The Allegheny Mountains, Pennsylvania

Leaving my Grandma's house was bittersweet...i had such a great time hanging out with my very cool grandma chatting and running around Canton OH.  One night we got together with family I haven't seen in 15 years.  We talked and had a geat time sitting on a porch overlooking a pond while a thunder & lightning storm kept our attention.  My cousin has a few toys that are pictured above! My Grandma took me out for an amazing steak dinner the night before I left...the best steak I've ever had...thanks so much Grandma for everything!! 
After resting for 2 1/2 days I was ready to hit the road again.  This time I would not take I-80 for very long.  Instead I headed deep into the Allegheny Mountains of Pennsylvania on route 62 & 6.  The mountains were so amazing!  Every 30 miles there would be a small town with one stop light and an old court house, church and historic main street.  All the homes had cool porches, some rickety and some posh.  The mountain roads were uncrowded and winded up and down through the thick tall forest.  This route took quite a bit longer than it would have going east on 80 but it was well worth it!  Early on I made a wrong turn and stopped to chat with a guy who liked my bike.  His name was Mark and he rode a dyna and worked on harley's for the last 30 years.  As he was checking out my bike he noticed that there was oil splattered all over the battery box...not good!  He saw that the breather bolt was missing on the air cleaner attachment and oil had been leaking.  Now I had to keep checking my oil every 50 miles and I had to get it to a HD shop asap.  Not much was leaking out so I decided to stay in the small town of Mansfield and get it to the HD in Scranton in the AM.  So in Mansfield I found a cool brewery called Yorkholo.  I had a few ales and a tasty burger while talking with a guy from Vermont for a while.  The next morning I rode to Scranton where the guys at HD fixed my bike in about 30 minutes. Now on to NYC!
It was getting hot...I mean reeeeeaaal hot!  I had to pull ove once because it was getting hard to breathe.  So now was I going to go by what the maps say to get to NYC or the lady on my navigation???  She got me to Chicago alright so I went with her.  Hmmmmm...strange route she wanted me to take.  I found myself going through a ghetto neighborhood in New Jersey, lots of merging onto bumpy busy side roads and all of the sudden I saw the Lincoln Tunnel which was where I needed to go.  Going through this tunnel was not very pleasant!  It was probably about 95 with a heat index of 110 and I was sweating like a pig!  There were also tons of fumes in the tunnel from all the cars and trucks...so brutal!  I defininitely had to earn the last 20 miles of this cross country trip...it wasn't going to be a nice & easy final stretch!  This was it...I made it to NYC after coming out of the tunnel I felt a huge accomplishment!  Now I'm sitting in John's 25th floor apartment overlooking the Hudson River with views of the NYC skyline..it's time for a shower and some celebrating!  The journey is not over but I wanted to thank God, my family and friends for all of the support and encouragement along the way...it's been a crazy adventure just like I was hoping for!