Jon's Journal (jon@3blooms.net)
Monday, Aug 30, 2010: Williamsport, PA to Canton, PA (37.4 mi)
A somewhat shorter ride today. As I enter the "northern tier" --- the Pennsylvania counties that border New York state -- the population density drops, as do the opportunities for places to stay overnight. So, I targeted the town of Canton, which not only has accommodations but also a laudromat that I need to use.
I awoke early and got going, backtracking about a half mile to a local restaurant forr breakfast. Afterwards, it was back onto the Lycoming Creek Bikeway for about four pleasant miles of flat riding. Once that ended, Route J took me onto Lycoming Creek Road, which parallels US 15 for a few miles. At Trout Run, it becomes PA 14, and the traffic picks up, especially heavy truck traffic featuring a lot of large dump trucks. Also, the shoulder of the road for the first few miles is a very rough surface, even though the driving surface is smooth. With so much truck traffic, I had little choice but to keep to the shoulder. Still, the road was reasonably flat, and that compensates for a lot!
At one point I saw a sign saying that there was road construction ahead and to be prepared to stop. After a couple of miles I came to a flagperson (can't really say "flagman") who was just stopping traffic. They were alllowing traffic in only one direction, and had a scout truck leading the line of cars each way. Of course, I asked for and received permission to go on ahead. After a mile or so, I ran into the actual construction, which was the laying down of fresh oil and gravel to resurface parts of the road. This was done by a sequence of vehicles -- sweeper, oiler, dump truck with gravel, and roller. Since they were rolling along in my lane and there was no other traffic on the road, I simply moved to the other side and went by. It was fairly flat there, and they were moving at about 6 or 8 miles per hour, so I had no trouble passing them. Shortly past, I came to the other end of the construction zone, nodded to the other flagperson and continued on my way.
As I approached Canton, I began to hit some hills. Nothing massive, but enough to slow me down and, since the day was warming, make me hotter. I arrived in Canton at about 12:30 and went immediatey to Doc's Irish Inn, which is right on the main street. This is a restaurant/inn, but the restaurant is closed on Mondays. Fortunately, there was someone there who could check me into a room.
Once I showered, I walked a couple of blocks down the street to the Subway for lunch. I asked the counter person where the laundromat was, and he directed me to it. It wasn't far. Then again, in a town with a population of about 2,000, nothing is very far!
After lunch I retrieved my dirty clothes and walked to the laundromat to wash them. While the machines were running, I read a book (on my iPhone, using iBooks). Then I went back to the motel for a brief nap.
Since Doc's restaurant was closed, I walked a few doors down to the Warrior Lounge, a bar/restaurant. (The school mascot of Canton is the Warriors.) Sitting at the bar, I indulged in Yuengling's lager, a cheese steak, and an order of Buffalo wings. With a full belly, I went back to my room and had no trouble falling asleep for the night!