Looking back: Mason-Dixon, Dairy Day, and Philly hospitality (days 19-21)

Day 19:

After departing from our wonderful hosts Dan and Holly, we set off for parts unknown - namely, Pennsylvania. The plan was to camp in the "yard" of an outfitter store we had read about and contacted. On the way, we ran into two other riders out for the morning, Susan and Susan, who invited us to stop with them at St. John's Episcopal Church (in the Maryland countryside) for water, snacks, and bicycle repair equipment. The church had apparently realized it was on a popular cycling thoroughfare and decided to minister to its neighbors by offering this aid/hospitality station. How cool! Neither of the women were members of the church, but they were both big fans of it, and one said she had visited it before because of its cyclist aid "ministry." Both Susans were very sweet and cool and encouraging to Katelyn and me.

Signing the log book in the aid station

Me, Katelyn, St. John's Episcopal building

We came across something later in the day that we were not expecting: the Mason-Dixon Line.

At the same time, we crossed into Pennsylvania.

We were undisputedly out of the South, and we both agreed that we were officially quite far from Atlanta. The horse-drawn carriages displayed on yellow highway signs alerted us that we were entering Amish country.

The hills we encountered soon after attempted to whip our tails. Surely, we thought, these hills are just a temporary thing. They will not last much further into the trip. We were, however, quite wrong. We rode until after dark, having made a bit slower time than we had anticipated, and camped in our planned spot at the Shank's Mare Outfitters near Wrightsville, PA. We were pleasantly greeted by a gorgeous sunrise across the river the next morning and agreed that this "yard" made a fantastic campsite.

Day 20:

After leaving our campsite and passing through some cute-looking towns, we began looking for somewhere to stop for a snack break. At the same time, we thought it was funny that many of the convenience stores we passed were called Turkey Hill, an odd name for a filling station unless the region was called Turkey Hill or maybe, just maybe, it had something to do with Turkey Hill ice cream. Our questions were all answered in the most surprising and delicious way possible when we stumbled upon a renovated factory building labeled "The Turkey Hill Experience."

What we had crossed paths with turned out to be a Turkey Hill ice cream museum which besides the fun, interactive ice cream knowledge it offered, also included UNLIMITED FREE ICE CREAM SAMPLES as part of the tour. What had started as a great day quickly became a really really great day. At no other time in our lives have we been more qualified to enjoy unlimited ice cream samples without shame. It was truly delightful. Besides, we needed our calcium.

Other delightful events of the day included picking apples growing in the highway right-of-way, buying fresh veggies and raw milk from a Mennonite woman's farm stand, riding through beautiful Pennsylvania countryside, eating at a great pizza and calzone place, and enjoying the milk with some cookies at Warwick Woods campground where we stayed.

Day 21:

As we were packing up our campsite at Warwick Woods, a man named Zebulon walked up to our site and started talking to us. He was interested in what we were doing, and we told him about our trip. We found out that we were both believers in Christ, and that Zebulon was going through a challenging point in his life. We were able to give encouragement to each other and pray for each other. Zebulon encouraged us to keep Christ at the center of our lives and our marriage and reminded how important it is that we are both of the same mind when it comes to knowing and loving God. We were blessed by our encounter with him. It is cool how God brings people together.

That day we rode into Conshohocken, PA on a really nice rail trail along the Schuykill River. We had been running out of stove fuel for the last few days and unable to find the kind we needed, but in Conshohocken we found an REI that had it. While at the REI, we picnicked and looked at our map for places we might stay that night, but we did'nt find anything other besides expensive hotels (as we would be passing through a popular tourist area). We decided to ride on and look for a suitable place to pitch our tent once we were closer to covering the distance we wanted to cover. We prayed once again that God would provide somewhere good and safe for us to rest that night. How he did that was a surprise to us.

As evening was approaching, we rolled into Warrington, PA and stumbled upon a car show. As we didn't have much day left, we decided this might be a good opportunity to ask some locals where would be a good place to camp nearby or down the road. Before we walked into the midst of the parking lot with the show, a woman approached us and welcomed us to check out the cars and offered us water and help finding anything else we might need. We thanked her and told her we were looking for somewhere near our route to camp. She was not from Warrington, but she immediately took us up to a group of people and began asking folks if they knew about where we might could stay. Nobody seemed to have any immediate ideas, but while Katelyn and I were sitting  down drinking water, a man came up to us saying he had overheard that we wanted somewhere to camp, that he had called his wife, and that we were welcome to stay with them. We decided to take them up on it, and turned out to be a wonderful decision.

Ken and Donna, the couple who invited us in, were experienced at hosting strangers. They had hosted four foreign exchange students in the past, all of whom they have remained close with. The hospitality they showed us was incredible: they gave us their guest bedroom, beer, and bought us Philly cheesesteak sandwiches (an important experience they didn't want us to miss as we were in a Philly suburb). Their home was even right on our route in the correct direction! This was a wonderful answer to prayer.