Overlooked Places
Just a mile or so to the right in this photograph is a road I’ve ridden or driven a hundred times or more. Somehow I never realized another world existed just over the hill. Sitting in my living room the previous evening with my good friend Google Maps I discovered some roads I didn’t know existed. It’s a little unsettling to discover new places just 35 miles from home. A fine day to do a little exploring on the Himalayan.
Relying on Innate Navigation Senses
Being unfamiliar with an area means choices are made with whatever internal navigation sense I possess. To date, I’ve never been concerned with being lost or confused about where I am or how to get somewhere. It’s easy to operate in the the belief that with plenty of gas and a little time I’ll end up somewhere familiar. During this ride I was repeatedly confused and making wrong turns. An exquisite experience for me. Here in the East being lost doesn’t risk a death sentence.
It was during this ride I finally decided to get new tires for the Himalayan. The road in this picture looks benign. The limestone dust builds up on gravel roads and becomes an incredibly greasy coating when mixed with a little water. More than once the rear tire broke free and the front tire repeatedly wandered in the thin coating of goo. Reliable progress for me means slowing down. Easy when under the spell of the old mellows.
Private Forests
Pennsylvania is known for its vast State Forests. It’s easy to forget that tracts just as large reside in private hands. Easy to identify by the growing proliferation of “No Trespassing” signs. What surprises me are the public roads wandering through these places. Taxpayers foot the bill to provide access to lands to which they have no access. All of us are just tourists passing by. As a motorcycle rider it’s fine. I’m not hunting or hiking and stick to the road. But it’s sad to think these natural areas are off limits for a walk. I understand the reasons. But it’s still sad.
Kinfork Cafe and Country Market
I’ve ridden past this place before and thought it was a butcher shop. It’s more than that though. This time a big “Cafe” sign caught my eye. Turns out Kinfork is an Amish farm cooperative providing a broad range of foods. A fine place to stop for breakfast or lunch. I’ve added it to my list of breakfast destinations. All I have to do now if figure out the bakery schedule so I stop when they have their delicious buttery soft pretzels.
If someone asked me right now why I ride I would answer, “To discover new places.” Wanderlust courses through me. And I’m grateful I don’t have to go far to embrace it. Just 75 miles from start to finish and that lust was sated. Until it rears its head again.
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Many times when I would ride with a friend of mine, just exploring trying to find new roads we always wound up in a place called “Somewhere Kentucky”. “Somewhere, Kentucky” must be huge because it always looks different.
Ride far and ride safe. ✌️
Sounds like the best kind of riding Marc.
“Comfortably lost” might be the finest state of mind a rider can achieve. There is a quiet magic in discovering that a road taken a hundred times still hides a whole new world just over the hill. It reminds us that geography is as much about attention as it is about distance.
I loved the reflection on the private forests and public roads—being a spectator to a landscape we can only pass through, yet feeling completely present in it. And, of course, nothing seals a day of slow exploration quite like an unexpected cafe and the promise of soft, buttery pretzels.
Thank you for taking us along, Steve. Here’s to the 75-mile journeys that satisfy the soul just as deeply as an odyssey.
I agree with you Daniel that being comfortably lost is a fine state of mind. Many things appear when thinking that way.
Circumstances beyond my control have kept me off the bike since the beginning of August and will continue until sometime in September. I miss exploring and discovering another unexpected cafe.
Glad you find some value in the things I share. I’ll keep writing.
Steve, your third photo is quite exceptional. I really like how the curve in the road is mirrored by the bending tree above!
Thank you Holly. It was an amazing little road that eventually led me over the mountain near Woodward to emerge near Livonia on Route 192. So many trails I haven’t tried yet.
Those roads👌
We’re blessed with them here.
Wonderful post Steve….One word of advice please GET NEW TIRES on the green machine!!!
We are the same age you know so I get it, I also know old bones heal slow, and my paper thin skin does poorly on gravel and asphalt.. Dr. Don in Texas, B safe friend and keep exploring✌
I have already had a new pair of Dunlop Trailmax Mission tires installed on the Himalayan. Definitely a superior bite in the dirt and gravel.
My skin would not fare well sliding down the road — on or off road. I ordered an Aerostich Darien jacket a couple months ago. It should arrive soon. The reason was to have a warmer weather jacket that wouldn’t shred the moment it started to slide down the road.