Let the Ride Begin
My friend Paul and I planned a short ride in the country culminating in breakfast and a return home. Can’t always go on long adventures. For awhile it seemed like I could never manage much more than a few dozen miles at a time.
So breakfast as the goal and a short ride as the approach would have to be enough as we gathered on Main Street in Boalsburg.
On the Road Again
It’s been awhile since Paul and I went for a ride. At least I can’t remember the last time. And I haven’t seen his BMW either since he had been spending more time on his Honda dual sport motorcycle — a CRF250L. Nice machine.
As usual, the ride was meandering rather than a direct route to food. Lovely roads though nothing unusual to report. Just a fine ride in early autumn.
IngleBean Coffee House
Things were quiet at the IngleBean. Relaxed breakfast, quiet conversation and that’s about it. Simple. Unfettered by expectation or demands. The way it should be on a good ride.
Downtown Millheim
As Paul walked to his motorcycle I was struck by how little Millheim has changed over the past 45 years I’ve been visiting. The businesses have changed, the strip joint with a place to tie up Amish Buggies is gone, there’s a craft brew pub here now, but generally it looks the same. I can’t remember if the traffic light was always there. But mostly it’s the same.
I’m not though. I’m not in my early 20s anymore. I don’t drive a VW bug. And the idea of riding a scooter and hanging out in coffee houses didn’t exist in my head. Or experience.
A short ride in the country provides ample opportunity to look around, smell the roses, or cornfields in this case, and think about things changing and staying the same.
Pretty cool day.
A perfectly ordinary buddy ride…sounds heavenly to me, and that coffee house seems to totally fit the bill.
Later this morning (Sunday) I’ll be heading off to Sandy Hook with my fellow Vespisti of the Chaos Crew. Morning should be a tad milder – and a good deal drier – than yesterday (Saturday) was. Today I accompanied the wife at a photo shoot was was doing in Brooklyn, so that pretty much occupied me for the day (and, thankfully, the sun came out just in time). Have to bundle up just a bit for this ride – long-sleeved Henley under my mesh jacket with the rain liner zipped in hopefully does the trick, since I’m not quite ready to don the heavier gear just yet.
Ordinary and perfect. That’s how it was.
Hope your ride with the Chaos Crew is pleasant. Cold here this morning. 40F. That requires considerable gear for me for all but a short ride into town. Took an extended ride on Friday with the temperature in the low 50s. At times dipping to 48F. I was geared up and ok but it will soon be time to attach the Tucano Urbano apron.
Photo shoot is Brooklyn. Sounds like work. Fun assignment?
Ride was quite fun – checked out the still-in-use lighthouse among other quite interesting stuff out there. Had a new member join in for the ride (six in total). Now at home and on my third cup o’ the for the day.
Photo shoot was involved, but fun. I played assistant, handing off lenses and such. Brooklyn was…Brooklyn. Lovely in spots, cranky, noisy and overbuilt in others. 😉
Love to ride for Brekky and we just might do that this morning despite the indicated 43 degrees. Thanks for offering another tantalizing destination Steve. That the Inglebean is 330 miles from my door just makes getting there that more attractive. I am going to have to dedicate a notebook to Steve Williams good eats and coffee central PA and have it stashed in my tank bag whenever I find myself within striking distance of one of your recommendations. Thanks once again.
43F is getting chilly, at least for me so early in the cool weather season. But after a few chilly rides I’m comfortable and ready for the next drop toward freezing.
Quite a ride for you to find yourself at the Inglebean Coffee House. If you do make the trip, upstairs from the coffeehouse is the Triple Creek Lodge. A cozy place to stay in Penns Valley.
As far as using me as a good eats person, I have to confess my draw to places is more about the atmosphere than the food. I’m a bore when it comes to food — taste and interest. Just ask my wife. I’m usually looking for comfortable spaces to relax, talk or think…
43 seems almost tropical now after seeing and reading your latest post. I have left home For Easter weekend rides with temps in the mid 20’s but with absolute dry conditions and balmy forecasts for points south. On one occasion in the mid 1990’s four of us had to rent UHaul vans to get our bikes home to Ontario out of PA as we woke Easter Monday morning to simply too much snow to ride in. As long as it is dry and there’s hasn’t been any salt laid down used to be the measure. Not so much anymore. I’m sure that most of your cosy destinations are more than capable of providing tasty vittles. I have perused a number of menus and it all looks pretty good to me. Helps too that I enjoy a good cup of coffee.
Come spring 43F will feel tropical. And 20F will be normal. And single digits and below will be the challenge range. I say that knowing that each year I get older I have more difficulty enduring the cold. Not sure what to expect this year but hope it won’t change too much.
So far I’ve not had to go the UHaul route you did. I’ve thought about what I would do if I was caught out far from home in a sudden snow. Especially with so little cell coverage in many of the places I ride. I make sure I have a warm hat, food and water, and something to build a fire with. Probably should add a foil blanket to the topcase. In case I have to spend some extended time outdoors in the snow…
That’s a nice ride, down to EngleBean and back. It offers different back road options.
I count at least five different routes to get there from Boalsburg. And more if swinging around and coming from the north or east. Lovely rural countryside to tour through.
Unfortunately the Inglebean is further than 330 miles from here! But great writing nonetheless. A very good description of why it’s nice to ride, and why you don’t need a hundred horsepower to do it. I was out today as well, in the countryside southwest of Berlin, where the flat expanses of woods and fields begin to roll around a little. Beautiful weather and the fall colors are peaking (mostly yellows here). Don’t think we ever got over 60 mph or so, even on the short stretches of Autobahn we took. An unusual number of old vehicles out today. I guess people are taking advantage of the unusually warm weather before the nasty wet of November sets in.
Autumn seems to support a lot of slow, easy riding. There have been times I want to pull off the road and take a nap in the afternoon.
Riding in Germany is one of my riding fantasies though in my case in the Alps. Germany, Austria, Italy and Scotland. And much of America. Plenty of dreaming on my plate.
IngleBean Coffee House looks like a pretty good destination. But you didn’t have any pictures of breakfast…
I was too relaxed on that ride. Didn’t make many pictures on the road or in the coffee house. Lazy rider/photographer/blogger.
Where has Paul’s Fly 150 gone? We haven’t seen that in ages.
Paul sold the Fly to make way for the Vespa Primavera or ET4 he hopes to buy. He’s just waiting for the perfect paint/seat combo he’s after.
The light has been at the diamond in Millheim many, many years. The town used to be a hopping place Friday night and Saturday, things slowed down after the early 1970’s.
Inglebean coffee shop is named after Ingleby, a tiny resort/ghost town less than ten miles out of Millheim, one road in that dead ends on Penns Creek at Ingleby. That’s a great destination for a Vespa ride, just saying…
I remember some fine meals at the Millheim Hotel in the 1970s. Then it faded. Not sure what it’s like now.
Ingleby is a really cool, strange little village. I’ve been back through there a number of times, and have viewed it from the mountain top on the other side of Penns Creek. Need to take another ride out that way.
JEZ: I sold ‘ol Bessy (Fly 150) in a mad garage cleaning spree. Really. I’m relegated to ‘ol Bessy #2 (1965 Vespa GL) now.