Day 3 - Friday, September 19: Rome, NY to Coudersport, PA

START - Rome, NY

END - Coudersport, PA

246 miles, not all of them forward!

Another great day.

Route map

The general target was Wellsboro, Pennsylvania. I met this biker chick up in Fairfax Vermont and she told me about a diner there. Throw in the chance to get to the Grand Canyon in one day (more on that later) and that's all the excuse I needed.

Loretta breaking in Suzi's Ortlieb panniers along the Alaska pipeline.

  Her old man's not so bad either, given the stock he came from. Here's a picture of him working on the bike. Considering everything has held together for the first thousand miles he was worth every penny he was paid.

Larry insisted Suzi's wheels needed balancing, but according to the guys at the shop he just "has a sensitive ass" .

Biker's best friend - his heated vest.

 

Away is a good start...

First stop of the day was the historic Erie canal

  

I'd been fascinated with it and its draft animal tow path ever since learning about it as a kid.

    

And this is its modern day replacement.

Riding conditions were great and the scenery beautiful

Towards the end of the day mission was accomplished and took a break at the Wellsboro Diner. I had been fueled all day by the prior nights "La Phunk" pizza. So to mend my ways, I ordered a salad. It was served in a bun on top of an Angus patty with melted Swiss cheese. That's known as "deluxe" in the East. And to round out my food groups there was a delicious piece of peanut butter crumb pie. I'm reminded of the guy who responded to his doctors instructions to get in shape "round is a shape". Excellent call Loretta. Thank you.

Given that the day was getting late, I hesitated to do the 20 mile round-trip ride out to the Grand Canyon. I snapped this picture from the diner window and had thoughts of just cropping it for the blog and calling it good. [Editor's note: I'm more honest than my brother... here's the full Monty.]

 

Had I actually visited the Grand Canyon, I would've missed this photo op with the Honda Trail 90. That was actually the highlight of my Grand Canyon visit. Thanks to Dad for getting that bike and letting the three boys pound the hell out of it. It was my first bike love.

And thanks to Paul for offering to get that bike and ride the trip with me so you could throw it in low range and pull me over the mountain passes. The photo op with the bike, and your name associated with it guided me to my hotel that night.

Ultimately I bailed on all plans. After this photo was snapped I simply resorted to riding the road I liked that was roughly towards the setting sun. Hoping to find the Ohio River in northern West Virginia tomorrow.

Paul's Motel and Citgo. Paul passed away a few years ago and his wife joined him last fall. The kids are working to keep it going.