Morning Fog
A few things were different on this ride. It was the first foggy morning in a long time. I love riding in fog. Mostly because photographs appear more dramatic and ethereal. I wasn’t sure how Dave felt about it but since he was waiting on his motorcycle when I arrived at his house I figured everything was ok.
Thinking about fog I was reminded of a ride on a Kawasaki KLR in the fog and took a look at an old post that highlights some of the ethereal moments in that kind of light. If you don’t ride in fog you may want to have a look at what you’re missing.
And for once I didn’t need to stop for fuel. My plan was a relaxed sixty mile ride to breakfast but outdated information from Google Maps upended it and we ended up having to ride almost twice as far before sitting down to eat and having to choose between bacon and eggs or a bacon cheeseburger.
Bacon and eggs is aways the clear winner.
Empty Roads
In the heart of Pennsylvania is a massive range of forests and mountains that make up the area known as Pennsylvania Wilds. It’s crisscrossed with dirt, gravel, and paved roads. And as a motorcycle rider, the most attractive feature is the emptiness of its roads. At one point Dave commented that we had seen more motorcycles than cars. Unusual in most other areas of the Commonwealth.
Stopped here along the Quehanna Highway I had three things on my mind. First, would we see any of Pennsylvania’s native elk herd. The story of Pennsylvania’s elk is an interesting one. Second, how hot would it get. The forecast suggested it may hit 90F. And third, this was getting to be a long ride to breakfast and I was already hungry.
Already Disappointed Twice
By the time I pulled off the road somewhere between Benezette and Driftwood I was hungry and frustrated. The original breakfast destination at the Medix Run Hotel was closed. And somehow I failed to find the Elk Cafe in Benezette condemning us to a long ride to breakfast in Renovo 44 miles in our future.
Along with the empty wilderness and sparse traffic is an even sparser number of places to eat. Before leaving the house I had a nice big chocolate chip cookie in my hand. I wish I had brought it along. Such is the occasional disappointment in life.
Socky’s Diner in Renovo, Pennsylvania
I had a rough idea of the diner’s location but it took a few turns to finally arrive and see three adventure bikes parked out front. The riders, all from Canada were getting ready to depart for home after two days riding in the Pennsylvania Wilds. We compared bikes and road notes and wished each other safe travels. My stomach was ready to eat.
Socky’s is one of those neighborhood diners in small towns that have no pretense about being something they’re not. Renovo has had many incarnations of success from it’s start as an old growth lumber town to being a major locomotive service facility for the Pennsylvania Railroad. But like so many places in Pennsylvania the closing of that facility marked the end of the kind of vitality that had dozens of bars and restaurants.
Choices Made with Time and Energy in Mind
The fastest route home would cover nearly 70 miles and take an hour and a half with no stops. And that route would be a bore. And my almost 72-year-old ass was already sending warning signals. So I had to engage in the complex calculations of old man riding mathematics which involved many variables including time, temperature, buttock stability, and spousal expectations. Hyner View State Park wasn’t far away climbing up the mountain to take in the view would add a there and back hour of riding.
After the final calculations I chose a route that would take us through some empty, winding roads, almost not traffic, and also include a nice, long stretch of dirt and gravel.
The Dirt and Gravel Urge
I still get a little thrill when I exit the pavement onto a dirt and gravel road. Deep inside there’s a sense of adventure and riding into the unknown even though I’ve been on this particular road many times. I own a Royal Enfield Himalayan, not for a long ride to breakfast, for exploring the hundreds and hundreds of miles of dirt and gravel roads near home. And every time I look at a map I realize how few I have ridden.
I don’t know how much longer it will be before time catches up to me and riding on these sorts of roads would be a bad decision. But for now the urge remains strong and the available places to explore seem inexhaustible. I’m already plotting the next exploration which will no doubt include a long ride to breakfast.
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It is amazing just how far you are willing to travel for breakfast.
I thought the distances would diminish as I got older but that doesn’t seem to be the case. This ride holds the current record.
I was born in Renovo in 1947. I lived there till I was fourteen. In 1961, my father bought a Sunoco gas station in State College and I lived there till I was twenty three. I worked at the gas station through high school and because I was such a good employee, shortly after I turned sixteen, my father took me down to the Sears store on College Avenue and bought me a brand new Allstate Vespa. That Vespa and I spent a few years exploring all those back roads in central Pennsylvania. Paved, gravel, dirt, it didn’t matter. That little scooter, with it’s little tires, took me everywhere and never left me stranded. I even drove it from State College to Philadelphia, to New York City and back without one complaint. I’m seventy eight now and still riding. Renovo and the Vespa are long in my past but I have many fond memories of both. I enjoyed your story and hope your trip to Renovo was memorable.
Seems like you moved away from State College a year before I arrived in the summer of ’72. Sears had moved to the Mall by then but I seem to remember a Montgomery Ward on Fraser Street maybe. Kind of blurry in my memory.
My friend Paul had a ’64 Allstate Vespa. I bet it was fun to adventure on it, especially when it was new.
I’ve been to Renovo many times over the years with frequent trips through the area to visit a girlfriend who lived a little northwest of Wellsboro. Back in 1975 it was a very different place. Everything changes though.
I hope I’m still riding at 78. I just turned 72 so we’ll see what happens down the road.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts and memories. I appreciate them.
You know, I remember when getting lost was an adventure in itself. But these days, getting lost sometimes only means adding miles to an already long ride, and that’s when the ass overrides the mind and says “Get me home NOW”. Considering you had to plan new routes, I can’t remember if you use a dedicated GPS or not besides your phone. I broke down and got a Garmin Zumo XT in Arizona given those roads were all new and I was uninterested in getting lost in the desert.
I still enjoy being lost and unsure of where I’m going. But central Pennsylvania isn’t the Arizona desert. It’s unlikely that death would be in the mix for me here. In the desert heat though, being lost could turn into an emergency quickly I would think.
I don’t have any sort of navigation or dedicated GPS mounted on my bike. On occasion, when I am looking for something specific, I will try my phone but often there’s no coverage. For the places I ride I’ve always felt GPS robs me of some of the experience. I used to carry paper maps but even those have gone by the wayside.
Tom, I also have a zumo XT but haven’t used it much to plan my rides. Steve plans the rides then my zumo records the track when I follow him. This was a 166 mile round trip for breakfast. He has shown me some great roads that would have taken me years to find otherwise.
I’m still finding new roads and rides. And I’ve only taken you on a few of them. Just found a new route yesterday…
My friends and I did three longish rides at Americade that included out of the way eateries. Each one was attended to by local people who were glad to see us. The menu, while not glamorous, was tasty and filled us up for the second half of the ride. One of them was in Ticonderoga and we must have passed it, numerous times to get to the gas station close by, in other years. We only found it when the ride leader checked for local establishments on the web. It was well worth eating there.
One of the joys of riding, for me at least, is finding new eating establishments. Sometimes they’re great, sometimes not so much. But the adventure is in the unknown.
I’ll guess riding-in-the-fog is akin to riding-in-the-snow, very quiet, as the moisture absorbs all sounds.
The world is definitely quieter in fog. I’ve learned to be extremely careful when stopped to take pictures. Cars appear suddenly.