STRAUSSTOWN, Pa. — Customers trickle into an old mechanic’s garage, just off the interstate on the western edge of Berks County, looking for a hot cup of coffee, sheepskin jackets, and butt pads for their motorcycle seats. Some come just to see the cowboy on the billboards — he’s square-jawed and handsome in the fading photos pinned to the wall.There’s Pat Garrett with a smile as wide as a marquee, posing with the likes of Willie Nelson and Johnny Cash, even Muhammad Ali, who trained just north of here in the 1970s. In one picture from 2001, Garrett’s got a cowboy hat on, his Fender...…STRAUSSTOWN, Pa. — Customers trickle into an old mechanic’s garage, just off the interstate on the western edge of Berks County, looking for a hot cup of coffee, sheepskin jackets, and butt pads for their motorcycle seats. Some come just to see the cowboy on the billboards — he’s square-jawed and handsome in the fading photos pinned to the wall.There’s Pat Garrett with a smile as wide as a marquee, posing with the likes of Willie Nelson and Johnny Cash, even Muhammad Ali, who trained just north of here in the 1970s. In one picture from 2001, Garrett’s got a cowboy hat on, his Fender...WW…

Michael Hyssong, 30, has 1.4 million subscribers to his automobile YouTube channel.Dumb, dangerous, and possibly illegal are a surefire combination for clicks on social media, and so far, the video of a new, $70,000-plus pickup truck jumping a York County creek and landing hard on the other side has 1.7 million views.But for Michael Hyssong, the Harrisburg man behind the YouTube channel , a more subtle video of him driving the Dodge Ram TRX in the creek has had a few key viewers, notably an anonymous tipster, the Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission, and the York County District...…Michael Hyssong, 30, has 1.4 million subscribers to his automobile YouTube channel.Dumb, dangerous, and possibly illegal are a surefire combination for clicks on social media, and so far, the video of a new, $70,000-plus pickup truck jumping a York County creek and landing hard on the other side has 1.7 million views.But for Michael Hyssong, the Harrisburg man behind the YouTube channel , a more subtle video of him driving the Dodge Ram TRX in the creek has had a few key viewers, notably an anonymous tipster, the Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission, and the York County District...WW…

Once hunted to extinction, Pennsylvania’s resurgent elk herd now numbers 1,400. And people want to see them.BENEZETTE, Pa. — In rural Elk County, a mile from the $12 million Elk Country Visitor Center, a small herd of elk munched grass beside a new coffee shop called Elk Life.They were mostly females, known as cows, with a lone young bull nearby that sported two thin antlers called spikes. Some elk sat. Some stood. All were massive, some three times the size of whitetail deer, and none cared about the car idling a few feet away. Inside the store, a former Catholic church that features a...…Once hunted to extinction, Pennsylvania’s resurgent elk herd now numbers 1,400. And people want to see them.BENEZETTE, Pa. — In rural Elk County, a mile from the $12 million Elk Country Visitor Center, a small herd of elk munched grass beside a new coffee shop called Elk Life.They were mostly females, known as cows, with a lone young bull nearby that sported two thin antlers called spikes. Some elk sat. Some stood. All were massive, some three times the size of whitetail deer, and none cared about the car idling a few feet away. Inside the store, a former Catholic church that features a...WW…

According to the Pennsylvania Game Commission, more than 30,000 coyotes are killed by hunters and trappers each year, and yet their numbers remain high.A dead Eastern coyote hung upside down above a bucket of dried blood in a rural Pennsylvania fire hall, its lips locked in a perpetual snarl.Some men crouched beside it, while other adults twirled spaghetti with a fork, looking on from aluminum chairs. Children held canned sodas and stared.“Thirty-eight pounds even,” the men said when the needle on the scale settled.On this sunny February afternoon last year, 38 pounds wouldn’t take the...…According to the Pennsylvania Game Commission, more than 30,000 coyotes are killed by hunters and trappers each year, and yet their numbers remain high.A dead Eastern coyote hung upside down above a bucket of dried blood in a rural Pennsylvania fire hall, its lips locked in a perpetual snarl.Some men crouched beside it, while other adults twirled spaghetti with a fork, looking on from aluminum chairs. Children held canned sodas and stared.“Thirty-eight pounds even,” the men said when the needle on the scale settled.On this sunny February afternoon last year, 38 pounds wouldn’t take the...WW…

Caroline Goldrick traded Manhattan, population 1.6 million, for Eagles Mere, Pa., population 143.EAGLES MERE, Pa. — Silence filled the sidewalks and streets, even the sky above the big city, but Caroline Goldrick heard a new sound from the seventh-floor apartment on Broadway. It was the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, and down below, in a funeral home parking lot, a refrigerated box truck hummed day and night to keep the new corpses cold.In July, Goldrick, her husband, Christian, and their daughter, Edith, borrowed a car, left two cats in the hands of a caretaker, and traded Upper...…Caroline Goldrick traded Manhattan, population 1.6 million, for Eagles Mere, Pa., population 143.EAGLES MERE, Pa. — Silence filled the sidewalks and streets, even the sky above the big city, but Caroline Goldrick heard a new sound from the seventh-floor apartment on Broadway. It was the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, and down below, in a funeral home parking lot, a refrigerated box truck hummed day and night to keep the new corpses cold.In July, Goldrick, her husband, Christian, and their daughter, Edith, borrowed a car, left two cats in the hands of a caretaker, and traded Upper...WW…

