Tag: route 6
Route 6 Wondering and Wanderings

Route 6 Wondering and Wanderings

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What is the psychological draw to follow single coast-to-coast or transcontinental routes? I’m talking about routes like US 6 or US 20. If you’re standing on the roadway you may have one end of the ribbon dipped into the Atlantic while the other is being pounded by the surf of the Pacific.

Route 6

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Growing up, I lived just south of the Bear Mountain Bridge and Harriman State Park. When I started riding motorcycles, seeing Route 6 signs became a fixture of my rides. My stomping ground weaved in, over and around 6 where it passes through New York and Pennsylvania.

Since I’ve lived on Long Island, I’ve passed over Route 6 while heading north across Connecticut many times. But I haven’t followed it for any length of Connecticut, Rhode Island or Massachusetts. I’ve skipped it even though it’s just… right… there.

After visiting the Gemini Giant in Wilmington, Illinois, the following morning I picked up Route 6 in Napoleon, Ohio and followed it to Pennsylvania. I’ve also come to Route 6 from the eastern side of PA and ridden sections of it in the middle. I’d be surprised if I haven’t ridden the full length of the route that passes through the Keystone state. I just seem to do it in pieces and parts versus straight through. That’s been my approach to Route 66, too.

Route 6 Snapshots

The Red Rose Diner in Towanda, Pa.: 472 Miles to Province Town, MA – 3180 Miles to Long Beach, CA.

The old fire station in Meshoppen, PA

6 to 666 in Sheffield, Pa

The Milford, PA Bigfoot

East Beach – Lorain, OH – Route 6 and Lake Erie

East Smethport, PA Post office

Serenity Glass Park, Port Allegany, PA

A mural in Coudersport, PA

Mail Pouch Barn on 6 and 146 in Mount Jewett, PA

Marie Antoinette Overlook – Wyalusing, PA

The Wellsboro Diner – Route 6, PA
Serenity Glass Park – Port Allegany, Pennsylvania

Serenity Glass Park – Port Allegany, Pennsylvania

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While riding along Route 6 in Pennsylvania, I passed through the town of Port Allegany. On the corner of Mill and Main, in the middle of town sat a small but eye-catching park featuring colorful glass block structures. I couldn’t resist stopping for a look. The park is called Serenity Glass Park.

Port Allegany Serenity Glass Park - Pennsylvania Route 6

Though the park was small, and at the time of my visit was still under construction, you immediately got the sense that its very existence was big on meaning. What was being constructed was being done so lovingly.

Dedicated to the Employees of PC Glass Block

As I walked around the roadside park looking at the structures, I saw the following block and everything became clear:

The town of Port Allegany’s economy had apparently been largely dependent on glass manufacturing.

In 2016, Pittsburgh Corning, a manufacturer of glass blocks and long-time local employer, shuttered its doors.

colorful glass blocks at serenity glass park

Celebrating Small Town America

When passing through small towns like Port Allegheny, there is often a sense of community and a unique flavor that I don’t experience where I live, on my island of nearly 8 million people.

Here on Long Island, we seem to go out of our way to avoid contact with each other rather than find ways to come together and celebrate what binds us. We are faceless, nameless, anonymous ants scurrying about. Our lives are filled something bought from a franchise.

Perhaps this type of existence I live is why I love traveling through small town America. It’s like an expedition to find normalcy.

Sometimes I just want to hug these little towns and keep them close so that they live forever.

Glass Block structure in the glass park
Serenity Glass Park - port allegany, pa
Serenity Glass Park Eagle Panel

Visit Serenity Glass Park

You’ll find the lovely little park along Route 6 in the town of Port Allegany, Pennsylvania.

Location: 4 N Main St, Port Allegany, PA 16743
Google Maps
Red Rose and Crossing the Border at the Banana Curve

Red Rose and Crossing the Border at the Banana Curve

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After leaving the Marie Antoinette Overlook, I continued on Route 6 to the town of Towanda, Pennsylvania.

My next stop would be for some breakfast at the lovely time capsule The Red Rose Diner. It sits 472 miles from Provincetown, Massachusetts on Route 6 to the east and 3180 miles from Long Beach, California to the west.

If you’re in the area, don’t skip it. It’s worth stopping for a bite. The owner is a super friendly former rider who takes pictures of the travelers who belly-up to the counter for some grub before they set off again. Even if you try to resist. 🙂

“Ladies Invited” made me snicker.

Everyone bags on hipsters. Artisanal this, artisanal that. But when I see lovely old things that might be made by hand like the center part of this cemetery gate with its gold lettering and swirly filigree – I think maybe those beardos are on to something. Making beautiful things with your hands seems like a worthwhile endeavor. Everything doesn’t have to be done in a bland, hurried way.

Now, I don’t profess to know much about anything, really. But I know even less than that about this:

It’s a… dinosaur… tree? Granted my thoughts go off on wild tangents every so often. One minute you’re thinking about boiling an egg and the next thing you know you’re remembering being in a basement in Italy. The brain is a mysterious thing. But I’m not sure that I’ve ever plumbed its musty depths so deeply that a lovingly painted, chainsaw-carved dinosaur tree would’ve come to 3 dimensional fruition. This is the perfect example of why crazy people are awesome. They keep you guessing.

Look at this sweet baby <3 I can’t resist stopping to say hello to donkey-friends. Even when they throw shade and sideways glance me.

I crossed the border from Sayre, Pennsylvania back in to New York but not before passing this sign outside of the hilariously named Banana Curve Diner.

Sage advice.
The View From The Marie Antionette Overlook

The View From The Marie Antionette Overlook

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On the surface you might look at things like Instagram as a time wasting folly. But I’ve come to realize that as superficial as my scanning of photos may seem, it also provides me with idea-seeds.

My problem seems to be cataloging or having a tidy way to tie all of my idea-threads together. For a while I used Evernote. But there is something that I just don’t like about it. Lately I’ve been using Slack to digitally collect random snippets. I find it a nice way to collect, categorize and search things. Plus, I can just share stuff directly to a channel through iOS which seems to be half the battle.

All these “systems” I have in place to remember things…::sigh::… I’m not sure they really help. They’re probably just ways to feed my addiction to information. But at least they reallocate enough mental drive space to the functional part of my brain that I need to ride my bike.

When I scroll through my digital notes and make the move to write something down on paper? That’s when I know I’ll be visiting it. Paper seems to be the thing that sets something in stone. Funny, isn’t it? Why don’t I just stick with writing things down on paper, you ask? Well, I’ll tell you! I have no idea.

One of my more recent scribble-downs was the Marie Antionette Overlook along Route 6 near Wyalusing. It’s just a hop skip and a jump from the Giant Chicken Army, actually. I’d seen a photo of the stone turret-like structure looking out across the valley and over French Azilum and decided I should probably go and take a look at that one day when I was in the neighborhood. So… I did 🙂
The Route 6 Giant Chicken Army

The Route 6 Giant Chicken Army

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It’s been a while since I posted any news from the front lines of the Giant Chicken Army. But that is about to change, my friend. On Route 6 in the town of Wyalusing, Pennsylvania I stumbled across a mass-gathering of the feathered fiends.

Behold!


Apparently they come in all flavors :-/

Up the road a piece I also saw the tank unit. You’ve been warned.

Other Posts about the Giant Chicken Army

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