Day 309
4 hrs, 10 kms

The nice thing about Adams County is that the towns (called "boroughs") are close--just 6-10 kms apart . This makes it particularly appealing for town to town hiking all around the county.

On up north, there's a ridge with a nice view of endless snow covered panorama... then up and down a couple more hills, and I'm in Abbottstown.

I do stop in a couple of store along the way. One is an "Amish Market" an indoor market with various stalls (only a minority are actually Amish. I'm struck by how outgoing the Amish and Mennonite vendors are, including the young people, quickly greeting as you approach their stall. I had the idea that they were more reserved.

There's a lot of heavy furniture here that I kind of doubt was brought on a horsedrawn buggy. So the idea is, Amish don't drive motorized vehicles, but the do depend on motorized vehicles to get their furniture and wares to market... Isn't that kind of cheating?

I'll get into that more later--in fact, I have an "Amish Region Superhike" in planning stages right now!

Further up ahead is a country store--and this one I find quite inspiring . Browsing through the goods, I check the labels and find--most of it was made by small businesses right here in this region! Canned pears from East Berlin... sausage from Lancaster... pretzels from Hanover... soft drinks from Kutztown.

It's a heartwarming thought. Small, family run businesses making things and selling them right in their local region--just like things used to be all throughout America before we switched to streamlined corporate run capitalism. This way people stay connected to each other, and have the pride and dignity of running their own small business, rather than being employees of the Machine.

Only problem? Well... these goods are a bit more expensive than those mass produces in huge factories and shipped all over the country. So, as much as I like the concept, I guess I would still choose Walmart over a place like this--just because I'm stingy...

I reach Abbottstown, which has a pair of beautiful Victorian style (I think) mansion on the central traffic circle (just in this region traffic circles are popular--the rest of America sticks to traffic lights). There's a sign that reads "250 Year Anniversary" of the founding of this town.

Funny thing... it doesn't look like the town itself has grown much in 250 years...

In the signs and restaurants, you do get hints that many of the people who first moved here were German.

The temperature is well below zero, but I stil manage to get out my guitar and play a quick set before my fingers start to freeze...