Schellsburg, PA: One of Our Favorites

On Sunday, May 30, 2021, we took an overnight trip to Schellsburg, PA. Along for this trip was Meanie, Chisel, Hammer, Tiny, and myself. Goldilocks was on a trip to help move their daughter Samantha and son-in-law south for her to take up her medical residency. So the five of us bundled up for the chilled, overcast, and what would become drizzly weather. 

We started out with breakfast at DeSilvio's bar and grille in Hubbard. 

The best time to catch someone happy is with a random selfie, like this one with me and Chisel. 

The best time to catch a picture of Bryon is to let him know ahead of time. I'm sure you can understand why. 

Anyway, the route I planned was the usual since this wasn't our first rodeo (if you've read previous blogs):

OH-616 south

US-422 east

Exit at Ford City on PA-66 south to Apollo

Make a left onto PA-819  (which this time has no sign) after crossing the RR tracks

Make a left onto PA-981 and follow south to Latrobe, all the way to US-30 Lincoln Highway. 

From there is easy cheesy to Schellburg. 

Side Note: PA-819 and 981 are really nice to ride!

In Latrobe, we stopped at the Dunkin Donuts for a break and some food. Caught this fun pic of Chisel, and one of Hammer and Tiny. Just prior to that, we had to stop at a traffic light, and Meanie riding second turned to ask Tiny wha that sound was. He said he didn't hear anything, so we kept going and pulled into Dunkin. 

We finished and got out side to leave. After pulling out of DD, Tiny alerted us that we needed to pull over because his handlebars were wobbling. So there we are on the south side of PA-981 and can see US-30 straight ahead. But it was a no go when we discovered that Tiny's front wheel bearings had blown out! That sucked. And while bad, US-30 was going to be mountains and curves, and bearings going out there may have been much worse. 

The one Harley dealer that was open said they could accept the bike if it got towed there, but they were closing at 4pm no matter what. Tiny couldn't get a local tow truck to come out and tow a motorcycle, let alone all the way back home. So we did what we knew best and called Watson's Towing back in Hubbard. Ziba agreed to come and get Tiny and his bike. Just down the road was a Dairy Queen on the left before the road went uphill, so Tiny limped the bike along the side of the highway and the rest of us followed blocking traffic when needed. How were we to spend the next few hours?

WITH AN AIR SHOW FROM THE 

U.S. NAVY'S BLUE ANGELS!!!

It's a total downer to have your bike break down, but you don't always get what you want, you often get what you need. As it was Memorial Day weekend, for me it was fitting to see planes flying overhead as my grandfather Walter Pittman was an Air Force pilot who was killed and MIA in Korea, so maybe he brought us to the show. 

 As we watched the planes fly over and around, and listed to the amazing thunder in the skies, we hung out at the DQ taking photos of ourselves and the planes, as well as videos. 

The DQ did not have food, so Chisel and I walked while the guys rode the bikes up the road to a Subway after the air show ended. We ate and came back. Alas, Ziba arrived and he and Tiny loaded the bike onto the tow truck. Meanie has been friends with the Watson family for 30 plus years, and we knew we could count on their assistance. 

Tiny made sure that we continued with the trip. Once they were off, so were we. We got onto the Lincoln Highway eastbound. Still cold and overcast, but no big deal. When we arrived at the Shawnee Motel in Schellburg, there were two goals after settling in: go back up the road a very short way to the Chestnut Ridge and Union Church Cemetery, and hit up the Shawnee Country Market for snacks and stuff.

The view from our room, #14, but it was actually the 13th room.

Hammer with his Signature Wave

The Cemetery. What a cool, old place. The earliest burials are from 1806, so contain the remains of people who lived through the Revolutionary War. Think about that. Tall, thin, tablets of stone and small obelisks and really neat markers that hold flower planters. The old log church itself is a work of craftsmanship, and is surrounded by the oldest graves. Newer graves are further out. The church is only open on the Sunday before Memorial Day (at least that's what the sign said), and we had gotten there too late to go inside.

Check out the photos:

tiny obelisk, about 8 inches tall

Back at the Shawnee Market, we got cups of coffee, sweet snacks, and Chisel bought enough for for 10 people. After getting showers, we met in Hammer and Chisel's room to watch TV and eat. We had potato ships, onion dip, meat sticks, pretzels, wafer cookies, string cheese, Entenman's donuts, etc. I can plow through some onion dip! But bedtime sounded good after an hour and a half of the tv crap. 

In the morning, Hammer caught Chisel on the big swing, and swinging is one of her favorite things. 

Memorial Day. We got up for breakfast at the Shawnee Market. They have a deli and make hot breakfast sandwiches on bagels, toast, or english muffins. Sausage, bacon, ham, egg, cheese. Hot coffee is at the front when you walk in, and they have indoor booths where you can eat. They also host an ice cream shop. I adore that store! Make the Shawnee Market and the Shawnee Motel a simple and enjoyable destination. 

In the morning, we took Chisel to Gravity Hill, located in New Paris, PA. It's up the road a ways off of PA-96, turn left on Bethel Hollow Road until you see the road sign for Gravity Hill. She ended up being more interested in the cicadas smashed on the road. But I had fun riding my bike UPHILL with the engine off. And rolling backwards UPHILL. Please, go try it out!

We went back toward Schellsburg, and our next stop was the Colvin Covered Bridge. We followed Mill Road to the bridge off of US-30. 

