Start: French Creek State Park, 8 am

End: Philadelphia, PA 3 pm

Total miles; 53

What a day! I stated out looking for breakfast near the park since I couldn’t check into my hotel until 3 and only had 53 miles to go. I cruised down the hill to find the fairy tale village of St. Peter’s with the amazing St. Peter’s bakery. I had my first espresso drink in > 2 weeks. Ok, I had 2.

Then it was 30 miles through Revolutionary war territory, including Valley Forge. Houses were made from stone, there were stone fences and pumpkin and horse farms. I was imagining that things might have looked much like that 250 years ago.

Then it was onto the Schuylkill River trail into Philadelphia.

Part of my goal in planning to arrive in Philadelphia by today was having a chance to walk in to Zahav for dinner. Reservations are impossible, but I’ve been successful as a walk in for a seat at the bar in the past, so I went for it! And I was the first in line!

The food was amazing! First, 6 salatim (salads) , hummus and fresh wood fired laffa bread.

Then four mezze…

Then 3 grilled skewers…

Yes, in case you were wondering, that IS house made tahini in the bowl behind the platter!

Then apple walnut baklava with spiced cream semifreddo.

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And of course I got the wine pairing. Who said 4 glasses of wine is too much? Hey, this is the first meal I’ve had since Columbus, more than 600 miles ago!

And, if all this weren’t enough, I had an amazing conversation with celebrity chef and humanist Michael Solomonov. It was all like a dream!

Excited to have a day to not look at the bike and instead get a chance to lace up the running shoes. And eat more.

See you again on Friday.

100 miles to go!