We took a day off the bikes — it was cold and windy so why not?

We drove to Lancaster, took an informative tour of a recreated Amish school and home. It is not a life style I could adopt and am thankful that I was not born into an Amish family.

After our tour, we explored the country roads and drove by active Amish households and farms. One of the easiest ways to identify an Amish property was to confirm that there were no electric wires running from the service poles to the homes. Amish do not use electricity. However, they do use diesel fuel and generators, and solar is OK too. The rules and regulations of the Amish seemed a bit arbitrary to me — although I suspect this is because I only have a very superficial understanding after my short education at the tour. It was seems that it is getting harder to maintain their life style and co-exist with the modern, highly technical world.

Dinner was a traditional Pennsylvania Dutch meal at a popular local restaurant.