We continued on Mill Road (becomes Skip Back Road) until it connected with PA-31. We went west on that road to Glen Savage Road and made a left on that to our next stop the Pack Saddle Covered Bridge. 

Here is a screenshot of the bridge area if that helps you top get there because the scenery of the area is gorgeous! The road numbered 2017 is Glen Savage Road.

Now the Colvin bridge was a lot easier to stop and see with some off and on road parking and low traffic. The Pack Saddle bridge got me all fucked up. When you finally figure out which roads to take to get there, there is a parking spot on the right BEFORE the bridge, but once you cross it, the road goes uphill and splits into two. And they aren't nice roads for bikes either. 

This bridge is built on some outcropped terraced bedrock and you can actually get down to the water. So of course Chisel and I did. It was so cold and clear. We started picking up some stones for our collections. It was time to move along, and we went back the way we came, which is all uphill, even at the stop sign to turn left back to PA-31. 

Once on PA-31 west, we rode on to Somerset, and then somehow ended up at the US-30 crossroads. So we took that back to Latrobe and followed our path back home. I think it rained on the way back because we stopped at a gas station near New Castle, maybe. I don't know. Adventure before dementia!

Get out there and see these wonderful places and make memories.

~ Holly

Fun in Wexford, PA

I. Love. To. Travel! 

And close by places are just as cool as the far away ones. So check this out:

We (Hammer, Tiny, Meanie, and me) rode our bikes to Wexford, Pennsylvania on Sunday, September 8th. I called it the Gravity Hill Ride because we went to yet another Gravity Hill. But...we also went to a place called the Fountain of Youth. Neither of these things were easy to find.

We met at Starbucks in Hermitage, and started on PA-18 south, following that to PA-208 through Volant. We followed the signs for route US-19 as we needed to go south on there. Now you can catch US-19 however you like, out of Mercer for example. But don't take it too far or you'll end up in Maggie Valley, NC as it goes all the way through there and beyond!

It was a really nice ride on 19; we hadn't traveled that section before. It goes through Cranberry, PA first. You go past I-79, and continue to Wexford. It becomes rich suburban shopping and eating, really nice of course. To start the fun, you need to turn left on Brown Road off of US-19. It comes to a T in the road - turn right, this is McKinney Road. Here's where shit gets crazy because of a lack of road name signs. You'll go past a golf course or something and at the top of a hill is an abrupt stop sign. 

A) If you go downhill from there, you'll see a Y in the road - left downhill more takes you to an indoor ice skating rink parking lot; right uphill takes you around to the other side of the rink. Thing is, you won't realize that you accelerated up GRAVITY HILL if you go right. It begins right there at the split in the road! 

B) If you turn right at the stop sign, that is Kummer Road and it takes you to the FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH. I did not know that at the time (no road name), so I took us left downhill, and kept on going left to, yes, the skating rink parking lot. We regrouped with the Google map and decided to visit the Fountain. 

The path to the Fountain of Youth. 

The Fountain of Youth is a really interesting place tucked away in a hillside hidden by the plants along the road. We missed it going downhill and turned around at the bottom, went back up and pulled off into the gravel parking. NOTE: It is a deep drop off with at least two layers of pavement exposed; pull almost to the end and it is better.  You can barely see it. Once you find and walk down the treacherous path it stops at a crick that you must cross if you want to get closer. It's worth it! You'll see there are rocks to walk on to cross and then you have to go up hill a short way. The space in front of the entrance is wide open. 

It became an instant photorama! What a neat place. Molded into the head stone is the name of the place, and it's well built. Here at the entrance it looks so dark inside. Click on the linked text above to see more info about it. When you go inside there is a framed rectangular hole in the back wall, and in there is a long, moist tunnel. At the end of the tunnel, or at least as far as you can see, are layers of what looks like shale damp and dripping with water. This is NOT a drinking fountain so don't go into this thirsty. Also, you will not de-age or lose wrinkles, nor heal arthritis and gout.

On top of the structure is a cement dome that protects the inside stone structure. There is also a half-moon short wall built into the hill above. 

 Here are some more pictures. Some are of the inside which was green with a thin mossiness. It's really cool in there both by temperature and construction. It's a dome inside and there is a fire pit in the middle of the ground area.

I climbed the hill above the fountain and discovered that it leveled off with a walking/bicycling path going both left and right. I also discovered a baby holly tree!

We left there and went back to the hilltop I mentioned on McKinney and turned right. Down we went then uphill on the Gravity Hill going instead to the North Park Water Tower. It's located on the big hill across from the ice skating rink. I figured it was something we could climb for a view, but instead it was a neat structure that was closed off. It was neat to see anyway, and the graffiti was inspiring (at least to me). 

You feel like a hero when you battle any of the Gravity Hill hills. I didn't get pictures of this except in this video of Meanie. Here he is coming down that hill I explained that splits as a Y. He rides past me with his motorcycle on, stops at the bottom, turns off his motorcycle, then gives it a few steps until the hill pulls him up and forward on it's own! If you have never been to a gravity hill, do yourself a favor, go to one. It's amazing and funny and thrilling. If you go on motorcycles, watch out for the speed it takes you. Also, you don't have to turn your motorcycle or car off, just put it in neutral. Take anything that will roll, even water, and watch it go uphill.

Then, go find food!!! We planned on eating at Stack'd right there in Wexford. It's in a plaza at the intersection of Wallace Road and US-19. Ze burgers are delicious! It was a take it easy ride on nice roads at about 135 miles round trip. Get riding, get stack'd, and get FREE!!!

~ Holly