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.

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.

The world is definitely quieter in fog. I’ve learned to be extremely careful when stopped to take pictures. Cars appear suddenly.

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’m still finding new roads and rides. And I’ve only taken you on a few of them. Just found a new route yesterday…

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 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.

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.