Copake, NY to Bensalem, PA

We had a great day of travels yesterday. The day started with sunshine and 54 degrees and ended with a few clouds and 70 degrees. We rode past large farms and by many pastures as well as hay, corn and sunflower fields.

Near Kingston, NY we crossed the Hudson River on an amazing bridge. It is a continuous under-deck truss bridge.

I thank the internet for these photos. This photo really captured the view ahead except when you start down the far side you get a great view of the Catskill Mountains. It was like driving on a regular road but there was water deep below... This bridge makes me appreciate the Bucksport Bridge even more.

We continued along and crossed the Delaware River at Port Jervis, NY into PA. It was a much smaller bridge but with a metal grate surface. It was a wobbly passage for the the Silver Streak.

Next we rode along the Delaware River Water Gap for much of the width of PA. There was little traffic but there was a trolly of tourists. We tried to stop at the Visitors Center but it was closed for the season. Guess it is only open in the summer.

The water seems low every where we have traveled on this trip. As you can see we left the brilliant fall foliage north of here.

We parked at one scenic overlook under a tree that was dropping these tennis ball sized orbs. I asked a passing fisherman if he knew what they were and he said black walnuts. He went on to tell us how to open them, dry them out and that they make the best nuts for chocolate chip cookies. I stuck the toe of my boot into the picture to help show the size.

Nearing Bensalem we handed over the navigation to Allan's GPS "Rhoda". At one point late in the afternoon we missed a turn and stopped at a McDonalds to get turned back around. While we were there it was time to shed the lining from my jacket, my long janes and heavy gloves. It was a good thing that we took the time to take some layers off because we soon found ourselves in bumper to bumper Friday afternoon rush hour traffic. We slowly proceeding from one traffic light to the next for more than an hour. Rhoda did a great job and eventually she got us to our destination. We traveled 220 miles.

We had a wonderful evening highlighted with a rack of lamb dinner prepared by our host. It is always a treat to spend time with longtime friends Eric and Elaine. Allan and Eric became friends in seventh grade when Allan moved to Belmar, N.J., and years later Eric was the best man at our wedding (39 years ago...).

The bikes are getting acclimated to being parked on the street. Here they are in front of Eric and Elaine's house.

Today started out rainy but we had already planned to stay here and continue our visit. Soon we will travel by car into Philly and have lunch with Donna Searchfield. We are so fortunate to have great friends scattered along the east coast who are happy to welcome weary motorcycle travelers.

Nice lunch in Philly at the Trolly Car Diner with Donna, Eric and Elaine.

It was great to visit with Donna. She is enjoying being a graduate student. When she "grows up" it sounds like she wants to work for a faith based non profit and remain in Philly.

Lunch was followed by a car tour of Philadelphia with Eric as our driver. Here is William Penn standing atop city hall and a buddy perched on the side of the building.

This interesting downtown building was built by the Pennsylvania and Reading Railroad.

The building in the middle is Independence Hall.

And we found Ben Franklin!

No trip to a city is complete without a tour of local culinary highlights and in Philly that would be "Philly Cheese Steaks". Pat's and Geno's being the most famous.