I met my brother-in-law, Jerry, and a friend, Vito, for breakfast at Cracker Barrel (the waitress kept calling us “hon” and no thanks to the grits). We took off at 7:30 AM on Friday headed west on I-80 from Morris County, New Jersey. We made a quick pit stop in Blakeslee, PA to fuel up and get rid of our coffee, then we continued on I-80 and met Jerry’s Uncle Mel and his friend, Dan, in Lewisburg, PA at the Country Cupboard restaurant.
We arrived first. Jerry rides a brand new Yamaha FJR 1300 and Vito was on his Dad’s Kawasaki Vulcan. (See the good looking BMW on the right?)
It is apparently a popular rendezvous spot. We ran into that other group of bikes later in our trip.
Mel (on his Gold Wing trike) and Dan on his H-D arrived just a few minutes after us
We had some more coffee and food, traded a few stories, and then we took off on some incredibly scenic back roads of the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, including Route 15 and Route 414. We stopped for a late lunch in Slate Run, PA at the Hotel Manor off of Rt. 414
http://www.hotel-manor.com/index.html
There is that good looking blue Roadster again
Fly fisherman enjoy this creek – look closely and you can see one.
After lunch, Vito wanted to nap, and Mel’s breakfast was staging a rebellion, but we continued riding some more great back roads. We continued up Route 414, to Route 287, to Route 660 to our next destination – Leonard Harrison State Park to see the Grand Canyon of PA.
Here are some views from the observation deck.
This is looking to the right
And to the left
Vultures were soaring in the thermals below us
Another view to the left
And again to the right
There were some things of beauty in the parking lot
And some not so beautiful sights (that is Mel and me)
Our last leg of the day was heading back on Rt. 660 to the famous Route 6 to Mel’s place near Coudersport, PA.
It is in the middle of nowhere, and we had to ride on unpaved roads to get there
We unpacked and then headed to the Potato City Country Inn for dinner
http://www.coudersportpa.com/coudy/page/potato.htm
After dinner, back at the cabin we talked and joked, especially about Joe and Tom (inside joke that I cannot get into here). The next morning, Mel cooked us breakfast. We packed and kickstands were up at 9:00 for the best riding of the whole trip on Route 44. Saturday was even sunnier and warmer than Friday.
We made some stops to enjoy the scenery, including Cherry Springs Vista
Blue skies and a blue BMW R1150R – what more could you want?
In this picture you can see a bit of Route 44 on the right. We rode for miles on this fantastic two lane road that went up and down and around.
This screen shot gives you an idea of the curves and elevation change of the road
We then got back on Route 287, to Route 220, to Route 180. We stopped by the side of the highway to say good bye to Mel and Dan, then Jerry, Vito and I made the 140 mile trip back on I80.
In total, I rode about 550 miles over the two days. On my last tank of gas, I got 48.7 mpg.
