Nomad Life - Day 178

Last day of "lollygagging across Pennsylvania"...  I slept soundly (despite still dealing with lingering effects of my cold) until 0730.  After that, I did some reading, Duolingo and puzzles.  At 0800, I went to "breakfast" (still very little in the way of food) in the Lobby of the Days Inn (Indiana) and then proceeded to the Fitness Center, where I rode on the stationary (recumbent) bike for 20 minutes (9.6 miles but I'm still not sure this could be accurate...).  Back in my room again, I did some more reading, Blogging and eBird; I also made reservations for the coming night's lodging.  I'd coordinated for a late checkout so was able to stay in my room until 1200.  At that point, I grabbed all my belongings and headed out to the car.  On the hood, I found little flecks of what looked like snow (or ice pellets?) but the weather didn't seem to match this image.  Perhaps it was colder overnight...  At about 1210, I departed the hotel and drove to the nearby campus of Indiana University Pennsylvania (IUP).  I located the northern terminus of the Hoodlebug Trail Extension which, when it was added to the original 10 mile trail, created an 11.6 mile total (all paved) rail trail to the town of Black Lick.  Unlike the longer (orginal) section, though, this extension was mostly on the streets - the only indication one was following it was the green paint (with an outline of a bicycle) on the driving surface.  From the corner of 8th Street and Church Street in Downtown Indiana (IUP Campus), I followed the Extension by car until I arrived in the area near the Rose Street Trailhead parking lot I'd visited the day before.  There were some sidewalks and a short paved section of the Extension there and I walked about 0.5 miles of trail (1 mile total).  Bonus: I was also able to do some birding and encountered some interesting species.  I forgot to mention that I saw lots of signs for "IUP 150", which I learned foreshadowed a huge celebration that will take place in June.  With the full northern section of the Hoodlebug Trail completed, I got back in my car and drove south (via US-119 and back roads) to Homer City.  This time, I parked at Floodway Park (1250) so I could keep working my way towards Blacklick.  By this point, the temps were 37 F and it was very sunny.  Before starting south, I walked north from the park (it looked like the Town Depot used to be located there) until I reached the turnaround point (Mazzi Street) from the previous day.  After backtracking and passing my car, I made my way all the way through the rest of Homer City until I was basically walking through a longer section of open land (paralleled US-119).  I ended up walking around 1.5 miles to the Red Barn Trailhead and enjoyed the section a lot.  Even if it had been boring, I was treated to another beautiful day and some wonderful silence at times.  Like I'd seen in Indiana, the birding was awesome.  When I turned around at the Red Barn, I saw a marker that said I was 6 miles from the Rose Street trailhead, which means I've completed 7.5 total miles of the overall trail - awesome!  On the way back, I checked out a historical cemetery in Homer City that had American Revolution and Civil War burials.  I arrived back at my car by 1405 (three more miles of walking) and quickly got back on the road.  I used US-119 to reach US-422 and then continued driving northwest until I reached Elderton (Armstrong County).  Wanting a break and some birding in a new county, I stopped at Plum Creek Park (1425).  Sadly, there weren't many birds there.  From that point, I was (mostly) all business in wanting to reach my new hotel.  The route included driving on PA-210 until switching to PA-156 and then following that road for a little while.  I reached the town of Apollo at 1445 and got on PA-66.  A short time later, I crossed the Kiskiminetas River and continued south on PA-380.  After reaching PA-286, I stopped for late lunch at Dairy Queen in Murrysville (1510).  I ate in the restaurant and, by 1535, was on my way south again.  At 1540, I arrived at my hotel, the Super 8 (Monroeville), checked in immediately and got settled in my room.  By this point, I was feeling really sleepy (a side effect of the cold, I think) so completed some paperwork and did some reading to seal the deal - naptime followed soon afterwards.  When I was awake again (1830), I ate "dinner" (snacks) and did some more reading (I had a book that needed to be returned to the digital library).  For the rest of the evening, I watching movies and didn't try to go to bed for real until 2300.  Unfortunately, I had lots of trouble falling asleep (probably due to the nap).  It's been a wonderful week of wandering in the Keystone State but work in the Steel City awaits!