Day 5: Bethlehem, PA to Jim Thorpe, PA

Distance: 35.3 mi, Climbing: 764 ft
Completed: 179.6 mi, 9,615 ft

Yesterday was Rich’s and my first (well-earned) rest day. It gave us the time to get this website up and running, do laundry, and give our tired legs a break.

We scheduled our rest day in Bethlehem because our niece Shaina attends Lehigh University. We had a nice breakfast together at a local cafe. After Shaina was done with classes, it was wonderful to meet up with her at Lehigh’s Hillel. Many thanks to Rabbi Steve for hosting Kosher-for-Passover dinners for the students – and a visiting aunt and uncle. 🙂

After several challenging days, today we had 36 flat miles on the D&L Trail. In the morning, we passed many fishermen catching trout in the Lehigh River and lots of geese out for a stroll. We were rewarded with really great views of the Lehigh River and Lehigh Canal. The weather was beautiful. We could not have asked for a better day.

We did have a little entertainment. When we reached a section of the D&L Trail called the Catasauqua Towpath, the well-maintained gravel we had been riding on gave way to some single-track that was more suited to mountain bikes than our touring bikes. Rich was leading the way to make sure the trail was rideable for me. Apparently, it was not. The path bottomed out into some soft, angled dirt. His tire slipped out, and next thing I knew, Rich was in the bushes next to the trail. Fortunately, he walked away with just a scrape, and I knew to hop off my bike and walk through this difficult section. We were soon back on well-maintained gravel, and it was smooth sailing the rest of the way.