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Day 6: {still between points "I" and "J" on the map but further West and South of the predicted route}
JUNE 7, 2008: Scranton, Pa. to Danville, Pa., 76 miles mostly via U.S. Route 11.
Yesterday was so arduous and the forecast for today was so much worse – 95 degrees (reverse wind chill about 113) – that Ben and I awoke without enthusiasm for the ride ahead. It didn’t help that the skies overhead were overcast, conditions outside were sauna-like and the Days Inn breakfast was pretty much cereal.
But once we started to ride, things immediately improved. A breeze cooled us and a Google map shortcut to Route 11, which winds southwest along the
By 11 we escaped the strip malls and by 1 p.m. we were in the curiously named town of Shickshinny for lunch. Temps by then had climbed into the 90s, the sun was searing and our prime criteria for a restaurant was not the menu, but how good the air conditioning was. The Wagon Wheel had both. Stepping out the door after lunch with 30 miles yet to ride was the only drawback.
Afternoon’s ride was tolerable, mostly because 11 was without the grades of Route 6. Our routine: riding from one small town to the next and filling up our water bottles in minimarts at each one. Probably downed five gallons apiece.
Only one mechanical problem: Ben had a flat at the bottom of a hill I had already climbed (and had to climb again). But he replaced the tube in fewer than 15 minutes and we were on our way.
Limped into the