Day 7: Pottstown, Pa. to Lancaster, Pa. 64 miles, 3640 feet of elevation

Welcome to Amish Country.  Lancaster County is home to one of the largest Amish communities in the country.  Interesting fact:  Pennsylvania "Dutch" is actually a corruption of "Deutsch" as it was German settlers, not folks from the Netherlands, taking William Penn up on his invitation to flee from religious persecution.  (The French Huguenots and the Ulster Scots did as well!)

Chestnut Hill Road, Kramer Hill Road, Peiffer Hill Road, Cinder Hill Road, Owl Hill Road (and those weren't even the toughest climbs of today).  Climb.  Climb.  Climb.  Lather. Rinse. Repeat.

I was surprised not to see any Hex signs as I've seen in years past throughout the Midwest.  But there was still lots of barn decorations to observe.  These bees were very cute.

Thank goodness today was a short day.  And it was another beautiful day, albeit quite hot in the early afternoon with the temperatures rising once again into the mid-90's.  But sunny and with plenty of spectacular vistas.

The cicadas are out in force this summer here in South Central Pennsylvania.  At times we'd hear a scattering of chirps.  Other times, the concentration of sound was near deafening.  This one's just the empty exoskeleton.

The corn around here is ready for harvesting as the cobs are fat and full and the silks are already starting to turn brown.

I missed some great shots of chickens running wild across front lawns or cows just sitting by the roadside because I wasn't about to stop along steep climbs to take a picture.  This shot, however, was at the top of one of those steep climbs.

Summer smells.  There are certain smells one encounters while riding this route.  Sometimes, the early morning smells of breakfast bacon and sausages waft through the air when we ride through a small town.  Sometimes, it's the smell of honeysuckle along the roadside.  Unfortunately, it's often the smell of, as Loudon Wainwright III popularized way back in the 70's, a "dead skunk in the middle of the road."

I really like the distinct stone architectural style of many of the homes in Southeastern and South Central Pennsylvania.

Today, we caught an entirely different and very unpleasant odor along much of our farmland route.  It turns out that many farms in this region practice the fertilization technique of laying down manure just prior to a sizable rain.  And we're not talking shovelfuls.  We're talking on an industrial level with huge tankers pulled by even bigger tractors running up and down farms.

I missed this tractor mailbox, but Shane caught it.  He and I have been swapping photos each night when one of us has missed a good picture and the other one caught it.  (He missed the bees on the barn.)

Tomorrow's forecast is for thunderstorms.  So yes, today we rode through shit.  Pumped and sprayed across acre after acre, the noxious fumes were, by some riders' accounts, nauseating at times.

Today's second SAG stop was at a restaurant called, "The Udder Choice."  Yup, the insides were as corny as it's name.  Walls filled with signage from every ice cream brand in the region, as well as signs listing all the flavors available (has anyone ever heard of "Brown Bread" flavored ice cream!?  Two different companies offered that option).  The wall of ice cream scoops, many dating back to the 1800's, did catch my eye.  Quite an interesting display.

There's a decent chance we will not be riding tomorrow.  The forecast is for thunderstorms with hail and lightning. Normally, we'd either wait it out or ride through it.  Tomorrow, we spend much of our day on two rail trails as we enter Maryland.  Neither trail, however, is paved.  That makes for a nice ride on racing tires if it's dry.  However, the rains are likely to turn the trails into mud and, potentially, impassable with our bikes.  We'll know more in the morning.