Friday Country Run

Silver Bell Farm, Glenmoore

Friday I took the day off from work so we could take some time for a nice ride on the MG.  We left home around 11:00 and headed towards Malvern. via Goshen, Providence, and Warren, because we wanted to go back to Fat Jack's BBQ.

Fat Jack's did not disappoint the second time around.  The food was just as good as the first time proving that it was not a fluke.  We both had the burned ends sandwiches this time.  I think they were great and I enjoyed it but I am a pork guy so next time I'm going back to pork.

After lunch we headed west on 30, Charlene wanted to go to Resellers Consignment, a huge consignment shop on 30 on the edge of Frazer.  It's a huge place but the only thing I saw of interest was an old brass car horn.  They wanted $125 for it, I don't know if that's a good price or not but I just wasn't willing to pay that much for a curiosity.

We continued west on 30, the traffic in Frazer, as always, was just insane but once we cleared Frazer it all cleared out again.  We stopped at the Wawa, where the 30 bypass crosses over 30, for a frozen coffee and there decided to get off 30 and go through some back roads.  The intersection road there is Bell Tavern Road and we followed that through a subdivision and out into a wooded country lane area.  Eventually we came to Norwood Rd, took a left, and followed that to 282.  Bell Tavern, beyond 113, and Norwood Rd run through some nice shady lanes with heavy woods on both sides.  No huge twists or hills but a nice short country drive.  At 282 we made a left and that led us straight into Downingtown.  Once we got across Pennsylvania Ave 282 divides into two one way streets.  I did not notice the division and rolled right into the oncoming traffic street going in the opposite direction.  Luckily there was no one else on the road and I made it back to 30 without even noticing.  There I realized my mistake a took a right on 30 out of the one way street.  This was not accomplished without arising the ire of some passive aggressive knucklehead on a Ford F150 that could not way to point out my folly.  You know what they say in Auckem, "If they can take a joke,...

Creekside Antiques, Downingtown

In Downingtown we stopped a Creekside Antiques, on the corner of 30 and 322.  There I found a brand new Shoei bucket for a hundred bucks.  It's too bad that my grape is so huge and that the bucket was only a large because, had it fit, I would have bought it.  I don't need another bucket but a nice Shoei for that price was a steal.

After leaving the antique shop we headed up 322.  I remembered that there was another antique shop Charlene liked in that area and I was pretty sure that it was just right off 322.

Silver Bell Farm, Glenmoore

The place I was thinking about, Silver Bell Antiques, turned out to be off 322 but a little further down the road that I had figured.  At some point I thought that I was mistaken and that we should turn around but no sooner had I voiced that opinion that I could see the big white barn on the side of the road from a little rise we had just crested.

When I pulled into the parking lot a guy pulled in next to me and came over to ask me about the car.  He thought it was a TD and was very impressed when I told him it was a replica.  He had owned several British sports cars and we talked about cars for a little while before going in the shop.  Charlene and I have been in this shop before but they have made some changes, one of which is the addition of a dealer in militaria, so there was some interesting stuff for me look at.  I didn't find anything I wanted to buy but it was fun to look at the military stuff in the shop.

I picked up a map of antique shops in the area from the front desk, not so much for the shops but to get an idea of a route to take back.  We decided to continue up 322 to 82 and take that until we hit 23 for the road to Phoenixville.  The two first roads, 322 and 82, run mostly through open farm country and, for a Friday afternoon getting close to rush hour, were surprisingly free of traffic.  Ridge Road, 23, oddly enough, runs on a ridge along side a wide valley to its south through some little towns and very picturesque areas.  This is a nice ride that we will have to repeat maybe going in the opposite direction.  One of the places that we notice was the Seven Stars Inn, on the corner of Seven Stars Rd and Ridge, its a restaurant located in an homestead from the early 1700s that has been an inn or tavern since 1736.

We stopped for gas at the corner of Ridge and Pottstown Pike at a Sunoco station.  At the refuel stop we had put 129.2 miles since the last fill up and the odo read 3983 miles.  The tank took 4.686 gallons of ultra at $3.079 a gallon for a total of $14.43.  Mileage since that last refuel was 27.57 mpg.

Lazy dawg

After we got the the spot where 724 splits off from 23, on the edge of Phoenixville, we began to run into traffic.  By this time it had to have been somewhere between 17:15 and 17:30, the perfect time for congestion.  When I passed Hare Hill Rd on 23 I thought for a second of taking that down to 113 but I didn't follow up on it.  We stayed on 23 and took 113 before getting into Phoenixville following 113 until Coldstream and taking that to Charlestown Rd.  At the corner of Coldstream and Charlestown we got a little traffic and were stuck there for a couple of moment waiting for the people in front of us to make the left.  This gave us enough time to get a shot of a cute fat English Bulldog laying on his driveway, obviously waiting for his master to come home.

As we got pass the barn on Charlestown Rd two deer, a doe and buck, ran in the road in front of us.  I was able to slow down and get them both past my lane.  The doe made it all the way across the road.  Unfortunately the buck was not as lucky.  He barely got past me but the minivan in the oncoming lane was had not slowed down enough to let him pass.  I did not see the impact, just heard the sickening thud, Charlene turned around and saw it.  This is one of the most horrible things that can happen in these country lanes.  It's not the damage to the car or even the possible harm that a collision with a deer can do to the passengers and driver, it's the fear you see in their eyes as they try to clear the way when they realize they are not going to make it.  I don't like to see that, it's always very upsetting.  That little episode put a damper in what would have been a beautiful ride.

After that I just wanted to get home.  We took Yellow Spring off Charlestown to avoid 30 and stayed on that to North Valley Rd to Swedesford.  The left at Swedesford took us to 252 across 30 and down to Goshen.  We made a quick stop at the liquor store on 252 and 30 to buy some libations for a beach party we had planned for Sunday down the Shore.  The run on Yellow Spring and North Valley is also wooded and twisty and makes for a quick transition out without having to take 30, another alternative route to get out west.

Despite the incident with the deer it was a good ride.  When we left it was chilly and over cast but that cleared out fairly quickly.  Part of that has to be the geographical area where we live, it is allways chillier and wetter in our little area for some reason.  The day was never completely cloudless but the temps rose and there were clear blue patches of sky through out.  Had it not been for the deer it would have been a perfect ride.

Downingtown Church

Creekside Antiques

Silver Bell Farm

Silver Bell Farm