Destination: Kentucky

Last winter Mike suggested we ride the motorcycle to my next marathon. I've run marathons in all the New England states, so Kentucky became our destination.

We started out a bit before 7am this morning on the first day of our trip to the Hatfield/McCoy marathon in East Pike County, KY. It was 48 degrees when we left, which meant I wore all of the liners to both my motorcycle pants and jacket, along with my warmest mittens and my favorite neckwarmer from our Ireland trip with Celtic Rider. At least the sun was shining as we rode west through Vermont into upstate New York.

Once we got through the greater Albany, NY area, we had NY route 7 almost to ourselves as we followed the curving, twisting highway southwest through forests and farmland.

The ride became mesmerizing as we passed through several small towns named for Algonquin and Iroquois Native Americans:  Oneonta, Unadilla, Otsego. As we crossed from New York state into Pennsylvania, we shadowed the the Susquehanna River, catching glimpses through the trees and periodically seeing the full width.

Most of the day we traveled small roads where we watched hawks circle on the updrafts, deer slowly walking through the fields, a cat quickly running across the road in front of us, and ducks lazily gliding through ponds. The quiet countryside turned into a loud city as we wound our way through Scranton, PA, grateful for our GPS system to get us through the traffic.

We're spending tonight in Bloomsburg, PA in the middle of the state, with plans to continue southwest through the Appalachian Mountains through the narrow sliver of western Maryland and then dropping down into West Virginia. We traveled 330 miles today, and want to get 400 more under our tires tomorrow.