More Miles!

Next stop - Lancaster County in Pennsylvania.  We could have spent several days here - but instead only the better part of an afternoon.  Not nearly enough time to enjoy the scenery, food, shopping and atmosphere.  You might have heard of this area as the Amish area of the state.  And indeed we met many families in their horse drawn buggies on the highway. We were fascinated by the unique scooters powered by  barefoot Amish kids as they sped alongside the roads.  Too speedy for me to catch with my camera - though it probably would have been considered rude to photograph them anyway.   

The crisp white barns of the farms dotted the land for almost as far as we could see.  Corn and other crops as well as gardens and orchards tied the landscapes together just like the sashings and borders on one big quilt. 

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I'm not sure if I was trying to take a photo of this interesting tree or the quilts hanging on the porch of the farmhouse - but it works anyway!  I had been using my old Kodak 550V digital camera to take photos from the back of the bike, but the day before it finally died. It served me well these past few years, but luckily I had packed the little Panasonic DMC-TZ5 that I had gotten to replace it last summer.  I've never been happy with how long it takes to focus when I'm trying to take photos while moving. But I think I've finally figured that out and these turned out better than I expected.  We did indeed take the new Nikon and used it when off the Harley.  I'm not brave enough to risk holding an expensive camera at 60 mph!  Geeks that we are, we travel with two cell phones, three cameras, two computers, a GPS (plus one built into the Harley) and I think D had his Palm too!  Good thing we have that trailer! And you all just thought it was for my shoes!

We spent some time at the Farmer's Market in Bird-In-Hand.  There's something for everyone here, from food, crafts, local produce and meat to this great rocking chair.  I would love to have tied it on top of the trailer, but we really didn't want to look like the Clampetts the rest of the trip! 

Quilts, Quilts and MORE Quilts!  All handmade by local quilters!  Beautiful.  I'm not sure which shop these were in but the display was certainly impressive.

We moved on down the road to Intercourse, PA.  More QUILTS here at Village Quilts- but no photos allowed in the shop.  As well as I could tell, they only stocked locally hand quilted products and displayed them beautifully.  A gorgeous shop, inside and out!

Across the street was The Old Country Store.  So once you saw the beautiful handmade quilts, you could be inspired to create your own.  They had a great fabric selection, patterns, fat quarters and fabric bundles along with interesting gift items.  A lovely shop! 

I would love to go back to this little town and the entire area and spend more time.  I'm sure there are lots of other roads that would make for some good riding and plenty of interesting places to stop.  There's just not enough time to cover all the miles!

So onward we traveled.  If you look carefully, you can find a hint of one of our next stops in the photo above.