So the remaining group heads out... west on US 22... north on 523... north on 517, where Walter and Joe manage to get around an idiot van driver before going through a few nice twisties, but the idiot wouldn't move over to let everyone else pass. PoPs, Bob, Eric, Dennis, and Tony fall behind, so Walter and Joe pull over and wait. The wait turns out to be short and the van driver is still being an idiot, but he soon turns off the road.
Continuing north on 517, our heros find themselves stuck, yet again, behind idiot Bronco or Blazer drivers going up Schooleys Mountain Rd., forcing them to lug up the hill in first gear. This situation could've been worse, had the farm-tractor-dragging-a-water-trailer not turned off (though some had started going around it before it turned off).
Still continuing north, it would appear that the cagers in Hackettstown don't understand that green means go. So turning onto US 46 west, the group gets separated. One traffic light cycle later reunites them, and they continue west on US 46. Here, PoPs takes over the point from Joe and leads the group to Thisilldous for breakfast. After a pleasant breakfast at a place with a wonderful staff that's on its toes (they prepared a table when they saw the group pull up outside and park) the group departs for Pennsyltucky.
After crossing the river in Belvidere, then heading up River Rd, which, of course, has the wonderful up-hill hairpin turn after a stop sign where the road always has lots of sandy gravel in the middle of it, the group manages to find its way to Portland, where Joe somehow doesn't see the one red light in town on this road, blows through it, and applies the old theory, "Cop didn't see it, it didn't happen."
Moving along, they find themselves on PA 611 north, then I-80 west/US 209 south, then US 209 south, and finally at Schoch's. After signing in, and while hanging around for a bit and talking, the group finds Al, who rode out solo due to an oversight, and then couldn't join the group for the ride to The Thirsty Moose because of things he needed to do at home, so he went home alone. Paul arrives at some point here, too, and decides to join the group for the ride, while Eric, Dennis, and Tony decided to head home.
So the now smaller group of Joe, Walter, PoPs, Bob, and Paul head on out for a quickly-thrown-together ride the night before. Back down PA 611 to Portland, then across the river here to NJ and on to US 46 east. From here, the group turns onto 609, and follows it until it runs into 519 north. They follow 519 north, hoping to run into NJ 94 at some point to get them to Newton, but instead find themselves on 608 east, then 611 north, not knowing where either of them will end up. However, the arrival of a small miracle puts them on US 206 north, heading into Newton. They arrive in Newton (which was a mistake, since only NJ 94, US 206, and 519 are the only marked roads in this town), looking for 616 east. Well, in the middle of Newton, Joe takes a right turn onto some street, not knowing where he's going, figuring he'll pull over to look on his map to find where 616 turned off. Lo and behold, just before he was about to pull over, there was the sign which said 616 east.
So our heroes follow 616 east to 517 north, and then to 620 east where, as they were turning on to 620 east, some woman in a red sedan also turned onto 620 east without signalling the turn, thinking that our heroes were telepathic. This woman receives the worst driver of the day award, and is in contention for worst of the year, and even worst of the century. The group is stuck behind this cage for the entire length of 620. While on 620, Joe is looking for 699, or, as it might more commonly be known, Berkshire Valley Rd. 620 comes to a tee at the end, and unknowingly, Joe goes to the right while the red cage goes left. No markings. Further down the road, however, a road sign says "Berkshire Valley Rd." They head down to NJ 15, which is yet another unmarked road, and take NJ 15 north, turn around at the Pathmark, and get to The Thirsty Moose for the late lunch/early dinner, just as a few very scattered drops of drizzle begin to fall.
After a brief bit of heavier drizzle while they were eating, and a pleasant meal, the group departs, and heads for home.
Overall, I give this picture four stars. It's filled with decent roads, good food, lots of laughs, and just plain ol' fun.
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