Day 342
4 hrs, 15 .3 kms
Day Totals: 16 hrs, 40.3 kms

Actual date: April 8, 2015

Right beyond Mapleton is a large industrial building with a conveyor running over the road, and a big slice cut out of the mountain. At first it looks like it's just sand--but this factory looks way to complex just to be processing sand. Turns out it's silica sand, which is used in a whole bunch of industrial applications.

With so much mining in this area a thing of the past, it actually is interesting to see some that is still going on--and providing jobs for the locals.

Gun Culture

I pass a couple of road signs riddled with bullets. For a split second I feel like I'm walking through a dangerous war zone. But no. This is just Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania.

It gets me thinking about gun culture in this part of the world (even Mcdonalds had NRA magazines in their magazine rack) . At the fire station at the next town of Mill Creek, they advertise a raffle with 100 guns as prizes. I'm figuring er'body in these parts has guns, so they don't exactly need those prizes... but then again, you can never have too many guns, I guess...

Personally, I think that the obsession with guns (and the paranoia that the guv'ment is has a conspiracy to try to take their guns away so they can control everybody) is a bit over the top. But hey, as long as the only think folks around here are shooting at are deer and an occasional road sign, I'm not going to make an issue of it.

Actually, when you stop to think about it and realize how heavily armed the American population is, and how much fear and distrust there is between different segments of the population, it is pretty impressive that we've only fought one Civil War in our 240 years of existence...

Let's hope it stays that way for a good long time .

It's been threatening to rain all day, and just on cue it starts raining as I reach a nicely sheltered picnic area where I pause to do my Mill Creek Parkbench Concert. Then, once my concert is over, the rain stops!

Looks like this is one of those days when everything works out just right for me. Just don't expect it all the time...

It's getting dark, and I've still got miles to cover. I follow a dirt road along the train tracks to avoid walking on the highway. I've lost track of how many superlong cargo trains have passed me today. Passenger trains may be all but a thing of the past here in the US, but cargo train traffic I believe is actually increasing. Part of that might be due to the fact that, despite a relatively high wage, there's a shortage of truck drivers willing to do long hauls in this country.

I think it's a great thing--transporting by rail just seem so much more efficient--and it can help our highways from being clogged with trucks.

Sometimes to go forward, you need to go back.

Finally I see the welcoming lights of Huntingdon. I've made it. 39 kilometers hiked, 32 kilometers biked and 1,000 steps climbed... I definitely put in a full days work today!