October 7, Saturday
Here I am in a luxury "Mainstay Suite" inn, footsore but typing happily away on my pocket computer. Typing on a folding keyboard in a hotel room I'd never probably have rented in the old days is a little weird, but on the whole, I've got my shoes off now and life is good.

It didn't start out so good this morning, however. I forgot my spare shoes and we had to detour back home after we were already on the road for about 20 minutes. In total, we were delayed almost an hour, getting off about 9:20 rather than our original 8:30 departure. But the drive up toward Gettysburg went quite quickly. We switched drivers in Frederick and I could watch the scenery as Monika drove us into the foothills of the Appalachians. The trees were just started to turn colors in this region. Only a few were completely red or yellow, but many of the others were in different shades of green, which added to the variety.

The starting point was a pavilion at a small nature preserve nestled in a valley right up against the first ridge of the mountains. The nature preserve was a reclaimed logging area--they had converted the old logging roads to first-class hiking trails. It is so nice to be able to walk side-by-side on a well graded path that I call them "Cadillac" trails.

They had closed the 10km trail due to the start of bow hunting season, so we had to walk a 5 km trail with an optional 2 km loop up to a knob which I hoped would be a scenic overlook. At first I thought this was over-cautious, but as we walked out I heard gunshots from across the valley which made me glad to be in a no-hunting zone. Up ahead we heard the continual baying of hounds, and I was beginning to get a little apprehensive about this walk. It was definitely not the usual quiet walk on a forest trail that we had expected. We finally approached the baying and found a large hound tied to his doghouse. Our trail ran right in front of the front yard of his house, and the dog was zealously guarding it. He bayed and lunged repeatedly at us, dragging his doghouse a few inches at each lunge. Once I was sure the chain would hold, I felt sorry for the dog who was baying at every walker and dog that passed. The dog's owner was in the side yard, and I just couldn't understand why she let the dog get so upset and bark himself hoarse for nothing--it seemed cruel to me.

The 2 km extension went steadily uphill to a checkpoint and then right back down to the main loop on a parallel route. But I didn't find any scenic overlook, so I had to settle for a picture of a large wasp's nest that we saw on the path. The route back along the other side of the valley and along a stream was very pleasant. As we returned to the pavilion, we passed a stand of pines, and it was literally raining pine needles due to the strong wind. We had a bunch of them on the car when we returned. At the finish point, the club had some very good bratwurst on the grill; with sauerkraut and strong mustard, this was a great lunch.

The drive from Gettysburg to York was pretty, but there was almost continuous commercial development along Route 30. We really had not expected this in the countryside. We made one unplanned stop when I saw a store specializing only in model railroad equipment. I enjoyed looking at the trains of every available gauge (and some antiques) while Monika checked a used bookstore next door.

Since we had already walked the York Volksmarch (very nice city walk with murals on several buildings), we decided to push on to do a Volksmarch in Lititz, a small town about 7 miles North of Lancaster. The countryside between York and Lancaster on Route 30 was much more agricultural than the previous section, more like what we had expected for rural Pennsylvania. The scenery was very pretty under a bright sun and bright blue sky, so we took our time driving. We also got turned around and missed the exit for the road to Lititz, (I advised her wrong and she believed me!). But we took the next turnoff and Monika found a route on the map to get us back on track.

At this point we were trying to find a motel for the evening, but they were conspicuous by their absence, even at the Lancaster Airport where I had expected some (nothing but cornfields). So we decided to take the walk first and return to get one of the hotels we had seen around Lancaster. We found the community center which had the start box without any problems, and filled out our start cards for the walk. But when we left the building, all I could find were directions starting at #16 and no mention of how we left the community center! It took me a minute to figure out that I had only page 2 of a 2-page booklet of walk instructions. So I sheepishly went back inside to ask for the box again, and retrieved a complete set of instructions.

The first leg of the walk was around an open athletic field, and with no obstructions the wind really whipped around us. I was wearing only my "Charging Charlie" T-shirt and EAA jacket (1 layer of cotton), so I was quite cold and wondered if I had for once underdressed for a Volksmarch. My typical error is to dress too warmly and then have to shed layers as I go along.

Fortunately we soon were walking along town streets where the houses and trees gave some shelter from the wind. The sun also came out, which helped a bit. We went through some older and newer neighborhoods, and I saw some houses with fancy brickwork and asymmetric trim lines on the entrance way which I have only seen on some 1940s houses in Riverdale, Illinois. What struck us in ALL of the neighborhoods was the immaculate appearance of all the houses and lawns, no matter what age or size. For a long time I felt like something was missing, but I couldn't tell what it was. Finally I noticed that I was NOT seeing any litter anywhere--not one piece in the whole town except a paper hidden in some bushes at the cemetery which I really had to look for once I noticed this. Such a clean town!

The walk led to an early Moravian cemetery--the town was settled by Moravians in pre-Revolutionary times. The cemetery had a monument to General Sutter of California Gold Rush fame who had lived the last 7 years of his life in Lititz and was buried there with his wife. I hadn't known that General Sutter had founded the town of Sacramento that became the capital of California, but the citizens of Sacremento had erected a small monument in his honor at the gravesite. What we learn on Volksmarches! Curling back around from the cemetery, we passed a large fenced-in complex including a large equestrian riding ring, a soccer field, and some tennis courts. We speculated whether they were part of a very old girl's boarding school (established 1750s), which later turned out to be the case.

