Trippin' with Susan Straley

 We parked in a burb and biked unloaded to the start of our ride.  Mile zero in Pittsburgh.  

 Greetings from the Allegheny Mountains. I am glad I got here a few days before our bike tour.  There is a lot to explore near Ohiopyle State Park. One day I walked down to the little tourist community of Ohiopyle.  The town is small with a visitor's center, a general store, bakery and sandwich shops, a motel and B&B, and a few white-water outfitters.   The walk down is on a steep, gravel trail from the campground to the GAP trail.  But then it is a short flat walk on the rail trail across two bridges that cross a river with rapids. I stood on the bridge a while and watched a guy in a small kayak playing in the rapids.  He’d shoot between two big rocks then turn and paddle his way back up that shoot and choose another place to get through the rapids.  It was fun to watch. One of the bridges I crossed while on the trail I remembered reading about in The Great Allegheny Passage Companion.  The railroad built it with the idea another track w...

 Woohoo!  I made it! Pulling out of my campsite at Bear Ridge campground I was having my doubts... more on that later. I had to grind up a huge incline to get here. Fortunately I was behind a big truck going 20 miles per hour up the hill.  No rush... "I think I can, I think I can." I arrived in Ohiopyle State Park.  I can't believe no one corrected me when I was constantly spelling it "Ohiophyle" and pronouncing it OHIO-FILE.  The GPS lady pronounced it OHIO-PI'-LEE.  I will ask someone the correct pronunciation.  The GAP trail goes right through this park, but it is quite a long steep downhill to get to it from the campground.  I will drive if I decide to ride a bit. I posted on Facebook about my soon-to-be ride on the GAP and C&O and someone, Ad Carson a Milwaukee recumbent rider, said I should connect with Chere (with an accent on the last e) who is spending the summer in Cumberland, PA. I have met Chere before when riding, though I don't r...

Dear Friends and Family, When I started my ride today on the Armstrong Trail in PA, the river water was like glass.  It was incredibly beautiful.  I didn’t know which way the river was flowing. I rode from Templeton to East Brady and back for about 24-28 miles. I know, I just wrote to you.  But I want to test using my phone to write to you this way. There is a trick to loading up the pictures so that the most recent show up last.  I haven’t figured it out yet. I drive eight miles down to Templeton to get on the trail.  The town looks like a company town.  One street seemed to have the same style of house on both sides of the street. The Armstrong Trail goes along the Allegheny River too.  Sometimes people built homes in the abandoned rail corridors before the trail got built so we detour  around them. I watched a small snake  struggle to eat a bloated toad.  I made a movie of it but I don’t know if it uploaded.  Let me know. I stopp...

Greetings Family and Friends, I am camping and biking in a location about an hour north of Pittsburgh, PA. The mile into the campground was on a wavy road that had me and the trailer rocking side to side.  Even at 4 mph it felt too fast.  And the hills I had to climb!  Between Kittanning and where I left in Tionesta there were a lot of long steep hills that had my engine roaring at times. It feels like I am in a different area of the country.  The campground is full of seasonal campers that go home for the work week.  It is very very quiet and beautiful. Getting into my site my van spun its wheels on the wet grass and mud.  I sure hope it doesn’t rain between now an Thursday so I can pull out without assistance!  I am testing out using my iPhone to blog because that is all I will have on the Gap and C&O trails.  Now I remember that they all’s show up at the top.  Maybe the answer is to load the Pictures first. Also on our first long tour ...