Day 343
9 hrs, 13 .3 kms Day Totals: 21 hrs, 33.3kms

Actual date: April 9, 2015

It's only a 2 mile hike to my next town, Alexandria. But instead of taking the direct route, I take a longer route that meanders between the wooded hills and the river to enjoy the scenic view.

Well, that's the reason I tell myself... but the real reason I'm going this way is because I accidentally dropped my bicycle at the wrong turnoff, and now I have to backtrack to get it!

Anyways... I reach my bicycle and figure I'll just push my bike to Alexandria and bike from there back to my car in Huntingdon.

Alexandria is in the middle of a fairly large flat, fertile valley--the flattest I've seen since leaving the Cumberland Valley. It actually is refreshing to see real farmland again.

There's a classy feel to this treelined town--even a nearby barn is very elegant, looking almost like a church with 3 steeples . Only the muddy, manure filled surrounding field is a reminder that, yes... it's a barn where animals live...

In the middle of town is a beautiful two storey library, built back in the 1800s. Books and cows are treated with respect here in Alexandria.

I pop inside to use the internet, and see how much farther I want to go today, and get to chatting with the librarian, an older lady.

"Are there many jobs in this area?" I ask

"One by one, the factories have been shutting down and going to China. There were two factories in Petersburg that shut down... A notebook factory just shut down recently... It makes it really hard to sell a house here. Many of the young people are moving away. In our Sunday School we don't have hardly any children"

"Is the county government working to bring in new job?"

"It's trying ... but it's not a good area for warehouses, since it's mountainous and far from the main freeways. The trains run through here, but they don't stop. Some people commute to State College or Altoona. Others just leave--like this guy... he's moving to Florida"

An older gentleman comes in a chirps in, "I've shoveled my last snowflake!"

"In other countries people tend to be very attached to their town of origin, and always hope to move back there and die there" I comment

"We'll I'm actually from South Philadelphia, and drugs have destroyed our neighborhoods there. I've lived here for 15 years."

I guess it's not just rural, mountainous communities that are "in decline" here in America...

We get to talking a bit more. He worked as a military contractor in Iraq and we swap stories about our experiences in the Kurdish region .

"Great people, with a wonderful sense of humor..." he tells me. "I wish our government would support them more militarily..."

I ask if I can take their picture and they agree. In the background is a sadly suitable painting of an abandoned stone building, by a local painter.

As I leave, I feel I have a better understanding of Huntingdon culture, thanks to this conversation. This is a region of very hardworking people... farmers, iron furnace workers, miners, quarrymen, factory workers... But now the world has evolved and Huntingdon county it seems, has become expendable in a world of mass globalized capitalism. People are faced with the hard choice of leaving, commuting long distances... or being unemployed...

I continue on past town, where there's a pleasant "rails to trails" trail along the river. Unfortunately this trail veers south, and I'm going west, so I must take another road that climbs up the slope of the densely wooded valley. I expect to go up over a ridge and into another valley, but no. It's a gently rolling plateau with farmland once again. A cool feeling to look back at the dark wooded valley... and the tamed highlands ahead of me-like I've discovered a new civilization.