The highpoint of the walk was traversing the historic old town. The directions had a good description of the historical significance of all the buildings in the old town center. The first was the house where this guy established a pretzel factory in the 1850s. He was the first person to figure out how to mass-produce pretzels. The shop still made pretzels and we were starving since lunch had been a long while back. We ordered a bag of 3 medium-sized soft pretzels for a buck. We had to wait for them to be cooked, so we toured the rooms of the house that had been converted into an antique store while we waited. The owner said that although the small pretzels were machine-extruded, the soft pretzels were still handmade. They were fresh and delicious. After they were delivered we sat down on a bench outside next to a giant pretzel for our snack. We immediately decided that 3 were not enough because we each inhaled one and were fighting over the last one. It was five minutes to five, and I felt a little guilty about bopping back in and order another back of pretzels, but the owner took it in good grace. We also decided to grab a big bag of broken hard pretzels for a buck for the trip back, and for a special treat we bought a bag of small pretzels covered in dark chocolate, which the owner recommended as being the best chocolate-covered variety. We had some the next day and found that were really, really good--good quality chocolate says Monika.

We proceeded down the main street eating soft pretzels while Monika read a description of each of the historic buildings, which were quite a varied lot. One of the stories was of the congregational store from the Revolutionary War period, and the notes said that during that time, "No tea dared be sold."! Then there was the house that was required by the town fathers to build 2-foot thick walls just in case the owner later wanted to add a second story. Apparently zoning problems go back a long way in America!

Near the end of the main street, we passed a big old hotel . It's name used to be "Zum Anker" which means "to anchor" in German, but the name had been changed to the General Sutter Hotel, which probably means more to most Americans. I promised Monika a dinner out and the hotel had a nice restaurant, but Monika looked at the fancy table settings and at our own clothes--she felt the two just didn't match. I figured as long as we had the money to pay the bill, who cares?, but discretion being the better part of valor (besides we weren't starving any more after all those soft pretzels), so we continued on.

At the end of the historic district was a chocolate factory which gave tours. Alas and alack, it also closed at 5 pm and we arrived at the door about 10 minutes after. I looked pleadingly at the lady closing out the cash register, but she ignored me. As Monika said at the time, "We spent all that time at a crummy pretzel shop and now I don't get any chocolate!" Monika's only consolation was the chocolate pretzels, and I was very lucky we had bought them. We returned to the main street and went through a little park with a stream and lots of ducks being happily fed by park visitors. This was apparently legitimate because the park had vending machines with duck food which was carefully labeled, "Not for human consumption". At the head of the stream was the Lititz water works, which had several wells and an overflow which created the park stream.

From there it was just a couple blocks back to the start point. Altogether this was a very nice walk and definitely a "do again". We highly recommend the soft pretzels, the dark chocolate covered pretzels, and getting to the chocolate factory before 5 p.m.

Now we seriously hunted for a hotel. For a while, things looked bleak, sports fans. We tried two that had no non-smoking rooms available. Then a nice desk clerk called around the area to see if anyplace had any non-smoking rooms available. She found just one available down the street at "Main Stay Suites", and we hot-footed it over there. Even with AARP and AAA discounts it was $90, which was a bit pricey, but we were too tired to go on looking. We signed in and found that this was a full-fledged 2-room suite with kitchen-dining-living room areas in one room and a nice queen-sized bed in the other. There were 2 TVs, a large one in the living room and a small one in the bedroom. They had even stocked it with dishes, glasses, and appliances like a microwave, refrigerator, stove, and dishwasher. We could easily have spent a few days there in the lap of luxury.

Our last business of the day was dinner, and we rambled off to a family restaurant recommended by the desk clerk at the hotel. It turned out to have very good food at quite reasonable prices. I had the broiled salmon while Monika had veal parmegian. There was so much that we could not, in fact, finish our meals. After dinner, I started typing while Monika took a bath to relax her weary limbs. That looked so good, that I took one too before we both turned in for the night.

October 8, Sunday
Since we were so far East, we decided to take a walk in one of Maryland's eastern counties. We are trying to walk all the counties in Maryland, and we find that reaching the eastern-most counties is quite difficult (it's quite a drive). Havre De Grace is directly South of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, at the mouth of the Susquehana River. It had a year-round walk that seemed to be an ideal way to pick up Harford County.

The drive South thru the Pennsylvania countryside was quite beautiful. The farms nestled in the slightly rolling hills. Typically, these farms were smaller than in the Midwest and laid out with more variations, which kept the landscape interesting (it can be boring in the Midwest). In Maryland, we drove along the eastern shore of the Susquehana and thru a small, one-street town called Port Depot. The one main street was built right up to the sidewalk directly in front of the buildings. On the other side of the road was the river. The buildings were so closely backed up against a cliff that there was no room for a yard, garage, or parking space anywhere. This town was so tight on parking that cars were on the riverside shoulder of the road, edging into the roadway itself, which gave me a start when I came zooming up on them. The one flat, open space in town was crowded with cars; we surmised it was Sunday church traffic.

