Tacony Me

For this week's installment in my Sunday Cycling Series, I decided to take a trip down memory lane. Sort of. I decided to explore Tacony Creek Park, which is right around the corner from where my Dad grew up.

It's not right around the corner from me, so I took the train. Don't judge me.

I took the El to Erie-Torresdale, right on the border of Juniata Park/Kensington/Frankford. Here to find out, I was on another stretch of the East Coast Greenway:

More like the REDway at this point...

One day, I will bike the entire Greenway. I think when I come through this stretch, I'll try to make sure it's during daylight hours:

Not pictured, the man who asked me for a cigarette, then asked for money to buy cigarettes.

I headed west from here on Erie Avenue. In a moment that reminded me of my youth (and probably my Dad's, and his Dad's, etc.), I passed by the Bachmann Train Factory:

Looks like any other factory. Meh.

I turned the corner at I street:

Not much, but check out those trolley tracks.

I, Erie. Sounds like a biography?

The trolley tracks are remnants of the former route 56 trolley. SEPTA has been talking about bringing back more trolleys for years. I'd love to see it, but I'm not holding my breath, considering how many times they've paved over tracks in South Philly (which is better for cycling, oddly enough). Anyway...

The neighborhood slowly transitions from dregs to some relatively nice-looking row homes. One of these was my Dad's:

AND THEY HAVE YARDS. JEALOUS.

Finally, I continued north past Juniata Park to the entrance of the Tacony Creek Park Trail at I Street and Ramona Avenue:

Road block.

I didn't take many pictures along the ride, because I was tired of stopping (as you can see above, I did a lot of that). Overall it was a nice ride, paved trail, ups and downs, etc. Of course, there was some graffiti on underpasses:

Yea, I like street art and all, but this gives me the feeling that I wouldn't want to venture here after dark

The southern and northern sections are still disconnected, interrupted by Roosevelt Boulevard:

You wouldn't know from this picture, but this is one of the most dangerous roads in Philly.

There's been an underpass for the trail in the works, which is sorely needed. Crossing Roosevelt is not fun. At any rate, I survived and was able to continue:

Apparently horses are commonplace on this trail?

As I continued along the trail, I noticed several groups of volunteers cleaning up at various spots. You can see why they're needed. They haven't gotten to this spot near Rising Sun Avenue just yet:

Ugh.

After another 20 minutes or so, I reached the end of the trail (after a killer hill) and found myself on the Tookany Creek Parkway, when I noticed the street signs were not Philadelphia-issued:

Suburbs. Meh.

I decided that the edge of the city was a good enough point to turn around and head home. No stop at a new brewery or bar at the end of this ride, but I did manage to reward myself with ONE before I got back on the train:

Also showing my St. Patty's spirit, or something...

I decided to take a different route back to the El and got slightly lost (my sense of direction isn't so good when I don't have the sun as my guide), but found something AMAZING in the process, which I'll be exploring some time soon. Never be afraid to take a detour.