New York from Lancaster

In 7.5 hours.

The wind was brutal through most of Pennsylvania.  It nearly took me off the road multiple times. 

I'd packed the scoot with my camping gear the night before, wrapped the crate in my custom made cover,  and left from work yesterday morning wih a mostly full tank of gas and a bit of apprehension.

See, I did this once before,  when I was 34 and the scoot was mostly new. Here we both are, five years later, and we're both looking a bit older. It seems we're both still up to the challenge,  me and he scooter, comrades on asphalt.

We left from Lancaster around 11:15 in the morning, the scoot puttering along beneath me without any complaints.  Then we hit rt 501 north out of Lititz and all the dark spirits of Hell seemed to converge on us in fierce wind gusts. This went on until just a bit south of Williamsport. 

The countryside was magnificent.  We pitter puttered through the
Landscape of fields and farms, taking a break or two to refuel. After Williamsport,  I turn onto rt 287 north. The wind had died down considerably,  and the road became a winding serpent of asphalt through the mountains. It was glorious.

The fresh green of the leaves, streams visible alongside the road, dappled sunlight falling on me, and a winding road to buzz along all added up to a phenomenal recipe for a great ride.

And then I hit New York state. It wasn't so bad at first,  but route 37 in NY is so cracked and pitted it falls into the category of "badump-badump" roads,  because that's the sound they make.

When I arrived in Castile, I wasn't quite so sore as I had expected to be.
I parked the scoot in the drive at my wife's grandmother's house and was greeted joyously by my fluffy dog , my wife, and son (who had traveled separately by car), and then we went for wings at the town's one pizza place.

All in all, I'm looking forward to the rest of my trip.  Tomorrow I will leave Castile and head toward Massachusetts,  stopping about halfway,  a bit south of Syracuse, to camp for the night.