tamaqua

This morning we did a Volkssport walk in Tamaqua. I thought I was walking in south Bethlehem. Houses looked similar. Broken sidewalks. Bricks and slate and nothing at all. Though the hills might have been steeper. And the stores a little emptier.

The Tamaqua Train Station, the meeting point, is beautiful. They've done a lovely job of restoring it.  They were set up outside near some old, rusting rail cars.

One featured PP&L's old Reddy Kilowatt character. It drove us crazy trying to remember his name. Childhood was a long time ago. On the way home Bonnie called her husband. He quickly said Sparky Kilowatt. It sounded right. But the all knowing Wikipedia said it's Reddy. Actually, according to the Wiki, he was used by multiple utilities across the land. PP&L used it from 1935-1981. I think that's about the same time as they lost their &.

This "march" (that's what they call walks) was organized by the Susquehanna Rovers club. (That's Rover in the picture.) They were lovely ladies, and one gentleman, who like to talk. It was hard to leave! The 5K first loop was the town loop. Basically we went up one hill, down another, and back up again. One time we got to walk down 100 steps. There was steps everywhere to manage the hills.

The second loop was on a rail trail—the Schuylkill River Heritage Corridor. I looked it up online when we got home because it was awful not well developed. According to the website, it appears that the Tamaqua section hasn't been improved yet. But even for an not improved trail you would think that there would be signs. There were no trail markers near the streets. When you got to an intersection there was one, but it was facing the trail, not the street. And no parking. Most of the time the trail was one person wide. And there was nothing to look at —except for one intersection—other than weeds. I am so spoiled by the D&L.


We did find a few painted rocks, mostly hidden by weeds.And a lovely intersection with a flag pole and plastic flowers. Maybe that will be the trail head in the future.

When we returned to the train station, a little farm market had popped up. I got peaches and early apples. Bonnie also got peaches, apples, and tomatoes. It's always good to stash cash in your backpack.

After we returned home I took Pat and Sharon to the Russian church for the food festival. Lunch was probably on anybody's diet. I had kilbasa cooked in beer, sauerkraut, a fat roll, and a lager.

Because of the Tamaqua trip, I didn't get to Veg Fest.  Though I heard one of the vendors had an explosion. That's not good.

Tomorrow we will check out the new section of the Saucon Rial Trail, in Coopersburg.