The Beauty Around Us

Plans Can and Do Change

By Linda G. on August 3, 2009

With the Bad Luck Bash behind us, it was time to begin our ride back home.

I didn’t sleep as well last night as I did the previous night. My restless night had nothing to do with our accommodations at Motel Deska but everything to do with storms that passed through during the night. I was awakened twice during the night by thunder, lightning and heavy rain. Today’s weather forecast is calling for more of the same. Should we or shouldn’t we ride to Wellsboro today, as planned? We thought on that question as we showered and dressed for the day. Yesterday I wrote that there was little or no hot water while we showered. Our showers were enjoyable today, as we had hot water. After we were dressed, we discussed our options for the day. We could lay low and spend another night at Motel Deska, and then visit Roadside America (an attraction that we had planned to visit this weekend) and ride to Wellsboro tomorrow when the weather forecast was calling for sunny skies. Another alternative was to visit Roadside America and spend the night nearby at a hotel with more amenities than that offered by Motel Deska. We didn’t even consider riding to Wellsboro today. We opted for option #2. Prior to leaving Motel Deska we reserved a room at Comfort Inn Midway near Bethel, PA, a few miles east of Roadside America.

Roadside America is located on Rt. 22 & I-78 at Shartlesville, PA, approximately 15 miles from Wernersville. We arrived at Roadside America shortly before its 9:00AM opening. We rode there in heavy rain. It wasn’t raining when we left Motel Deska. We didn’t ride far at all before it started to rain hard. Our visit at Roadside America lasted a little over an hour. Roadside America is promoted as “the world’s greatest indoor miniature village”. Actually, it is not one village, but many. This was my second visit to Roadside America; it was Bob’s first visit. My first visit was 23 years ago, in December 1986. The attraction looked the same as I remembered.

It was still raining as we departed Roadside America. We hopped onto I-78, riding east. We hadn’t ridden far when we hit pooled water that crossed both traffic lanes. Bob slowed before we hit the pooled water. A car passed by at the same time that we hit the pooled water, and we got splashed in the feet and face both by a wall of water! Full helmets saved the day. Comfort Inn Midway was approximately 7 miles from Roadside America. It was only 10:30AM, too early to check in, so we decided to get something to eat. Conveniently, there was a restaurant located on the hotel property.

After eating a scrumptious breakfast at the Midway Family Restaurant, we found that the weather had improved. It was no longer raining. We changed our travel plans right then and there. We decided to ride to Wellsboro. If the weather turned crappy again, we could always stop overnight at another town in another hotel. We canceled our hotel reservation at Comfort Inn Midway, hopped on the bike and rode. Well, guess what? We made it all the way to Wellsboro, without another drop of rain! We even saw some blue skies and a few rays of sunshine along the way.

 

Our ride to Wellsboro was not without incident. When we were about 20 miles from Wellsboro, the battery on our GPS died. We ended up going 16 miles out of our way, to a town called Slate Run on Route 414. We stopped at a general store in Slate Run and asked for directions to Wellsboro. The best way to Wellsboro was to double back on the road that we had just traveled. The scenery along Route 414 is beautiful, however, we did not particularly want to ride along that road again. Route 414 is extremely BUMPY! Before departing Slate Run, Bob set the shocks one notch higher. The stiffer ride did improve Bob’s handling of the motorcycle on that bumpy road. We made our way back to Morris, on Route 414, where we turned left onto Route 287. Eleven miles later we arrived in Wellsboro. Lesson learned: Always carry a road map with you. A GPS can fail you!

Here are a few photographs that I took while riding Route 414.

When we were certain that we would make it all the way to Wellsboro, we telephoned ahead and made a room reservation for one night at the Sherwood Motel. We chose to stay at the Sherwood Motel based on favorable review of the hotel. A month earlier Skid and Sandy (fellow VROCers from Canada) stayed at the Sherwood Motel. They said it was a nice place and that they would stay there again. The Sherwood Motel is in the heart of Wellsboro, within walking distance of the Green (a park), a grocery store, several restaurants and shops, and a movie theater. Our room, which consisted of two double beds, was located directly behind the main house. We agree with Skid and Sandy. The Sherwood Motel is a nice place, and we would stay here again as well.

This evening we ate dinner at the nostalgic Wellsboro Diner.

After dinner we walked to the Green, stopping to window shop at various shops along the way. We also admired the gas-lit streets of Wellsboro. At the Green we sat on a park bench for 15 minutes or so and admired the Wynken, Blynken and Nod fountain in the center of the park.

When we returned to the Sherwood Motel, we relaxed on chairs outside our room. I listened to an audio book, while Bob checked email and surfed the Internet on his iPod. We also chatted with two Canadian motorcyclists who were in Wellsboro on holiday. One of the Canadians told me that Monday is a Canadian holiday. He told me the name of the holiday (Civic Holiday). The holiday is observed the first Monday in August. We also chatted with two young men from Louisiana, who were traveling in a truck. These two young men had bought a $9.00 BBQ grill at the grocery store across the street from the hotel. They were cooking dinner on the grill in the bed of their truck.

Click here for a map of today’s route. We rode a distance of 204 miles.