March 26, 2017 – Motorcycle Riding with the Amish

            As I continued to push deeper into the land I noticed a yellow warning sign with a horse and buggy on it.  I did not think much of it but a few miles down the road I noticed a black covered one horse buggy in a farmyard and thought to myself wouldn’t it be great to transition into Pennsylvania territory by seeing some of the Amish culture.  I stayed mostly on main roads but as has often been the case on this trip at some point I grew worried I was moving in completely the wrong direction.  A quick consultation with my GPS confirmed that, Yes I was moving farther away from Philadelphia with each mile I rode, So I asked the Garmin to plot a course to the city of brotherly love…             Now at this point I am pretty convinced the GPS is not my friend.  Not only has it already tried to kill me on this trip it will not plot a course in a straight line.  If you are at point A and want to go to Point B, it will first find Point C and take you there.  Such was again the case today when it told me to turn onto some remote farm roads.  However, being it was sunny and warm I followed enjoying the tour of the countryside.  The farms were amazingly beautiful.  Each was its own little enclosed village with livestock, acreage and grain or corn storage.  As I drove I noticed more and more of the exact same type of black enclosed one horse buggies that I had seen earlier and realized that I was indeed in the middle of Amish farm country.

            The road took me up a ridge top and into a valley and soon there was no through traffic or other motorcycles on the farm roads I was on.  A few cars but most of the traffic started to turn into the horse drawn variety.  I really wanted to take pictures of it all but at some point I remember hearing that one aspect of the interface with Amish culture that the Amish find rude is tourists wanting to take pictures of them.   I grew concerned that my motorcycle might upset the horses I was now sharing the road with.  There were two types of horse drawn vehicles I encountered the covered black box sulkies that were drawn by small black gaited horses, and larger open wagons drawn by larger draft horses.  Both types of horses seemed to be bullet proof to any disturbances.  I saw a lot of very fine well-trained equine power today as well as some beautiful farmland.

            As I started to make my way back to the main roads and the town of Gap the density of carriages and people increased.  I started to see more women and children on the roads.  The young men used a two-wheeled bicycle like scooter to push themselves down the road with one foot and I noticed more women and children riding in the back of the sulkies.  As you would expect their dress was plain and uniform.  What I did not expect were the bright solid colors worn by the teens and children.  At the town of Gap was a gathering (market day I believe).  Volleyball games were being played in a large park ringed with identical black square carriages.  The event was still lively but clearly nearing the end as people were packing up carts and heading home.  What struck me in regards to clothing was its effect as the density of children increased.  The colors were not unique to a family or chosen individually.  There were only a few basic but bright solid colors of cloth to be had, so when the community came together as a crowd not everyone looked the same, but it was very clear that this was a coherent group of people, with identical hats and bonnets, but not all wearing the same color.  It was very lively and I felt fortunate enough to have driven by at this exact time.

            One of the themes that I have noted, but not written about in these travels is how much of our lives are dominated by consumerism.  Strip malls, billboards, and tourist shops have dominated most of the landscapes I have been traveling through.  I’ve taken note of this because not being able to carry much on the bike has removed me from participation in a core aspect of our communal culture, and freed up a lot of time that would otherwise be spent on consumer seeking behavior.  Today in my brief time motorcycling with the Amish I experienced a willful community making the same commitment of mindfulness, and the impression was quite colorful, vibrant and alive…