60 Miles of Bad Road

An August 2001 trip to New Hope by Magellan

A 170-mile up-and-back hump through the worst of Philadephia's urban sprawl for lunch and walkabout at New Hope, Pa.

  • 3 reviews
  • 1 story/tip
The pothole that I did not see heading into Valley Forge. No, wait, the traffic lights. No, wait. The thunderstorm on the way back.

Quick Tips:

If you are headed for New Hope, DO NOT be in a hurry. Traffic is horrendous, but if you are in to darling places with great antiquing, you might find it worthwhile.

Best Way To Get Around:

If you have a helicopter to get you there, all the better. Once in New Hope, park and walk. Bring lots of quarters, though.

Havana BarBest of IgoUgo

Restaurant | "Havana"

Somebody probably thought the flagstone floor would be a great idea, and it has potential. But they have to do something about the metal patio-set chairs. Everytime somebody moves toward or away from a table, it sends up a racket that makes conversation impossible. The food and service is ok.
  • Member Rating 2 out of 5 by Magellan on August 14, 2001

Havana Bar
105 S Main St New Hope, Pennsylvania 18938
(215) 862-9897

Image Makers Art IncBest of IgoUgo

Attraction | "Image Makers Art, Inc."

Image Makers Art features "Jerry Garcia: A Visual Journey," which comprised offset lithos, silk screen, and etched prints of paintings and drawings made by the legendary lead guitarist of the Grateful Dead. It's right pricey stuff ... a litho with the Old Gray One's pencil signature can run up to $9,000. The gallery director, Jacqueline Block, says she hopes to get most of the work into the hands of fans, but collectors and those driven by a profit motive are snapping up the JG work. Hey, Jackie ... you want fans to have it, how about taking a look at those prices!

As a 'Head of some 30 years standing, though, finding this gallery, even if it is crassly consumeristic, made New Hope a little less unbearable.

BTW, Image Makers also features work by Frank Sinatra, Rod Stewart, and Tony Bennett.

  • Member Rating 4 out of 5 by Magellan on August 14, 2001

Image Makers Art Inc
12 W Mechanic Street New Hope, Pennsylvania 18938
(215) 862-4858

New Hope. Pfft.Best of IgoUgo

Story/Tip

The ride leader grew up near New Hope and remembers it as a place where, as a high schooler, she and her pals would skip school and go hang out. In the ensuing 30 years, however, it has become a sort of Yuppie getaway ... theme restaurants one after another line the main street, lots of big-ticket antique-like stuff, and junk ... er, collectible ...peddlers. Bottom line, New Hope is what a seaside boardwalk or carny midway might look like if a 30-something middle-manager at a credit card bank had designed it.

Which wouldn't have been all that disappointing if the ride up hadn't been so challenging. It was a hot, humid day and riding a motorcycle through 80 miles of mall traffic is about as much fun as sitting on the stove for an hour. The roads are a brutal combination of cracked pavement and half-finished construction. Above West Chester, for instance, we were reduced to riding on a foot-wide strip of pavement that dropped three inches onto loose gravel. You notice these things on a motorcycle.

The thunderstorm on the way back was interesting only because the ride leader apparently did not notice the three inches of rain that fell in 20 minutes.

The final Mel Brooksian insult came the next day, however, when I noticed I had cracked Nadine's front wheel, probably on that filling-rattling pothole I caught on the way into Valley Forge. Poor Nadine. She has been in the shop since last week. Poor me. It's going to cost a ton of money to get her out, which I hope happens soon because I have a bunch of rides coming up.

New Hope is just another spot on the map. Getting there aboard a motorcycle is what makes it memorable.

About the Writer

Magellan
Magellan
Wilmington, Delaware
  • "It's the journey, not the destination. I travel aboard a motorcycle (1999 HD FXD), and thus every tr..."
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