Philly!

York and I made it to Philadelphia.
We left Chicago two weeks ago, fueled by a wonderful trail mix created by our food scientist friend Eleanor in Illinois. The first few days were a little slow, but we crossed into Indiana and followed route 6 East towards Ohio. We camped each night, continuing to wake up in our wet tent, mysteriously always getting it wet somehow, until September 26. That day was my birthday. York bought me a donut, spread peanut butter over it, and shoved a broken candle into that little piece of Heaven. I made a wish, blew it out, and we forgot to take a picture because we were eating lunch on the lawn beside a gas station. Truthfully, in general our donut consumption has increased.
That day (my birthday) we got to a grocery store and asked about a campsite. after a discussion, a kind lady Janeen offered us her empty house. OK, we thought. Why an empty house? It was EMPTY. An empty log cabing that her ex husband had lived in until it would be turned over to the sheriff at the end of the month. It wasn't a wet tent, so we took her up on the offer.
We kept riding into Ohio and the generosity continued. An older man Daryl wouldn't let us pay for our groceries because he too was a cyclist, and a proud grandfather who eagerly shared some of his favorite stories.
The next day Bob stopped us to chat. After originally noticing us, he returned home to pick up some of his wife's homemade energy bars and a detailed map of Ohio for us.
Some days, York and I ride in silence, humming to ourselves with a few yards distance between us while we take in the sights. But on days when nice people do things for us, Like when a lady stopped and bought us cookies, we ride side by side and talk about our appreciation for that person. Those are very good days.

Ohio was the first state that provided wind at our backs. Without an incredible effort, we rode 2 back to back 100 mile days. It was flat and hot, so we covered great distances in easy time.

On our way to Philadelphia we decided to spend a night in a hotel in Pittsburg. We pulled into the city on a dangerous street without a bike lane and treated ourselves to gigantic sandwiches. After lunch, we asked a police officer directions to AAA, so we could pick up maps. She offered to lead us in her patrol car. Could we follow a car? It turned out that we Could Not follow when she pulled onto the highway driving 50. Our max speed was probably 18 mph, but we dared to keep up, so we stayed behind her in the left lane, getting flipped off and yelled at by drivers until we agreed that we were risking our lives, and ditched this crazy cop. It was bizarre and dangerous.

We got out of Pittsburg quick and made it to the Alleghenys. These are serious mountains. While endlessly climbing and descending these mountains, two things happened. First, we crossed 2,000 miles. It was incredible. The experience was marred by a hick that hollered at us as we stopped for a celebratory high five, but to think that we had pedaled 2,000 miles made us pretty proud of each other.
The second memorable occasion was the loss of York's wallet. We know where he left it, and when we discovered that it was missing, a nice man drove us back to the scene to search for it, but it was gone and not reported. It wasn't a major loss, but an emotional drain.

Somewhere in those mountains, Scott and Dorothy stopped us to make sure we were doing alright. they gave us apples and sugar candies, and plenty of tips on routes to Philadelphia. They were a happy couple that encouraged us enough to get all the way to this city of brotherly love.

The rest of the way was easy. We passed through Gettysburg, and got a free night in the home of fellow bike enthusiast Joel, who prepared us for another 100 mile day from the city of York, PA to Philadelphia.

If you haven't been here, let me tell you: Pennsylvania is beautiful.
Rest well knowing that York and I are still alive. We should be in NYC this week before heading through Boston next week on our way back to Camden, Maine. This has been an awesome trip so far. 500 miles to go.

Talk to you soon. Check out the pictures below.
Josh