Day 19: Allentown, PA

Date: July 27, 2019

Today was a travel day. Its a long drive back to Rhode Island, so Di, Michelle, Brian and I had decided when planning this trip that we would take two days to get home.  We met in the hotel restaurant at 8:45 to get a quick breakfast so we could be on the road by 10am.  I forgot to take any pictures of our breakfast.  Not only that, after breakfast I just walked away and left the camera behind on the table.  Luckily, Michelle was far more awake and alert than I and grabbed the camera.  She let me know I had forgotten it by calling my name and snapping a picture of me with my own camera when I turned around.

The moment I realized Michelle has my camera

Di got the car from the parking garage and we set about installing packing the car and putting our bikes on the bike rack.  Brian had carried the bike rack in his luggage from Rhode Island to Pittsburgh, so thank you Brian!

Packing the car

We are ready to go

It was a bit of a pain to get the bike rack situated just right, and even then we didn't have 100 percent confidence it was installed properly.   We were on the road by 11am with Di driving.  We drove for about two hours before stopping to satisfy our coffee needs.

Di getting ready for some coffee

Even Michelle and Brian patronize the Starbucks

After picking up some drinks and snacks at the service stop, we returned to the car and realized the bike rack had dropped significantly from its original position. We all agreed something had to be done, but we were not in agreement as to what it was we had to do.  Michelle thought the side straps should be moved to be in a more upward angle.  Di thought the rack should be angled so it was positioned farther from the car.  I thought we should take the wheels off and place them in the trunk to lighten the load on the rack.  After much discussion (during which Brian proved his wisdom be refusing to comment on any of our suggestions), we decided to implement Di's and Michelle's ideas immediately and implement my plan of removing the wheels only if we still had a problem.  So, in the hot and sunny parking lot of the service area, we unloaded the bikes, adjusted the bike rack, and then reloaded the bikes.  We resumed the drive and the bike rack looked even less stable than it did before our adjustments, so we were more than a little concerned.  I read the manual for the bike rack online and found the section that describes how to attach the rack to an SUV.  We had done it incorrectly.  We decided that we would leave it as it was for now, mainly because we weren't enthused about the idea of going back out in the heat and sun to work on that bike rack anymore. Our plan was to keep an eye on the bike rack and if there was a problem, we would pull off the road and set it up correctly.  If the rack held up, then we would adjust it when we arrived at the hotel this evening.

We continued on and arrived in Hershey around 4pm.  We wanted to stop off at the Hershey factory for a little tour and a visit to the Hershey candy store.

A clue that you are getting close to the Hershey plant

The excitement is mounting

When you enter the Hershey candy store, you get the feeling you have just entered the Willy and the Chocolate Factory story.  I mean, this is a huge candy store. It has tall ceilings and bright colors everywhere and tons of people with one thing on their minds: candy.  To put this in perspective for Rhode Islanders: imagine a hurricane is coming and there is only one store that is open and selling bread and milk. Yes, it is that crazy here.

Di in the candy store

Di, Michelle and Brian heading towards the candy (like moths to the flame)

Imagine if you gave these out for Halloween

Below, Di is holding Mounds and Almond Joy.  These candies always remind me of the time someone brought my dad a Mounds bar.  After eating it, he said it was very good but wasn't as good as the Mounds bars he used to eat years ago.  "Back then", he said, "they used to put almonds in them.  Now that was a good candy bar."  The next day he got a bunch of Almond Joy bars and he was very happy.

Mounds vs Almond Joy (I like them both)

Twizzlers! (I like them, too)

We bought these (and more)

We are starting to get carried away (like kids in a candy shop)

Chocolate as big as your head is a good thing

I bought some Twizzlers so we could have a tasting at Mom's

That's a happy couple!

Yeah, sometimes we're about ten years old

We left Hershey around 5pm with a bunch of candy and started driving towards Intercourse.  We wanted to have dinner in an Amish restaurant and Intercourse is the center of Amish country.  Even before we arrived in Intercourse, we could see Amish farms and their buggies on the roads of Lancaster County.

Some hard work going on there

 

Common sight in this area

We arrive in Intercourse

Di asking for a restaurant recommendation

Farmers at work

Buggies co-existing with cars (as a cyclist, I feel their pain)

Di had stopped to ask for a recommendation for an Amish restaurant and the gentleman suggested Katie's  Kitchen. 

Monument outside Katie's Kitchen

There was a 45 minute wait at Katie's Kitchen, which was longer than we expected, but some patrons who had eaten there before convinced us that it was well worth waiting for.  And they were right, the food was tremendous.

Di had the chicken, potatoes and baked beans

Brian had the open faced sandwich with mashed potatoes and baked beans and Michelle the chicken cordon bleu.

Me photo bombing my chicken cordon bleu portrait

Our faces show we are pleased with our food

We finally arrived in Allentown around 9:30pm after an hour and a half ride and a bunch of candy that Michelle kept feeding us (the best was the Twizzlers black licorice). We assessed the bike rack situation and decided not to make any adjustments.  The current configuration had held up just fine and we didn't want to rock the boat.  Also, we were tired.  We plan on leaving the hotel by 8am tomorrow and heading up the street to a cool looking diner that was definitely calling to us.  If all goes well, we will be back in Rhode Island in time to see Hamilton tomorrow night.

This towel sculpture was on the bed of our room and I'm not sure what it is