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Today was the second and last day in the Pennsylvania Dutch country as far as riding goes. From Lancaster we drove to Hershey but along the way we stopped for an Amish buggy tour and then a pretzel factory tour. I even made a sad attempt at making a pretzel. Our driver on the buggy tour was an Amish young man who decided he did not want to follow the Amish tradition. He is studying to be a veterinarian and will go to Penn State when he finishes his four years of under graduate work. Amish do not go past the eighth grade in school.

The ride today was hilly but not near what I encountered on yesterday’s ride. The weather was much more friendly so I could skip the leg warmers but keep the long sleeve jersey with a short sleeve one over top. When I got finished the temperature was 67 degrees, clear skies and a light 5.4 mph breeze with gusts to 8.1 mph. Humidity was 70%.

I was on some back roads today and passed numerous farms. There were Amish children waiting for school buses. Either my lungs are getting accustomed to the hills or they were flatter than yesterday. Road conditions were good but you can tell where Amish buggies travel. Several of the roads had a nice wide shoulder but you have to keep your eye out for horse manure. It is liberally spread on the shoulders.  Cow manure smell is heavy in the air on most of the back roads. I learned that the Amish farms are dairy farms and the fields of corn is to feed the cows to make the milk. Some farms also grow soybeans as a cash crop. Holstein cows give the most milk so they are the milk cow of choice.

In Hershey we visited the Hershey Chocolate World. We got there late in the afternoon but we were able to get a animated tour of how chocolate is made. I learned the reason Mr. Hershey decided to put his company in Hershey: this is where the milk is.

Today’s ride statistics:

• miles 16.86
• riding time 1:12:27
• average pace 4:17 min/mile
• average speed 14.0 mph
• max speed 24.1 mph
• average cadence 69 rpm
• max cadence 106 rpm
• Elevation Gain 598 ft., Elevation Loss 603 ft.
• Min Elevation 345 ft., Max Elevation 436 ft.
• September miles 181.68
• YTD miles 3926.23