Part of the rally’s festivities was a door decorating contest. I failed to take photos of most of the doors, but this is how I learned that we were next door to members of the Australian contingent and across the hall from the Estonians.
Monday morning, there was a sign across the hall reading “Welcome to Estonia.” By mid-morning, the sign had been joined by a string of pennants running down the hall and a larger WIMA Estonia flag.
By late afternoon, the pennants and WIMA Estonia flag had been moved outside and the building and the members of the Estonia group were putting up more decorations. I joked that at this rate, I expected their decorations to surround the camp by nightfall.
We were on our own for lunch on Monday. There had been a mention at breakfast that a local restaurant, 290 Maine St was supposed to be pretty good. Bearing that in mind, Amy, her friend Carol, and I headed out to find the place.
Walking to the dining hall on Monday morning, I noticed a teal and white Harley Davidson motorcycle with a license plate saying “TEAL”. Things like that make me smile and as it’s her favorite color, I made a note to tell Amy about it.
Later in the morning, I passed that same cabin. All the other motorcycles had departed for rides on various scenic routes in that portion of Maine, but the teal Harley was still there. There was a woman on the porch, setting a few things out and I asked if it was hers. It was, and I told her how seeing her bike earlier had made me smile.
Putting our travel adventure into perspective, one group I felt badly for was the women coming to the rally from Nicaragua. Several of them arrived in Portland and only then discovered that their travel agent had booked them on a flight to Portland, Oregon when the rally was in Portland, Maine (missing the mark by nearly 3,000 miles)!
The 2024 rally was held just outside Portland Oregon; so perhaps the travel agent was off by a year. This does open a potential theme for future rally locations.
We set out with Amy on The Teal Kestrel, and me in the car. I also ride, but for logistical reasons (we were transporting a number of bulky items for the rally), the car seemed the better choice.
We got on the road around 3:00pm; a little later than planned, but well ahead of the worst of rush hour. We got to our hotel in New York around 10:30pm with plans to meet up with family the following morning.
The USA chapter of. the Women’s International Motorcycle Association held their annual rally in Poland Maine from September 7 to 13. As a guy, I’m not really the target audience, but it was a wonderful break from the usual day-to-day and a chance to support the wife’s interests. And, after attending two previous rallies, I’m pleased to know some of these women as friends.
Unlike previous road trips, this one works best as a collection of individual tales rather than journal entries wrapping all the events of a single day.
Last day before I go back to work. (Though based on phone calls and texts, some of my co-workers apparently missed the memo and expected me back today. Whoops!)
Today, Sweet Potato and I decided to explore a new (to us) trail – the section of the Greenway Trail running from Watkins Mill Road to Brink Road through the Great Seneca Stream Valley Park. And so, Sweet Potato jumped into the back seat of the car, curled up in “the potato bin” (a box with several blankets and a small dog bed for cushioning) and off we went.
We started at the Watkins Mill end and took our time, making the 2.8 mile round trip in about 90 minutes.
We may not have set any speed records, but it was a lovely day and we enjoyed ourselves. Near the end of our walk, Sweet Potato found herself a nice place to roll around in the dust (one of her favorite things to do) and enjoyed the scents.
And that’s it for this series of daily hikes. Tomorrow it’s back to work. Sweet Potato however would like to share one final thought.
I has to waits for weekend? But that’s like…. forever!
– Sweet Potato
We has to wait? Can’t we just go tomorrow when nobody’s looking?
Technically, the road trip ended when we got home yesterday, but hey, we’re on a roll. Plus, there are more photos of Sweet Potato; who could possibly object to that? Today’s hike was about four miles on the loop around Blackhills Regional Park in Boyds.
One of our regular stops when hiking this route is just to the South of the visitor center parking lot. Where the trail goes into the woods, there’s a post with a bracket on it where where you rest your phone (or even a camera) and take a photo of the scene in front of you. There’s a sign on the post with an email address to send the photo to.
This is part of a “Citizen Science” project. In 2016, there was a fire at this location (probably caused by a carelessly discarded cigarette). By submitting a photo, you’re helping to document the forest’s recovery. The photo below shows how the site looks today, but there’s also a “time lapse” available online, made up of photos other people have donated over the past three years.
Site of the 2016 wildfire in Blackhills Regional Park as it appears today.
Sweet Potato has been taking canine agility classes at day care; today provided an opportunity to demonstrate her skillz in a non-traditional setting, using some of the fixtures present at the park. She was quite happy to oblige with a couple quick photo ops.
Finally, a quick public service reminder — if your car has more than one “cup holder”, it’s OK to put your beverage in one of them. But remember, the other so-called “cup holder” is for dog treats.
The trail suggestion for last night had been to visit the Lehigh Gorge State Park, but I didn’t spot the signs for the access points until we were headed back to the hotel after a short hike in the Hickory Point park.
Today’s plan was to meet Phil and Evon for lunch and then head back to Maryland. We had a few hours to spare in the morning, so after checking out of the hotel, we headed back to the Lehigh Gorge. A first attraction there was the Lehigh Tannery historic site. According to the signs in the area, the area was heavily deforested in order to obtain tree bark for use in the tanning process. Naturalist John Audubon lamented that this could eventually leave the entire area devoid of trees. Several years after Audubon’s visit, a fire spread among the felled trees and destroyed the tannery.
After looking around the tannery site for twenty minutes or so, the realization came that the actual trailhead might be on the other side of the bridge. (There weren’t a lot of signs about trails, more about not launching boats from this location.)
Sure enough, the actual Delaware and Lehigh trail was on the other side of the river!
An odd thing to find along a bike/hiking trailSupport for a former bridge?
Around 11:30, Sweet Potato and I got back in the car and headed off to meet up with Phil and Evon. It was a pleasant lunch and a fun time catching up with friends I usually only see once or twice a year at conventions.
Lunch was at a local park, providing Sweet Potato a chance to get out and stretch her legs for a bit. Afterward, we went for a stroll around the park and spotted Mother and Father Goose swimming with this year’s goslings.
Afterward, it was time to part ways and Sweet Potato and I at last headed to Maryland, arriving home around 6:30. When we pulled up in front of the house, Sweet Potato immediately recognized her surroundings and made a beeline (dogline?) for the front door and, once inside, immediately ran upstairs to find her Mama.
After dinner, Sweet Potato availed herself of the opportunity to engage in one of her favorite activities and burrowed into the sofa for the first time in nearly a week.
Today was a rest day. Or really, a driving day. According to Google Maps, it would have taken more than nine hours of driving to get home from Vermont. And that’s before you add in breaks for meals, gas, and rest stops. Oh, and traffic.
Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley looked to be about two-thirds of the way home, so I dropped a line to my friend Phil to see if he was free for lunch on Saturday. He is, so I made a reservation for a hotel in that area with the plan to arrive late afternoon and then Sweet Potato and I would go for a hike somewhere in the area.
Remember that “nine hours” to get to Maryland? Google Maps was being quite optimistic (Connecticut will be a nice state once they finish building it). It took nine hours to get to the Lehigh Valley. Sweet Potato was so patient with the car ride – hopping back into her “nest” after every rest stop – that I felt I owed it to her to find a place to go for a walk that wasn’t just a hotel parking lot.
So, based on a suggestion from the desk clerk (three good suggestions at three different hotels), we spent the last half-hour of daylight on a trail in the Hickory Run State Park.
Hickory Run State Park signGetting in some sniffs after a day in the car.Can’t we keep going? Please?
