August 8 Gettysburg, PA to Clarksburg, MD 49.8 miles

Waiting for cue sheets in front of our cabin this morning: Samuel, Liz, Rosie, and Diana

Janet, Tracey, me, and Diana at state #12!

Dinner last night: Diana, Rosie, Tracey, Janet, and Liz

The 1/2 century club: me, Tracey, Liz, Rosie, Janet, Pauline, and Diana

Janet with the light-up picture on top of our cabin, also known as the Silverhorse Saloon

Chad and Greg reuinte with Greg's folks

We had a wonderful picnic last night at our little camping cabin. It started to rain just as we were putting the finishing touches on dinner but the cabin has a wide front porch and the wind wasn’t blowing so we moved a picnic table under the shelter of the front porch and ate there. It was really fun just sitting there yakking with our bread, cheese, and wine. Of course we took lots of photos to commemorate the event and since we had 4 bottles of wine for 6 people, things got pretty jolly.  I even boosted Janet up onto the roof of the cabin so she could pose with the Rosie photo that lights up at dark. We just had a great time goofing off.  We were just finishing tidying up after dinner when a woman I knew I hadn’t met walked up to me, said “you’re Barb!” and gave me a hug. Turns out she is Greg’s mom, and she and Greg’s dad had just driven 1100 miles to surprise Greg with a visit. They had always planned to meet him at our finish but they decided to show up just a bit early. When Greg and Chad came back from dinner, they hid behind us while we lured the guys over to the cabin for the big surprise. It was very sweet to watch their reunion. This is obviously a very close family, with Chad just about being one of their kids.

Douglas, Ash, and Rueben celebrate Gettysburg

Simon and Rosie

Chad’s folks broke out more wine and pretty soon we had most of the group that was camping over at our cabin talking and enjoying one of our last nights together. But like good campers we kept things reasonable and we turned in as usual at 10, since we knew we’d have to ride today.

Catey, Rachel, and Letty celebrate state #12

Douglas, Jim, and Joe at the coffee shop

This morning dawned clear and beautiful, with temperatures only in the 70’s. We have been SO BLESSED with good weather on this trip! Yes, we had that incredibly hot weather back in Montana  but by now that seems years in the past. And it could be incredibly hot and humid here right now, but its not. We left for Clarksburg and I only got a mile or so down the road before spotting a heron in a pond. Since today was a short day, we all took every opportunity to take photos and have fun. The next stop was the Maryland line– welcome to state #12. I posed with Tracey, Janet, and Diana then the young women posed in a cheerleader pile. We all had a great time taking each other’s photos. Then it was off to Taneytown where we paused for coffee.

We rode on until we got to Mark’s lunch stop but since Janet’s gluten-free breads are all gone, we decided to patronize Toney’s Town Stop instead. Most of us had their delicious crab cakes, which are made with Maryland soft shell crabs. Not quite as good aas dungeness crab but not bad, either!

Frekericks row houses

The Best Farm at the Monocacy Battlefield

Moving on after lunch, we passed through Frederick, which has some excellent examples of rowhouses. We thought we might stop there for ice cream, but we never found a place so we kept moving on, and then passed the Monocacy Battlefield. The road was narrow here and traffic was fast so we wanted to get to camp.

My tent at our last campsite

Tony works in the luxury and privacy of his tent at our last campsite

Bruce, Patty, and Clifford

Steven, Ed, and Austin spiff up their bikes for the last day's ride

For our last night of camping, we’re staying at Little Bennet campground, which supposedly is a private campground but feels like a state park. Its very comfy and quiet. The showers are very nice and so are the camping areas but there is no power. However, in Loop D accross the road for us, there are trailer hookups so Diana and I are sitting here blogging. One more day…. just one more day remains of this ride…. but I still can’t talk about that…… The ride isn’t over yet.