Home again, home again, jiggidy jig

I took the scenic route and it took a while but I was glad I did go that way.

Crew change was early for a change and there were choices. I pretty much set the GPS to avoid highways, tolls and U-turns and wandered through the state that way.

I got to roll through a lot of Pennsylvania Dutch country and from time to time had to adjust my driving to the local condition of having horse and buggys to deal with. 

I'm protected by about 2 tons of steel but a Dutchman is protected by about a quarter of an inch of plywood. 

There have been automobile/buggy discussions before and I have never heard of a Dutchman winning one.  Generally they take second place and are lucky to be alive afterwards.

Having to put down an injured horse isn't and fun to watch, either. 

I stopped in Chambersburg when I saw a barbershop and decided to get my hair cut as sort of a break. Pompy's barbershop. Great place, great haircut. He appeared to cater heavily to Hispanics, at least when I was there.

Pro tip: If you want an excellent haircut by a real artist then generally a shop that caters heavily to Black and Hispanics is the place to go. Many minorities take haircuts very seriously.

Some to the point where they want their initials or some other design or logo cut into their hair. It's a pretty big thing.

Someone explained it to me as part of the $300 pair of sneakers mentality. Appearance is everything.

I watched the barber cut the head in front of me and he was an artist as opposed to a tradesman. 

Of course the difference between a good haircut and a bad one is about 2 weeks. I suppose in a couple of weeks nobody will know the difference. Still, it was good getting the ears lowered in that place.

Incidentally I did not know that Chambersburg has such a large Hispanic population. 

I suppose some people would be uncomfortable in a situation where they were the only white guy but I certainly wasn't. I told the story about speaking High School Spanish in mexico and trying to order a steak and fries only to have the waiter cart over a baked stuffed elephant.

The guy I told the story to told it to a Mexican kid who spoke no English. The Mexican kid said something to me that was translated. He offered to let me join the local Liar's club.

When I told him I would if they'd let me tell my tale last because the first guy at a Liar's club meeting to tell his tale doesn't have a snowball's chance in hell. When it was translated to him he thought it was a pretty good answer.

I ate at a pretty good diner along the way and I can't tell you where it was. Just somewhere between Chambersburg and Breezewood. Pretty good eating.

Outside of Breezewood I saw a sign advertising maple syrup and stopped. It was a Pennsylvania Dutch family, not Amish nor Mennonite. The maple syrup stand was a sidebar of a cabinet shop.

These were plain people, but were permitted the use of electricity but no radio, TV, home phone or internet.

The young man I spoke with was actually the son of the homeowner and a couple of his kid sisters wandered by and were kind of flirty shy that all little girls display. They were cute and I noticed they were wearing home made dresses but in printed patterns. True Amish wear plainer clothes.

Amish women are for the most part damned clothes makers.

I didn't have enough loose cash to snag any syrup and they didn't take VISA but I didn't leave empty handed. The Dutchman gave me some maple spread to try out. In return I'm supposed to drop him a line telling him if it is any good or not. He said it was an experiment.

After I left there I noticed that time was getting away from me so I changed the GPS to simply 'avoid toll roads and U-turns' and ran home from there.

I generally do well being an easy rider type traveling through small towns and places and find it enjoyable. I never know what I am going to find next. I'm glad I decided to avoid the turnpike for a while.

Incidentally, gas was a wash. I figured that the slower driving between towns made my mileage a little better because I wasn't moving as much air out of the way that I do running 70 mph plus on the pike.






To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY