Reliving the past

Thursday morning I headed out to Pennsylvania, my old stomping grounds. The purpose of my visit is to catch up with old friends I haven't seen in over 20 years. I'm really not sure they will recognize me or I them, but it's bound to be fun. There will be many things talked about, however, they will go no farther than there. Only the chosen few will know what I used to be like.

So I packed up my bike and other sundries and began my journey. Unfortunately, pictures can't be uploaded from the iPad and you will have to wait until I get back home to see them.

Only hiccup in the trip was an hour delay at O'Hare airport because they needed to change a light bulb in the plane. It seems totally ridiculous, but I wasn't too upset since it was only an hour.

Once I arrived in Harrisburg, I headed out to my friend Amanda's house in Shillington, a part of Reading. I put my bike together and we headed out to Your Place Restaurant where I have been craving one of their famous strombolis for the last 20 years. I wasn't disappointed, it was as awesome as I remembered it.

I got up Friday morning and had planned to ride out to Hershey and see the park I spent numerous summer days riding the rides. It was definitely a stroll down memory lane when I got there.

Once arriving in Hershey, the air was filled with the smell of chocolate from the factory. It was to die for. After spending about an hour riding around the place I headed back to Shillington. Pennsylvania doesn't have rollers, their hills are long and gradual. Not sure what I think of that, but the scenery was wonderful. I didn't have a odometer on my bike, so when I got back I mapped it out and ended up with a 93 mile ride for the morning. If I would have known that then I would have ridden 7 more miles to get a full century in. Oh well, I was planning on doing a race on Saturday, which I will talk about my next post. Bike riding in PA appears to be very bike friendly. Not once did anyone yell, honk, throw drinks, or try to run me off the road.

The rest of the day was spent driving around my old stomping grounds starting with the house we lived in, then to the school I graduated from. Everywhere I looked the trees were much larger. Then it was over to the mall where I used to rat around. I spent the entire time with my jaw on the ground. The movie theatre where we hung out was gutted out and turned into a food court. The Bob's Big Boy we hung out at after Rocky Horror Picture Show was gone. They went out of business. An apartment I used to live in was still the same shit hole I remember, but I had great times there.

It's just amazing how things change in 20 years. Since this post is getting novel in size, I will leave it for now. One other thing, I love the old houses out here, they are the old colonial style which send you back in time. Until the next post.