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Published: October 4th 2020
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You have to drive defensively on a bike. I am always looking in my rear view mirror, for flashing blue/red lights, for the radiator and headlamps of an out of control semi, or an arrogant Audi doing 120 miles an hour. Up close to Carlisle PA riding on US 15 I saw two bikes coming up fast behind me, one with a big bright light, one with nothing. They were using two lanes (one mine). Normally bikers ride together for a few minutes, before zooming off. They came roaring right up behind me. I was wondering what they were going to do? Run me over? All of a sudden they slowed and dropped 50 yards back. I looked up from the mirrors and saw a cop waiting to pounce. I slowed instinctively. Had I reacted soon enough? Somehow he didn't see me, or forgave me, or was waiting for the other two... anyway, I got through. A few miles further up we hit a section where the surface of the highway has been torn up and made rough on purpose, prior to resurfacing with asphalt. Nasty for motor bikes. I slowed some and noticed that one of the bikes was behind
me again, the one with a big headlight. We stopped eventually, at the only light on US 15 before Harrisburg, and I moved over in the lane to say hi to the other rider. I pointed at the rough road and yelled something about how horrible it was. No response, so I pushed open my helmet and yelled again. The other guy leaned back and looked at me through the black glass of his hat. Couldn't see a thing. Then he pushed it back and I almost fell off. A girl ! Maybe 20. Hair in a braid. Smile on her face. "Yeah, sucks" she shouted as the light turned green. I motioned her ahead. She took off with a roar and disappeared up ahead. I was doing 70, so she must have been pushing 90. I was surprised. Not many women riders, and those that I know ride cruisers.
My motel in Hancock overlooked the Delaware River -- just a big stream at this stage. Lovely as it rounds the corner and runs down the valley in the autumn sunset. The guy in the room alongside me was suiting up for fishing. It was 6:00 pm. "Gotta get
my line wet" he grunted as he struggled with his rubber boots. "Took too long getting started you know, commitments, errands, stuff... " "Yeah, same here" says I. "You're a photographer you say ?" "Yeah" says I. "Come on down and take pictures of me. Just walk through the campsite til you get there. Don't mind the 'Private - No Trespassing' sign." So I followed him down and watched him standing in the shining stream. Then he caught a huge rainbow trout. Just like that. He must have been a happy camper.
Today's ride took me from Arlington to Hancock NY, a small town at the confluence of the East Branch and the West Branch of the Delaware River. You could stay its the start of the full Delaware River. It took some 7 hours to ride the 290 miles. Most of it on freeways including the infamous I 81 where trucks outnumber other vehicles 3:1.
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