Day 4 York, PA

After 10 and a half hours of sleep I awoke full of energy and ready to start the day. Beaming might be a way to describe my disposition. The weather report called for a cloudy and cold day, but little if any rainfall. This was an improvement since checking the night before so we decided to put in a full day of riding.

In the morning, I went through my gear up ritual: dress, repack the close handwashed the night before, fill water bottles, stretch out. When I reach our stop for the night I follow this more or less in reverse: shower, wash that day's riding clothes, dress in my one set of "casual" close, stretch, pull out my fresh gear for tomorrow's ride.

We started our day at Claires family restaurant in Morgantown, which is set up like an old time diner with with a mix of locals at the counter and in the booths. We got a few inquisitive glances, which I'm beginning to get used to. I had a lumberjack breakfast and loved every second of it. Breakfast is my favorite meal.

Once on the road we continued for 50 miles west on route 23 passing through Lancaster and on route 462 into York, PA, our destination for the day. The begining of the ride was utterly fantastic.

The road turned Into a large cascading descent, then another one, perhaps a mile in all. I thrilled at the ability to breeze through the stretch, my head up able to take in all the countryside, but in the back of my mind worried every so slightly about having to regain the altitude. The road flattened and then dropped into another downhill! I was amazed. There was little to do but watch the scenerey and pedal along the occasional flat all the way into Lancaster and much of the ride for the rest of the day.

Our route took us through amish country past beautiful farmland and pasteures which i could see stretch past a cloudy mist. Every so often i would spot a horse and buggy with a man at the reigns and a woman in a bonnet in the passenger seat. Alnong the way i stopped at a roadside stand with an honor box to buy fresh strawberries. An amish woman was happy to sell me half a basket, all I wanted to carry. Her 5 year old son, eyes as blue as the sky shyly hid behind her long skirt, stealing gazes at me.

With a broad shoulder and no turns to worry about i was able to let go and fully enjoy the moment. It has been a long time since I've felt as good as i did this morning. It's the kind of feeling that makes me realize I can die happy.

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Location:N Beaver St,York,United States