Day 5 Hagerstown, MD

What I thought would be a lazy day turned into a monster ride. We slept in until 10 am, slowly getting our stuff together and heading out on the road by 11:30 or so. We get to sleep early, but so far we have been averaging 10 to 11 hours of sleep each night. I sleep like I'm dead, drifting off moments after my head hits the pillow


The weather was cool and cloudy again, with a forecast of a thunderstorm to happen at some point during the day. Our plan was to head to Gettysburg, roguhly 30 miles west and figure out the rest of the day from there. The wind was fairly clam and it was a pleasure to ride along the rolling hills of farm country again once out of York. The miles went faster than I expected.




Gettysburg is a quaint if touristy colonial town with lots of historic buildings. The coolest part is there are plenty of folks walking around the streets dressed in civil war costumes (I have a soft spot for costumes) happy to speak in character about the toils of nineteenth century life like how dark the weekend wil be because they only have half a candle to burn. Robert E. Lee was especially nice to us, stopping in the middle of he street to entertain a photo op. I suppose there there is a year round livivng to be made here reenacting the past.

When I joined up with Ryan who was shortly behind we had a quick lunch and started to plan the rest of the day. Looking at the map we saw a coulpe of small towns further wast in PA but we quickly ditched that idea and the idea of sticking in PA for a 35 mile trip to Hagerstown MD. We have been on the road for 5 days and have been in 4 states.

I was sluggish leaving Gettysburg, suffering a sugar crash from a delicious cup of mint chip ice cream i downed earlier. I managed to shake it off after a mile or two. I love stopping to check out the different towns we pass through but at the same time hate to break the rhythym I work up on the bike.

We headed west along 16 which is a sketchy road with no shoulder and 18 wheelers whizzing past. If they are going fast enough and drive right by you can feel their wake of air pull you into the road. On this road we encountered two massive climbs, one after the other, spanning 6 miles in all. I had to take a break along the way but not before acheiveng a tingly medetative state while listening to a Jimmy Page guitar solo that reminded me of Segovia.




Ryan and I split up after missing a turn. I doubled back and began riding solo along rolling pasteurs as I came across a stone pilar marking the Mason Dixon line. A car gave a friendly honk as it passed, no doubt recognizing that I was touring.

Like magic my road merged into another and I was right behind Ryan again. We were laughing as we saw each other and the boost from the coincidence powered us the rest of the way into town.




I'm wiped out. I just inhaled a chicken pasta entree with two sides at a roadside honky tonk next to our hotel. I'm tired all right, but might have just enough energy left to try out some of the line dancing they have going on next door. Yeehaw.

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Location:Dual Hwy,Hagerstown,United States