Bill's loop (with Meadville addendum)

July 13, 2016

We met a very friendly man named Bill Myers during breakfast at the Mercer Comfort Inn. Bill is an avid biker and told us about a bike path that makes a 12 mile loop around the Lake Wilhelm reservoir in Goddard state park. The loop was just off of our planned route and after Bill drew us a map of how to get there we decided to add the loop to our route.

Ready to start riding, wishing we had as much energy as Bill.

Bill lives around 12 miles up the road from the Comfort Inn. He called his wife Mary Lee and told her 4 cyclists would be passing by in 20 or 25 minutes. We probably should have explained that we would be lucky to cover 12 miles on flat roads in an hour, let alone on hilly Pennsylvania roads in 20 minutes. Oh well, it wasn't like she would actually happen to look up as we passed.

One thing we did manage to do within 20 minutes was to make a wrong turn and stray from our route. We were looking at the magnificent courthouse in Mercer and climbing a steep hill, either of which could serve as an excuse for not paying attention to where we were supposed to be going. Kerry got us back on track and as a bonus we passed the Mercer post office as we rejoined the route. We needed some stamps, but it was 8:50 a.m. and the post office would not open until 9:00. Should we wait? No, the forecast was for a hot day and we didn't want to squander the cool morning riding time. We could always find another post office in another town.

We found ourselves on smaller and smaller roads, each hillier than the one before. When we rejoined the larger, but still hilly, rt. 62 we noticed signs indicating we were on an MS 150 bike route. We have done several MS rides in Florida, folks doing the ride in Pennsylvania are working much harder due to the hills.

After another hour or so we reached the town of Stoneboro. A woman waved to us as we were passing and sure enough it was Bill's wife Marilee. Folks sure are friendly in rural Pennsylvania. We chatted with her for a while and even met the neighbors.

Mary Lee must have been wondering what took us so long to cover 12 miles. Welcome to leisurely tandem touring.

Soon we came to the turn off for Goddard state park and the bike trail. As promised it was paved and a beautiful loop. It was not flat, but as long as we kept our speed up we could roll the short steep dips and rises. It reminded us of a rollercoaster ride.

Bill's loop did have a few flat sections where we could stop for a photo.

We took multiple breaks as we circled the lake.

A funny thing about Pennsylvania stores is that lots of them either don't have bathrooms or won't let people use them. This is true even for places that serve food. Would you really like to climb off a bike to eat at a Subway if you couldn't wash your hands? But we did find plenty of friendly stores like this farm equipment store that welcomed us in.

Glad to let us use the facilities even if we didn't buy a tractor.

Another great option is to stop at a produce stand, especially one at the top of a hill. We stopped multiple times today and enjoyed some terrific juicy peaches.

Great timing, this was the first day of the year this stand was open.

This stand was on top of a super steep hill. The horse beat us to the top.

Adding Bills loop made the day just about the right length. We finished in the afternoon and had time to relax and eat. We are staying in Meadville. It seems to be a fairly large and prosperous town. What is the source of employment? Surely Americans don't drink enough Mead to support a town of this size.

Tomorrow rain is in the forecast so we may need to spend some time hiding from rain.

Addendum: We think we have figured out what makes the Meadville economy tick. Apparently the local university is offering an innovative joint major in horticulture and traffic management. The results speak for themselves.

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