Having said my farewells the night before I am up early and get myself organised for the days ride.  I get underway just before 7 am which I thought was plenty early enough to beat peak hour traffic – wrong!  

Boston traffic is a bit of a nightmare and in my view have some of the worst drivers in the country.  Lucky for me I am heading out of the city and although its slow its still moving.  I cannot believe that for about 60 klms I see bumper to bumper crawling traffic who are going in the opposite direction.

After a couple of hundred klms I pull off the freeway and refuel at Southington.  Right next door is a Starbucks so I go in and order an ‘extra hot’ coffee.  The barista makes the coffee but its less than luke warm – I ask her to chuck it in the microwave but its against store policy so she remakes it.  I find getting a decent hot strong coffee over here near impossible to the point that I carry my own coffee to add to it (for strength) once I have bought it. 

The days ride finishes in Scranton where I have booked accommodation for the night.  I rode 530 klms which took me from Massachusetts through New York State to Pennsylvania.  The country was all very similar but I was surprised at how rugged the forest was.

I go around to a local supermarket and get supplies and as I am about to fire Stan up to head home I get approached by a local who thinks that I am from South Africa (Stan’s number plate has SA for South Australia).  Stan (like Fred before him) is fast becoming the main player in this trip!

Next morning I am about to leave when in the hallway I run into the Indian (as in Bombay) Hotel Manager.  I say good morning and straight away he is aggressive and wants to know why I am in ‘that’ room.  I say it was the room that I was given by his staff member.  The Manager then completely loses it and starts yelling that I should have been in the room I booked.

I had to pause and remind myself that I was in another country and it wouldn’t necessarily be a good thing to put his head through the hallway wall (it didn’t help when he then started to demand I pay him an extra $10).

He keeps yelling as I politely tell him that I am sorry he is having such a bad day and I hope it improves.  I walk out and jump on Stan and ride off into the distance.  I must admit that my knuckles were turning white due to being wound up.

Although it was a rough start the day improves and I have a great ride seeing some wonderful sights;

I pull up for a late lunch in Gettysburg before making my way across the state line into Maryland.  I ride through the small town of Thurmont and wind my way up 14 klms of mountain road to where I am staying with a couple (Sam & Julie) who I met back in 2017;

The house that the guys live in is a converted barn that was built in early 1930’s – it even has a natural spring fed stream that flows all year round;

The house is located on 30 acres where they also have a lodge that Julie runs her event/function business (Mountain Memories).  The business funds their philanthropic pursuits which are overseen by Sam and conducted on their other 125 acre parcel of land nearby.  This includes non-profit programs for middle/lower income children aged 3 – 5yrs where they get to have a farm experience;

I get shown to where I am staying and get blown away with what I find.  I am being put up in my own cabin that has its own natural ‘pond’.  While I am getting shown around we see a beaver swimming and Julie tells me that there is a family of 5 that live there;

I unpack Stan and decide to go for a walk to see if I can find a beaver.  I get to the other side of the lake and I am in luck as I find a large male eating the reeds;

There is also one of the infants swimming around with Dad so I get my own personal show for over half an hour;

The noise that they make when they are eating is incredibly loud.  I soon see why when I look at some of their handy work;

Sam needed to put chicken wire around some of the trees so that they didn’t end up being eaten – you have to admire the beavers as they do not seemed fussed about how big of a tree they take on!  Sam tells me that for the last 2 years he has had to clean out the over flow pipe for the pond as the beavers love blocking it up;

Its funny that they want to block it up given that Sam is actually using it to create several smaller ponds for them – it may be a game that they like playing?

That evening Sam and Julie take me into Frederick for dinner.  We have a great time before coming home and calling it a night.  I get given some fresh farm eggs that I can cook for breakfast in the morning.

I spring out of bed at 6:00 am to have a walk around the pond to see if I can find the beavers again but have no luck.  I could see that they had blocked the pipe up again so they had definitely been out during the night.  I go back to bed and have another couple of hours sleep.

After breakfast I head into the Visitor Centre at Frederick.  I get a self walking tour guide and spend the next few hours checking out the local history;

The trail is about 5 klms long and has over 25 points of interest.  Along the way I check out the Civil War Medicine Museum which was really interesting;

You end back up at the Visitor Centre where the trail starts.  They even validate your parking ticket!  I get back on Stan and ride back home.  Later that evening Sam cooks up a storm and makes burgers for us all.

I find out that Sam & Julie’s house is only about 3 miles from Camp David and they often see the helicopters flying over when the President is in residence.  I have a laugh because I would have been right next door to the meeting between the US President and the Taliban if it had not been cancelled at the last minute!   I also find out that Sam worked for the Reagan/Bush administration and for a while with Clinton – these guys have done it all.

I am starting to be a real tourist so the next morning I am up and away to go and check out the Gettysburg battlefield.   I have a nice ride on the way to the Visitor Centre which is located just outside the township;

As you would expect the Visitor Centre is massive given they have over 1 million visitors each year;

I go into the foyer and cannot believe my luck as a National Park free guided tour of the battlefield is about to start in 10 mins.  I grab a coffee and make my way out to the starting point.  The guide is a great young fella that really knows his stuff;

After a few stops along the way we get to the battlefield;

The tour lasts for 90 minutes and finishes whilst at the battlefield.  The guide was happy to stick around to answer questions and I think I alone kept him there an extra 20 mins.  I found the tour fascinating and highly recommend it.  To think that there were over 51,000 casualties as a result of 3 days of fighting in a field where the closest township had a population of just over 2,000.

I walk back to the Visitor Centre and purchase a ticket that gets me into the museum and a couple of other displays – again highly recommended.  I get a couple of souvenirs from the gift shop before heading home.

That evening I head over to the house for dinner with a group of friends that Sam & Julie have invited over to meet me – well all have a great time and a lot of laughs.

My final day with these guys arrives and I have to sort out the next leg of my trip.  There has been a lot of rain overnight and its still coming down.  I wait for a break and head over to the house to complete this blog and do some planning.  I have been told about a great scenic route known as the Blue Ridge Parkway which is close by and will take me where I want to go.  Hopefully I can find it!

The Catoctin Mountains are spectacularly beautiful and I have been very fortunate to stay here.  I must say though the thing I have been most impressed about is what this great couple does to help others.  Truly inspiring.

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