How is driving an UBER like riding a BIKE? — Hello Pension, Goodbye Tension!

It's not at all . . . . it's just that I said my next post on Hello Pension Goodbye Tension would be getting my UBER license. But it turns out that's a whole lot tougher than I thought, and so I just went on a very long bike ride instead!

I've made great progress on the UBER front, but the notion out there that ANYONE can be a driver couldn't be farther from the truth. You'll see just how complicated it is, I promise - - and I mean it, honest! - - as it will be the subject of the NEXT post.

The first chapter of my blog made the point that nothing replaces a job except another job, and then it's not retirement at all. People facing this life event often, usually in fact, avoid thinking about how they will fill their time until it's upon them. When asked of their plans, they often say things like:

" . . . . I'll catch up on my reading . . . . "

" . . . . I'll work on my golf swing . . . . "

" . . . . I'll spend more time with the family . . . . "

" . . . . I'll volunteer at the Museum . . . . "

It's not that these are not worthwhile - - except the golf swing, which by retirement is a hopeless objective - - but they can't be something around which to build your new time of life. That requires not one but a WHOLE BUNCH of things that inspire your passions.

One of which, for me, is biking.

Passions that you come to a bit later in life often are embraced with enthusiasm. I love traveling, having been to all 7 continents, and biking is the ideal way to absorb the experience of travel. You see way more than if walking . . . . and see it better than driving . . . . get a workout while you're at it . . . . and can eat and drink to your heart's content, without gaining weight . . . . what could be better? So after the age of 55, and before retiring, I had biked through Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Denmark, Austria, the Lake District of Italy, the Brittany and Bordeaux regions of France, Morocco, Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam. That sounds like a lot, but it took 13 years, so not that big a deal.

But I had never taken a truly adventurous and challenging bike trip in the country of my origin and lifelong residence. So where to go?

Unless you're a biker, you probably didn't know there's a 350-mile bike path from Pittsburgh to Washington, D.C., along rivers, long-abandoned rail tracks, and canal tow paths, and there's not a red light along the way. Actually, even if you are a biker, you probably didn't know . . . . it's a very well kept secret.

So I decided to do the first part of it, from Pittsburgh to Cumberland, Maryland, a 150-mile journey called the Great Allegheny Passage, or GAP. I started in Pittsburgh because i was headed there anyway, to the place where I came of age, to attend my 50th high school reunion.

That's another story - - a good one - - but I'll skip that for now.

It's a little hard to get your mind around the idea that this bike path was ever created. Yes, walking is ok, but no horses, no motors of any type, nothing commercial along the way but a few inns and restaurants.

I took it at a leisurely pace, 150 miles in 5 days. The GAP goes from downtown Pittsburgh - - where a stop at the Doubletree resulted in my making the winning bid for a 1979 World Series Championship ring for my team at the time, the Pittsburgh Pirates - - along the Monongahela river past abandoned and converted steel mills, and the still-functioning Edgar Thomson Works, where I worked in the summer of 1966 and earned 4 years of college tuition in one summer of work, to the banks of the Youghiogheny River, stopping at inns in West Newton, Connellsville, Ohiopyle, and Confluence, getting off the path to see the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed home called Kentuck Knob, and finally taking the train back from Cumberland to Pittsburgh and making the return drive home to New York City.

A barge going down the Monongahela River

The Edgar Thomson Works, still cranking away after all these years

Abandoned steel mill with a field of grass where the workers once parked their cars

At the door of Kentuck Knob.  Don't ask me why they left the Y off — At the door of Kentuck Knob. Don't ask me why they left the Y off

The path was beautiful, the towns along the way not so much. It's the foothills of Appalachia, and it's impossible to not be struck by how inert and lifeless these once vibrant towns can be. Restaurants that close at 4pm - - I'm not kidding - - towns where the state-run liquor store is open 2 days a week, plenty of Trump/Pence signs and not a single one for Hillary.

But it was about the biking and not the towns. It was deeply gratifying, and left me with the resolve that next year, I'm doing the Cumberland to Washington, D.C. portion.