Robert Pirsig, author of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, wrote the line I’ve borrowed as the title for this essay, “Sometimes it’s a little better to travel than to arrive”.
Sometimes, the saddest moment in a ride is when it’s over. That’s not a complaint about home or family, just a recognition of the sublime joy of spinning around the act itself — moving through the landscape on two wheels. It does matter why or where you’re riding, just being on the road, soaring and flying in body, mind and spirit can be pure, cosmic satisfaction.
I found myself in that place as I wandered along the winding roads of central Pennsylvania.
There’s much to see while riding, some of it subtle and easy to miss. I’ve ridden past this dry stone wall many times but never paused to look closely or consider what it actually meant — someone, by hand, built this large, long dry stone wall. I’ve built a few dry stone walls but nothing of the scope of this one. It approaches 8 feet in height and runs along a rural stretch of road about half a mile. It’s obviously not maintained and the property seems abandoned. I suppose the state could have built it for some reason — it’s not far from the Rockview State Penitentiary where they would have had lots of free labor to use at some point in the past, but it doesn’t seem to connect clearly with that facility. A small historical mystery found during a ride to no where.
Other decaying roadside artifacts, this one man-made, are everywhere though more and more they are just disappearing. When I was a kid Mail Pouch signs on barns where everywhere. Now I can’t recall another one than this one near Axemann, Pennsylvania.
Winding roads are in abundance around here and provide a fine diverse riding experience. Lot’s of gravel sprinkled around so it does demand caution lest a rider entertain disaster from attempting to carve lines around tight curves.
For me, these stretches of winding, wandering roadways through the hills and dales where I live never cease to thrill.
The roads on a Sunday morning are remarkably quiet. I probably passed more squirrels and groundhogs than I did cars.
Fuzzygalore.com recently published a story about riding just a ways north of here and how empty the roads were — Road Tripping in Pennsylvania — Wandering to Breakfast in Wellsboro. Some nice photos made along a beautiful part of the state. And her SEO is better with much better post titles than I use!
Last year my Vespa GTS died right here, at least for about 30 minutes. The engine would crank, start and immediately die. After the engine cooled it would start right up, a problem I later determined was a failing fuel pump. I missed the idyllic scene of winding road and cattle on the hillside then. Enjoyed it this time.
There are a lot of switchback curves in the mountains here — 180 degree turns that challenge a rider to whatever degree they wish to be challenged. I made this image with the panorama feature of my iPhone. If you’re interested in seeing the larger version lick on the image. The gravel just off the berm was incredibly soft — had I hit it at anymore than a crawl I would have gone down.
Despite that, it was good to wander, and it was definitely better to travel than to arrive!
