Forge. The plan is to skip Philly and head west along the Adventure Cycling route.



Old movie studio we rode past on the bike path. 

 By the time we get to Valley Forge, though, it's too dark to ride to the nearest campground. I think it's a good idea to pop up our tent at this piece of American history, but I can't seem to find a place that isn't frightening. There's bugs everywhere, and I don't want to get in trouble with some park ranger. Fortunately, there's a hotel on the other side of the river. We decide to stay there for the night.

It's quite a room. We've got a jacuzzi, to our surprise. I guess it's better than sleeping in mud.