by | | |Editor’s note: In Adventure Journal 17, summer 2020, we published a story called “The Ghost in the Tent,” by journalist Jason Nark, who had been trying to decipher the mystery of a man known only by his trail name, Mostly Harmless, whose emaciated body was found in a tent by day hikers in Florida. Harmless had hiked from New York to Florida and there was food and money in his tent, but no identification, and neither Collier County detectives nor amateur web sleuths could figure out his real name, find his family, or uncover friends.We can now confirm that Mostly Harmless was Vance...…by | | |Editor’s note: In Adventure Journal 17, summer 2020, we published a story called “The Ghost in the Tent,” by journalist Jason Nark, who had been trying to decipher the mystery of a man known only by his trail name, Mostly Harmless, whose emaciated body was found in a tent by day hikers in Florida. Harmless had hiked from New York to Florida and there was food and money in his tent, but no identification, and neither Collier County detectives nor amateur web sleuths could figure out his real name, find his family, or uncover friends.We can now confirm that Mostly Harmless was Vance...WW…

As coronavirus cases ravaged urban hubs like Philadelphia in the spring, rural Pennsylvania was left largely unaffected. Now, they’re seeing levels higher than the city at its peak.LEWISTOWN, Pa. — The phone rang over the gurgle of embalming fluid as Geoff Burke wearily eyed the corpse of the woman on the gurney. Another victim of the coronavirus, she’d have to wait. On the phone, a nurse delivered the news: body pickup needed.Passing the cremation oven, still hot from the morning’s use, Burke changed from his plastic embalming apron to a necktie and collared shirt as Sunday football...…As coronavirus cases ravaged urban hubs like Philadelphia in the spring, rural Pennsylvania was left largely unaffected. Now, they’re seeing levels higher than the city at its peak.LEWISTOWN, Pa. — The phone rang over the gurgle of embalming fluid as Geoff Burke wearily eyed the corpse of the woman on the gurney. Another victim of the coronavirus, she’d have to wait. On the phone, a nurse delivered the news: body pickup needed.Passing the cremation oven, still hot from the morning’s use, Burke changed from his plastic embalming apron to a necktie and collared shirt as Sunday football...WW…

Five people were killed in hit-and-run incidents in Philadelphia last week. No arrests have been made.Incense wafted through the intersection of Summerdale Avenue and St. Vincent Street on Saturday night in Northeast Philadelphia. A Buddhist monk from a nearby temple chanted a prayer so that Saixiang Lin, who was killed by a hit-and-run driver there Tuesday morning, would be granted entry into a holy land.Beside him on the sidewalk, Lin’s family just wanted answers and action from the Philadelphia Police Department.“She was a beautiful, wonderful woman who did everything for everyone,” said...…Five people were killed in hit-and-run incidents in Philadelphia last week. No arrests have been made.Incense wafted through the intersection of Summerdale Avenue and St. Vincent Street on Saturday night in Northeast Philadelphia. A Buddhist monk from a nearby temple chanted a prayer so that Saixiang Lin, who was killed by a hit-and-run driver there Tuesday morning, would be granted entry into a holy land.Beside him on the sidewalk, Lin’s family just wanted answers and action from the Philadelphia Police Department.“She was a beautiful, wonderful woman who did everything for everyone,” said...WW…

“A woman on the back of a motorcycle gave me the finger," said homeowner Sonja Bihary. "But I’d say the positive comments have outweighed the negative.”BLAIR TOWNSHIP, Pa. — Trump 2020 campaign signs are visible from Sonja Bihary’s kitchen window, from her backyard and the front, spiked into the lawns she passes on her daily commutes, and spread across billboards on local highways.Donald Trump received 73% of the vote in 2016 in rural Blair County, where Bihary lives with her husband and four daughters. So when the elementary teacher put up some campaign signs for Democratic candidate Joe...…“A woman on the back of a motorcycle gave me the finger," said homeowner Sonja Bihary. "But I’d say the positive comments have outweighed the negative.”BLAIR TOWNSHIP, Pa. — Trump 2020 campaign signs are visible from Sonja Bihary’s kitchen window, from her backyard and the front, spiked into the lawns she passes on her daily commutes, and spread across billboards on local highways.Donald Trump received 73% of the vote in 2016 in rural Blair County, where Bihary lives with her husband and four daughters. So when the elementary teacher put up some campaign signs for Democratic candidate Joe...WW…

The Rural Broadband Cooperative's fixed wireless system offers customers high-speed internet in a connectivity desert in Mifflin and Huntingdon Counties.Big Valley is a living postcard of Pennsylvania. Jet-black buggies hug the shoulders of its long, straight roads and knobby-kneed foals prance in fields so green they look electrified. Most signs there urge motorists to repent and rejoice, or to buy fresh strawberries from the Amish children sitting in the shade.But one Pennsylvania tradition also plagued residents who live in this sweeping landscape: slow, unreliable, and expensive...…The Rural Broadband Cooperative's fixed wireless system offers customers high-speed internet in a connectivity desert in Mifflin and Huntingdon Counties.Big Valley is a living postcard of Pennsylvania. Jet-black buggies hug the shoulders of its long, straight roads and knobby-kneed foals prance in fields so green they look electrified. Most signs there urge motorists to repent and rejoice, or to buy fresh strawberries from the Amish children sitting in the shade.But one Pennsylvania tradition also plagued residents who live in this sweeping landscape: slow, unreliable, and expensive...WW…