Annual Sunrise Ride: Crazy 6s to Kane, PA

 On Sunday, June 27, 2021, we got up stupid early for our annual sunrise ride. 3:00AM, the alarm went off, we got right up. We were meeting at 4:00AM at the Dunkin' Donuts in Hermitage on State Street (not really knowing if they would be able to serve us on foot or motorcycle). So there we were, Hammer, Chisel, Tiny, Goldilocks, Meanie, and me. The Ride: All, or almost all, routes with a 6 in them - US-62 north, to PA-666 east, to US-6 east, to PA-66 south. 

The hush. The pure, dark hush of late night or early morning. Call it what you will - there is peace and a feeling of solitude at 4:00AM on barren roads. Your motorcycle has a rumble you rarely hear, an aura of a purr, the sound of energy. 

Tiny, Goldilocks, Meanie, and I met up with Hammer and Chisel. The moon was out, right there above DD and Tiny.

I didn't know if the ladies at DD would serve us on foot, so I rode thru the drive through with Meanie walking with me to carry the food. They ended up serving everyone else on foot. And then, they were kind enough to bring much of the orders out to the outside tables, and we enjoyed our breakfast. But we couldn't use the bathrooms, sooooo...we rode off on US-62 to Mercer to the Sheetz store for a potty break. 

On our first sunrise ride back in 2016, we rode to Apollo, PA. There just past Ford City, in the dense fog, we stopped at a Sheetz, where Hammer sat at one of the round tables. He kinda got stuck an account of his big biker belly, and whined about it then. Once again, his big biker belly didn't fit at the table; it actually rests ON the table. I'm sure some readers will sympathize with his situation, but damnit man, he likes danishes and cheeseburgers!!

The Mercer County courthouse always looks pretty lit up.

Onward, through Franklin and Oil City, Tionesta to East Hickory in the Allegheny National Forest. 

Here comes the sun, and Chisel got some pics:

At East Hickory, you'll see the sign for PA-666. Don't turn right just then, stop for a photo op!

Tiny was at the sign making sure to get his devil horns photo taken. 

And then don't go down the 666 even then. Turn around and go back to George's Little Store that you passed on your left (now on the right), and go on in for snacks, 666 t-shirts, patches, and whatnot. Marilyn who owns the store was very nice, and there were George and Mr. Ross sitting out front on the benches enjoying coffee and the morning sunshine. 

Hammer got a hammer at the Little Store.

Looks like he'd use it on ya

You just don't want him using it this way.

If you go out there when it's open, check out the Hickory Creek Archery Shop, owned by Eric George, located just down the road from the store. 

Well, we screwed around long enough, and finally made that right turn onto PA-666. It's 34 miles of really nice riding. The curves aren't crazy, and has it's fun spots. There are some park areas you can access along the Tionesta Creek that parallels a good length of the ride. Next time I get to lead so I can pull off at the creek and get some rocks. And sorry, I don't have any photos of the route; too busy riding and I don't know if Chisel and Goldilocks did there photography duty. Doesn't matter because you need to go check it out if you haven't already.

Then we did the other things bikers do best - EAT! PA-666 goes left at a T in the road with PA-948. Just a short ways, it intersects with US-6, you'll turn right there and that is a really nice sweeping road that lands you in Kane, PA. And there is a really good restaurant, Grandma Bair's. It's located in a plaza at 608 N. Fraley St (US-6). The breakfast food was delicious, and they had all kinds of baked goods too, including cinnamon rolls and pies. 

This is the intersection of PA-666 with US-6. We turned right here.

I think it was around 9:30AM or so when we got to Grandma Bair's. After eating our omelettes, steak, potatoes, toast, and coffee, we took off again, heading south on PA-66. That was the end of our sixes routes, and we hopped on I-80 west. We took another break at the Emlenton Truck Plaza where I picked up two sweet, cheap tie-dye dresses. 

We ended up taking PA-208 west through Grove City all the way to New Wilmington, hoping for custard beside Ryder's Restaurant, but they were closed. So we continued on to the Dairy Queen in West Middlesex, PA. From there the Hammer's took off for home, and the rest of us went back to Hubbard. 

Goldilocks doing a fine job of taking pictures!

Just look at that smile! Riding from moonshine into the sunshine will do you wonders, so plan your own. Go it alone or find some willing friends who need to live a little. Go anywhere. Find solace in the morning hush, make memories with those who like adventure, and find something good to eat. It's that simple.

~ 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