October 5, 2008 - Lancaster's Amish Areas and the Long Drive Home

This would be my last day traveling. I went to Mass at St. John Neumann Church in Lancaster, PA. This was close to the hotel and that eliminated the worries of not finding it in time as has happened with other churches.

The Amish Areas
After church, I tried to find the Amish areas. These are also known as Pennsylvania Dutch. Last night I found a brochure for the Dutch Village which boasted of lots of nice food and other attractions. With limited time, it seemed like a good place to get an all-around feel for things. I plugged the address in he GPS. When I arrived, it was just a modern shopping area. I saw a sign pointing down a side road to an "Amish Village." Perhaps this was it? When I got there, it was a place where you could tour a mock Amish Village and have lunch later. I really didn't feel like going on a tour today.

I parked and looked through my other brochures. I found a restaurant in a town called "Bird-in-hand." That sounded interesting, even for the name alone (sort of like Fifty Six, Arkansas). I plugged that into the GPS.

As I drove along, I encountered the "Dutch Village" that I originally wanted to see. This is a set of restaurants, gift shops, furniture shops, etc. along a particular road. I stopped at a restaurant called "Jakey's Amish Barbecue." It seemed like the only restaurant around (I later found there were others) so I went there. Primarily, it was a place where you could get burgers and hot dogs. But, it had some genuine Amish dishes. I ordered Bot Boi which was a stew. It was nice. I then had shoo-fly pie, which is a traditional Pennsylvania Dutch desert. It was delicious.

After leaving Jakey's Amish Barbecue, I drove back through the Dutch Village. I found that I missed a better opportunity. There was a larger Amish restaurant with a buffet. That would have been better for the purpose of sampling different things.

I stopped in and picked up some fudge and rolls. Both tasted really well over the next few days.

I saw the horses and buggies. In one case, a teenager dressed in modern clothes was at a gas station and "parked" his horse and buggy while going in to get a sandwich. This seemed like the oddest sight. He sat outside the buggy and slowly ate his sandwich. This seemed so strange. If the horse and buggy were gone, this teenager would look like an average teen in any location. The Amish typically dress a certain way so this seemed like a real curiosity.

After driving around a bit further, I was definitely ready to get home. It would be a five or six hour drive, depending on which route I took.

The Long Drive Home
The shortest route would involve I-78 and I-287. I did not feel like driving close to NYC, especially on a Sunday, when the roads might be crowded as people might be driving home from a nice weekend, preparing for the work week.

I plugged Binghamton into the GPS. I was taken on a number of local roads and the GPS often seemed to "lose" me by showing the vehicle traveling off roads. It constantly had to recalculate. The mountains here were nothing like the Ozarks!

Finally, it got me to an interstate....and my heart sank. It brought me to I-476. I drove I-476 in October of 2007 when I visited a handful of states like PA, VA, MD, KY, WV, etc. The road often had traffic jams, went through tunnels, etc. But most annoying of all, it's a toll road.

In looking at the map on the GPS, I decided not to go all the way to Binghamton, adding an extra hour to my trip, just to avoid tolls. At a rest area, I adjusted the GPS to point to my home address. I got off at an exit for I-80 and then took it to I-380.

At I-380, I missed the exit I was supposed to use and had to take the next one. I was so glad it was still daylight. There were deer everywhere. They were feeding on lawns and just looked up at me as I drove by. In one case, two deer walked right up to the front door of a house as I went by. This was a long road full of twists and turns, mostly going through forest areas. Finally, I got to I-84.

The rest of the ride was mostly uneventful. While there was still daylight, the views of the leaves changing along I-84 were very nice. By the time I got to the Thruway, it was dark so I didn't see much in terms of foliage.

After all this time, it was kind of odd to see such familiar road signs and to think about the fact that I was only a short distance from home. At one point I was over 3,000 miles away (48 hours of driving time) near Neah Bay, Washington state. But, I didn't spend a lot of time thinking about these things. I just wanted to get home and not have to worry about driving for hours the next day.

I finally arrived home around 9:30 or so. This was the end of a very long trip. I determined that I had been away for 71 days. I was gone for two whole months (August and September) and parts of two more (July and October). This was the longest trip I've ever taken.

I was absolutely exhausted. I still had to turn in the rental car the next day. Unlike any previous trip, I did not have to go to work the next day. I had paid consulting projects waiting for me but I needed to wait a day before immediately starting them.

More To Come
Stay tuned to this blog as turing in the rental car was an adventure all in itself. I'll have an entry all about that. I will also have some concluding posts now that I have had a few days to think about my adventures.