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

Franklin, Oil City, and Hot Dogs

On May 16, 2021, we had great weather for a ride and hit the pavement toward Franklin, PA. It was Meanie, Tiny, Goldilocks, Hammer, me, and, introducing...Chisel, Hammers new woman! Finally, Hammer has someone who wants to really live life with him, and treats him (in her own crazy, overthinking way) good. 

My bike was torn apart, so I rode with Bryon on his new Road Glide. The suspension sucks! Did you know that HD only pays $8 for that stock suspension? No wonder.

We took off in the morning around 10am, and rode US-62 east to Franklin. You continue on US-62 until it becomes PA-8 and follow that briefly to the Center Street Bridge. Right on the bridge takes you into Oil City, and comes to a T in the road at a Country Fair store. Turn left on Plummer right there. Follow this curvy uphill road to the top (it becomes Grandview) and there on the left is Murray's Scenic Overlook and The Grandview Grille's Fat Dogs. 

After we ate, I took us on a route that continued us north on Grandview to PA-227. That was a really nice road, and we followed that to PA-27 west through Titusville. There is the Drake Well Museum, but that will have to be a place for a future trip. 

We took PA-27 all the way to Meadville, and from there took US-322 west until we reached PA-18 south and took that back home. 

For some reason we did not take a lot of pictures on this trip. It was the day after my father's funeral, and I know that I wasn't all together. I like to paint rocks, and I had painted one in his memory and left it under some buttercups at the overlook. 

It was one of our shorter trips, but the ride to Franklin and beyond is always good and with beautiful mountain scenery. When my grandfather, Walter Pittman, enlisted in the Army for WWII, he was sent to Oklahoma, and wrote back to my grandma (his fiancé at the time) how he missed the hills of Franklin, his hometown. So, go to the hills as you never know when you may miss them or ever see them again.

Until later,

~ Holly 

Day Ride to St. Marys, PA

It was another Sunday morning, with a ride planned to St. Marys, Pennsylvania. It was a destination I heard about from a club that rides there once a year.

Some unfortunate events kept Bones and Hammer from going: Bones was out riding his trike a couple days before when he experienced a problem with a wheel and had to get his bike hauled home; Hammer had a falling accident at a Sheetz on the previous ride to Ohiopyle, and he was experiencing several problems with his knee. So, it was four amigos, but we swapped out the guys for Goldilocks (who hasn't been on the trips this year).

Meanie and me, Tiny and Goldilocks, met in Hubbard and rode to Starbucks in Hermitage for a quick coffee. And we met later than planned (9am instead of 8:15), and didn't hit the road until 10-ish. We had two options to begin heading east - US-62 to Franklin, or PA-208 to Emlenton. We opted for US-62 as we hadn't been that way in quite a while. Off toward Mercer we went under perfect blue skies with happy floating clouds. It never did get too hot or humid.

The way Meanie likes to go to Franklin is by following 62 but taking the kind of shortcut on PA-965. This reconnects with 62 further east, just shy of Polk. We kept on 62 to the fun downhill slope into Franklin. My mother's father, Walt, was from Franklin; he lived on Front Street, I've learned this from reading letters from him to the woman who would be my mom's mom and my grandma, Ruth. They found and nurtured the ultimate love for a bit over ten years, and it was torn from them by the Korean War where Walt, an Air Force pilot, was killed.

From Franklin, we took US-322 east heading toward the town of Corsica. So far the ride had been really good. We then made a left turn north on PA-949. This road takes you to the town of Ridgeway via the countryside, and through the state game lands #44 at the southern edge of the Allegheny State Forest. It was beautiful!!! When I get to riding out amongst the trees and mountains, I get a little crazy for it and start singing songs to the trees and rocks, about the lacy sunlight patterns and pine smells and critters and fairies and Ryls and oh, about all of nature. I tell people that I could go feral at any moment, so don't be surprised when I do!

Well, we got to Ridgeway, and with Meanie leading and me with the directions, we got off course in town, so we stopped for fuel - at a full-service gas station! Who does that anymore? Our next road goal was to get on PA-120 east which goes right into St. Marys. We were planning on eating lunch at the St. Marys Corner Restaurant. PA-120 was also a nice road and it didn't take very long from Ridgeway.

This is in front of the post office.
St. Marys Restaurant is on the left at the corner. 

So at the T with S. St. Marys Road, we turned left, then an immediate right on E. Mill, and a left on Chestnut (the restaurant's road). We scored with free meter parking in front of the Post Office, only to walk across to the restaurant and find that it had closed at 1, and it was now 1:30. Bummer. St. Marys seemed so much smaller and with the buildings more closely bound that I thought it would be. And nothing about it seemed interesting. That's my opinion. Maybe there was something there to take note of, but nothing stood out. We didn't even take pictures, with the exception of this historical board that I can't even read!

We were standing on the corner across from a Sheetz looking all lost and like obvious tourists when a woman started towards us from Sheetz. She must have been a local and saw that we wanted food and didn't know where to go. Her suggestion was only a short distance south of there to the First Chance Inn & Restaurant in the town of Kersey. 

We got back on St. Marys street (PA-255) and headed south. From there, we took the road to the right which is PA-948, and shortly there on the left was the First Chance, our second choice, but we took a chance and it ended up being a GREAT choice! 

Your dining area options include the restaurant side, the bar side, or the outside deck. We opted for a nice high table on the bar side. The menu had all kinds of good stuff on it, from classic burgers and fried appetizers, to steak dinners and seafood. Meanie and Goldilocks got cheeseburgers with fries, Tiny got the sirloin tips with gravy and pasta (I think), and I got the super delicious bowl of the buffalo chicken mac-n-cheese with a salad. All was so good! We'd go back, both for the roads and the food. 

I texted this pic to my mom :)

They use random coffee mugs!

Buffalo Chicken Mac-n-Cheese

Fuel stop

Big 'Ol Meanie

From First Chance, we turned toward home. Our route back was pretty simple. We turned left from the restaurant and left onto Dagus Mines Road, then right onto Toby Road. This connected us with US-219 and we headed south there. At PA-28, we turned right and headed west toward Brockville and caught US-322 west from there. We went through Clarion, and at the town of Shippenville, we took PA-208 all the way back through Grove City and Volant.

When we got to the intersection of 208 and 18, Meanie made a turn into the Ryder's Restaurant lot to get some frozen custard at Abes. I had the peanut butter, Meanie had vanilla, Goldilocks had pineapple cream, and Tiny had the cheesecake. Yummo!!!

We rested a little while longer and I took two photos of some nature things. While the sun was still above the horizon, we mounted the bikes and headed for home on route 18, heading west again out of West Middlesex for Hubbard. The total miles were about 270, that's a good ride, and like I said earlier, the weather was perfect. August is the new July, so hopefully September will still be grand for road trips.

What we learned on the ride too was to make plans to go back because just a little further east is the Elk Country Visitors Center and viewing areas where America's largest herds of elk roam and make a living. We all agreed that would be something to see, unh?

So back to the hills we'll roam too in all directions from home. Oh, my heart yearns for a trip to the Presidential Range in New Hampshire again, only this time on my motorcycle. But I also want to see the Rockies from the ground not just from a plane, and wait, what about the Colossi in Unger, West Virginia, or the Devil's Whip road in North Carolina?

Wouldn't it be nice if we could all have the money and time to follow our freedom wherever the wind takes it?

- Holly