Day 13 – Great Start, Busy Finish

Another great start to a riding day.  It was a bit cool in the lower 60s, but with a big blue sky, I knew it would warm up.  Mike rode with me to get this day going.  A mile into our journey, we turned onto a street called Honey Hole Rd. Yes, I had to look at the Garmin a couple of times.  This is a family channel so I don’t want to dwell, but I couldn’t help but wonder who named this street and why.

 

At the top of a nice hill, we stopped for Mike’s exit.  He rode 10 miles to this point and had to do the same to get back.  

I’ve seen quite a few deer on this trip through Pennsylvania. This is the only time I was able to catch any of them on film.  Two days ago in the middle of nowhere, I startled a couple as I was speeding down a hill.  One bolted through the woods to my right, the other crossed left across the road and then cut back 15 feet in front of me to join the first one.  It wasn’t quite a near miss.  The sad part was that I had my GoPro on top of my helmet ready to go, but I was so surprised, I didn’t think about turning it on until it was over.  Ugh!

I got pretty excited and nervous when I saw this sign.  As I’ve said before, I like going fast, but when I’m unfamiliar with the roads I’m riding, I can’t just bomb down them throwing caution to the wind. After turning off route 940 onto Pocono Crest road, I had a bit more climbing until I was at 1875 feet elevation.  I checked out all the numbers before I descended and it was 1.5 miles and 600 feet when I had to pedal again.  The sign lied!!!  It wasn’t 13% and it wasn’t 4 miles.  But, I had a blast anyway.  Additional good news was that for the next 12 miles I continually descended to about 400 feet elevation for a mostly downhill cruise.  

It was definitely a busy finish. Once I got to Tannersville, the roads got really busy, all the way to East Stroudsburg.  It was like riding on Grand River Ave from Farmington to South Lyon.  The shoulder was much better but there was just a lot of traffic.  In downtown Stroudsburg, I spotted this fire station while waiting for a light to change and thought it blog-worthy. Stroudsburg is an old city, founded in 1799 by Col. Jacob Stroud.  It has a great looking Main Street with that classic Eastern US old-city feel.  Mike and I ate lunch at Benvenuto Pizza on Main Street and I was completely distracted with food on my mind and failed to take a picture.  

 

Tomorrow is the big day.  I will be crossing the Delaware River into New Jersey and continuing on to Hope.  It’s only a 17 mile ride, so almost a rest day.  Hope is where my 5x great grandfather settled in the mid-1700s.  I’m looking forward to seeing my 6th cousin Janel again and exploring the area.

By Dennis

Ninth generation Howell in North America

9 comments

  1. Way to go Jersey Boy! I am really loving the small town tours. Must be remarkable. Enjoy the family visit in New Jersey! You made it there on your own modern steed. Awesome!

  2. I think the same person who named Hone Hole Road named that goofy game with the bean bags CornHole ( and D got excited).

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