Day 9: 48 Miles

State College, PA to Altoona, PA

Today I started out feeling really energized. A day off and a good night of sleep had me up early and ready to go just after 9:00 AM. Today’s ride was 48 miles, with the first 24 trending downhill and the second 24 uphill.

The ride out of State College looked similar to what I rode through getting in. Lots of farms and cows along the side of the rode. I did see some sheep which was the only real change in scenery from what I’ve gotten used to. I guess this is what you notice traveling at 13 mph on back roads.

After 22 miles I made my only stop of the day in Spruce Creek. From what I can tell the only things in Spruce Creek were a tavern, bakery and post office. I had made such great time that the tavern was not open yet, so I headed to the bakery where I got a breakfast sandwich and followed that up with a creme filled doughnut because I was still hungry.

The next 24 miles trended uphill but went by quickly. I’m staying in Altoona tonight which I guess you could call a city compared to the surrounding area. This meant I was on more of a major road heading into town. The road had a big shoulder so it wasn’t an issue and I arrived at my stopping point around 2:00 PM.

Tonight I’m staying at another motel. I can’t believe I haven’t camped yet, but things just haven’t aligned to do that. There was a campsite about a mile from the motel, but it was only $15 cheaper than the motel and given the rain in the forecast tonight I again opted to stay indoors. I have a discount code through Adventure Cycling, so the Motel 6 was 10% off tonight and is actually pretty nice. The woman behind the desk typed in my discount code and I guess it came up that the discount was through Adventure Cycling. She started to laugh because I was very much dressed the part of my discount code. I know I can’t keep up this motel thing for the rest of the trip, but with the temperature hovering around 40 degrees at night I’ll continue with this ‘glamping’ version of a bike tour for now.

I finished early enough today to take advantage of the movie theater within walking distance of the motel. I caught the 5:00 PM showing of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 which was pretty good. I did have to leave the theater at the beginning because I was seeing the movie in double vision even with my 3D glasses on. They got that fixed quick enough to not cause too much of an interruption.

I’m now sitting in an Applebee’s around the corner from the theater enjoying a meal with a gift card I received before I left (Thanks Liz!). Everyone at this Applebee’s seems to know each other and I’ve heard one guy tell the same story about his wife in the hospital to at least 10 different people. At least there is basketball on TV and Yuengling on tap.

Tomorrow is a longer day with a big hill to start. We’ll see how that goes, but I am at least making progress and will hopefully get out of Pennsylvania soon.