265 miles in 07:30 Average 35mph
Moving average 50.

It was a beautiful ride today. I did about half on sweeping hilly forested side roads and the second half on slab to make time. Rehab exercises and then stopping between 15 and 30 minutes every hour is improving things, at least so far. I am not pain free but so far have not had the searing neck lock pain. That muscle is sore and irritated but still entirely manageable.

Time to make some time so tomorrow isn't too hard.

Talked to the clerk here who took an interest in the camera and asked if I youtubed. I mentioned the blog and told him a bit about this trip. He said he wanted to do a trip like this "someday" but he was too young.

"I was 21 when I first went cross country."

"Well before I was born."

He asked about breakdowns because how old the bike is.

"You just have to learn to fix it. If it breaks it's my fault since I just put it back together."

Reminds me of the Uber driver in Oxford who talked about how he now understood why Luke Skywalker fashioned his own lightsaber .. in the 70's we fixed things, improved things, and built things more than the current generation.

The route to here from 36 North of Punxsultawney is /fantastic/. Dramatic hills, wide green vistas, farm country, curvey. Gold road.

I suspect the human tendency to tell and listen to stories is key to cooperation in the species but also undermines the concept of free will. I "chose" to come here but was strongly influenced by the story ... and if one thinks about marketing ties into stories they are trying to influence in the same way.

Broke my 60 minute rule and rode 95 to Punxutawney .. but am taking an extended Starbucks break here.

I'm not posting many photos from the app because of a memory issue when there are too many photos on a ride. I have some memory management handstands to perform to more efficiently handle hundreds of photos. It's always something.

Route 36 from Altoona to Puncetawney is a very nice curvey varies route of woods, all old towns, dramatic hills, and long views.

Packed up at the crack of 10:30.

Pondering Megan's dog, Maybe, who knew to approach humans for help vs Samantha's feral, Prudence who would avoid humans seeing them as a threat.

I walked by a woman not much older than myself who was struggling to get out of her chair to her walker. I asked if she was ok and she said," Yea, just old."

The woman last night who asked me to take a photo of her with my bike was a member of a group called the Jaffa Shriners, which I had never heard of. I have heard mention of "Shriners" before but never read up on it.

According to Wikipedia it is something related to the Masons which has gotten me thinking about the difference between properly socialized humans that organize into groups and the few of us that are drawn to Our There alone ... parallels with feral dogs.

Huh, apparently I am within striking distance of Punxsultawney ... it's nice that even with such a rigidly defined plan there's room to wander.

This ride is now underway.

So far so good. No Advil yet. Figured I'd combine a gas stop with an hourly rest stop

Encountered a guy here at Sheetz in a yellow Roadcrafter riding a Ducati ADV bike. He's from New England riding a few days down to West Virginia.

Now I'm pondering how much further to go. I think roughly 7:30 would make a good time to stop.