We crossed the Susquehana and turned left to get to Havre De Grace. The Volksmarch box was one the verandah of the Spencer Silver Mansion , a beautiful Victorian home that had been turned into a bed and breakfast (3 suites and 1 more in the caretaker's cottage in back). The walk led first around the northern part of town past a railroad bridge and a couple of pocket parks. I had just taken the last picture of a roll when I hear the roar of an approaching train. I tried to change film but altho I can draw and take a picture in 2 seconds from my camera holster, I just can't change film that fast, and this was an Amtrak metroliner that came speeding by while I was still fumbling for my film. It looked rather spectacular on the bridge above us. Oh well, the best shots are always the ones we don't take. All during our walk, I kept hearing trains rumbling thru town, reminding me of the fast one that got away.

The walk turned South past a large Huber factory that made God-knows what--I could find no sign but they had active train tracks going into several large buildings belching steam, even tho this was a Sunday. We arrived at road curving along the shore of Chesapeake Bay with beautiful bay-fronting houses--clearly the upper-crust district. We turned left thru a park past a marina. We saw several marinas in Havre De Grace--there may have been as many boats as there were inhabitants.

At the end of the marina, the trail lead along a boardwalk on the shore of the bay. There was a plethora of ducks, geese, seagulls, and other waterfowl along the tidal flats. Some of the ducks were still asleep and Monika joked they were "sleeping in" for Sunday. The geese, in particular, included the typical white ones and some larger gray ones with large lumps on the top of their beaks. They did not seem happy to have "their" turf invaded by humans and were hissing at us as we walked by.

The boardwalk ended at a picturesque lighthouse. In front stood a canon that was used by city residents to unsuccessfully defend the coast against the British invasion in 1812. It was a very small canon to fight off a warship! From here the walk took us to the downtown district which had many antique stores. Surprisingly, one store was open and was selling library books for $1 each. Of course, we had to stop and pick up a few even tho we still had 3 kilometers to walk. Toting our books, we turned back towards the lighthouse--the trail at this point was making a Z-pattern thru the downtown.

At the lighthouse we picked up the boardwalk again, but walked it in the other direction. The geese were out on the bay, but ducks were still sunning themselves on a tree in a small inlet. A little further on, a family with two little girls was looking over the railing on the inland side of the boardwalk. We saw a large woodchuck sitting up and daintily eating a large graham cracker, possibly provided by the family. After we got back to the marina and the park, we walked along a street with old Victorian houses back to our start point.

On our way out of town, we saw "Dianne's Family Restaurant" where Route 7 junctions with Route 40, and we decided to stop as it was past noon. This was another true family diner but about one step less fancy than the diner where we had dinner the previous evening. Dianne's had a long Formica countertop where the regulars were seated on stools, and a CD-jukebox and video games to match (both regularly used). We sat in a kind of booth in a corner, but the seats were solid wood with no cushioning.

We had to wait a bit for our order, so we used the time to bring out Volksmarch books up to date. Trying to remember our walks back past 2 weeks was very difficult, but we recalled all but one and put the kilometers in our distance book. We also listened to be family behind us that was discussing their escapades in Myrtle Beach. They had tried using skateboards and roller blades on the boardwalk and been warned by the police that neither was allowed. The guy said that it felt very strange to be a middle-aged father of three and be in trouble with the police. Since I was similarly busted by the Military Police at Fort Belvoir during Oktoberfest for carrying my sheath knife, I could sympathize with him.

Our food was excellent, lots of it, and cheap, so this diner got three stars (ambience was pure formica!). My blackened chicken salad was quite good, but I kept sending envious glances at Monika's platter filled with roast beef, mashed potatoes, and lots of gravy. My fork made two daring daylight raids on Monika's platter, scooping up two bites of mashed potatoes and gravy--they were REAL mashed potatoes.

In the end, however, Monika didn't disappoint me. She finished with 1 slice of roast beef and a good helping of mashed potatoes left over. I finished my salad before starting on her leftovers because hers tasted so much better than mine that I knew I wouldn't go back to mine once I started eating her roast beef. I have such poor self-control. For dessert we had the chocolate covered pretzels we had picked up in Lititz.

Monika started driving because I often start nodding off after a good meal which is not the thing to do on I-95! But I unfolded the keyboard on the book of fiddle tunes that Monika had bought at the bookstore and inserted the Palm Pilot into it. I had to watch out for the assembly slipping off my lap during sharp turns, but otherwise this odd combination worked very well as a miniature word-processor. I typed and read it to Monika, and she would correct or insert her own recollections into our story. In this way, the time passed amazingly quickly. We both agreed that it seemed like no time at all from the other side of Baltimore to Fairfax, VA, which was about an hour and a half.

We got home about 2:30 and carried our stuff inside (I was somewhat stiff but Monika was in great shape). We were early enough that we caught the last half of the Redskins-Eagles football game on TV. The Redskins won by the skin of their teeth with a last-minute field goal. We had a great weekend and all is right with the world.