We were really tired by the end of the week and we decided we both needed to get away for the weekend. Monica had Friday off, and I had cleared my calendar. The Fort Belvoir Volksmarch for Friday and Saturday had been canceled, so it was really very little choice but a bridge walk that we had heard about up near York, Pennsylvania. We decided to try to drive up, stay overnight, and make a weekend Ausflug out of it.

We decided to take our Dodge Spirit as it was the more reliable car. We slept in a little bit on Friday morning and then packed the car with all our walking equipment and overnight bag. We had just bought a case of water bottles from the Price Club that was in the trunk of the spirit, so we were fine for water. We left about a quarter to 9 and had a reasonably quick drive around the Beltway until we hit a backup near College Park. Using the GPS, we bounced off the Beltway and followed side roads to get over to 29 and followed it all the way North to the Baltimore Beltway. That kept us off the I-95 traffic and was slower, but a much more relaxed drive. After circling Baltimore to the North, we took Interstate 83 pretty much due North to the Pennsylvania border.

We stopped at the welcome station for Pennsylvania, and found a beautiful autumn display outside. Inside, we found an antique 1947 side valve Harley-Davidson and an interesting collection of Pennsylvania products. There was a discount coupon for the York Hampton Inn on the desk, and we like their complementary breakfasts, so we took that along.

We drove North a couple of exits and then turned West to find the Richard M. Nixon County Park. The Park had a very nice nature center which contained an astonishing variety of stuffed animals. I took pictures of all of them just in case I needed some animal pictures for writing children's books after I retire. Unfortunately, the Volksmarch in the Park had only run until September 30th, and this was October so they had already removed the box. We quickly scanned the brochures Monika had printed off the Web for other Volksmarches in the area, and found a rails-to-trails year-round event just two exits south on Interstate 83. So we turned around and drove back to the starting point at Glen Rock, Pennsylvania.

There were actually two trails available from Glen Rock, one going north along Railroad and one going south. After reading the descriptions carefully, we found out that the one going south offered a bathroom at the other end, and that decided us for the Southern route. It was a little after noon by this point and we were really hungry, so when we saw "Mama's Pizza and Subs" while we walked south through the town, we decided to stop and have lunch. We were anxious to continue walking, so we had the subs fixed to go and carry them with on our walk. We ate the first half of the sandwiches as we walked along down the railroad bed, but the sandwiches were so big we couldn't really eat them all at once.

This trail is interesting because it is a path right beside a working railroad line. The trail changes sides from left to right of the railroad line for no apparent reason, but that gave us a little variety. The fall colors were just starting to turn, and many of the trees and bushes were quite pretty. Off to the sides, we had nice views of a bucolic Pennsylvania countryside with small farms nestled in a rolling landscape. We stopped at a picnic area to finish the second half of our sandwiches, and finally reached the turnaround point which was a bed and breakfast at the next Crossroads town.

We enjoyed the trip back North because it gave us a different perspective on the things we had seen on our way south. We encountered many bicyclists and a few pedestrians along the way, all of whom were quite friendly. It was nice to see the trail in use, especially considering this was a Friday. We bought a soda to celebrate completing the walk back at the start-finish point and looked at the window displays of an interesting antique shop across the street-unfortunately, it was closed. So we drove on our way, stopping to take a picture of a nice barn wreathed in autumn colors as we returned to the Interstate. We drove around to the east side of York and were happy to find the Hampton Inn located there. They honored the coupon, so we got a relatively inexpensive room for the night.

We were so tired that after putting our stuff in the room we just fell into bed and took a nap. Around six p.m. we both had enough energy to walk over to the mall that was just across the way for dinner. We counted on their having a food court, and indeed they did. We both had low-fat Chinese dinners, and I had frozen yogurt for dessert. Then we returned to the hotel room and had some fun downloading the digital pictures from our walk and working out a PowerPoint presentation using those pictures. We found that allows us to insert just enough text to make the pictures meaningful as a photo album, but not get tempted into writing reams about it. It was fun “correcting” the bad pictures. I erased power lines from the picture of the antique shop and copied foliage over a diesel tractor trailer that had parked beside the picturesque barn! We finished that up about 9 and just went back to bed.

The next morning we charged down to the free continental breakfast about a quarter to 7, and I was delighted to find that they had skim milk along with the usual cereal, fruit, and bakery offerings. That let me keep to my low-fat diet so I could eat without guilt. We met a tour group of mature folks also eating breakfast, and it was remarkable how tentatively and slowly they moved compared to the other Volksmarchers we met. The regular exercise really seems to make a big difference at our age. (Notice I said mature, not old!)

After checking out, we drove about 30 minutes to Columbia, Pennsylvania for the Volksmarch. The long bridge across the Susquehanna River that connects Columbia and Wrightsville was closed for the “Bridge Bust” Festival. The festival included all kinds of food and craft vendors strung all along the bridge, which was quite flat. The local clubs put on two Volksmarches, one from the Columbia side and one from the Wrightsville side. That made it possible to do 10 km or 15 km by doing the extra loop through the other town.

The weather was not promising. A strong cold front had come through during the night and the skies were very threatening and it was spitting a cold rain as we signed up at a bowling alley on the outskirts of Columbia. We met someone from our area and walked with him for the first part of the trail through the town to the bridge over the Susquehanna River. The views of the river were great, but it was dark and gloomy at the outset.

As we crossed the bridge, a squall line passed over us and the wind picked up into a howling gale. The vendors lining the sides of this bridge had put up awnings and pavilions, and many of these were almost blown away. At one point, Monika and I help a couple of ladies hold down their awning so it wouldn't blow over the bridge. They finally gotten under control and collapsed it to put away. We found one stained-glass vendor with a very pretty small fairy with butterfly wings, and we decided to buy it. We had him wrap it up and keep it there because we didn't want to carry it for another couple of hours on our walk.

On the other side of the bridge we came to the checkpoint and decided we were fresh enough to do a part of the other Volksmarch being offered on the other side of bridge. So we continued into the town and then followed the markings to check in at that clubs checkpoint and get extra start cards. We circled around the town and came to the start finish point for the other club, where people were struggling just to stay warm. Getting cold is a lot more of a problem when you are sitting still them when you are walking briskly because the metabolic heat from walking keeps you warm. After getting our books stamped for the extra five kilometers, we circled back to the bridge to cross back into Columbia.

Although it was clearing as we approach the bridge, the wind was still gusting strongly and many of the vendors on the bridge had closed up shop, so we became increasingly concerned about our stained-glass fairy as we walked across the bridge. Our worry was for naught, however, because although the gentleman had closed his shop due to the high winds, he had stayed in the truck to wait for our return. We also found a ceramic piece that we thought might be nice as a Christmas gift, so we put the two together in a bag and walked back through the town of Columbia to the start point. All in all, we thought the both of these towns were essentially working and middle-class towns that had a long past history of manufacturing and were currently attempting an economic revival.

We jumped in the car and headed east toward Philadelphia and our next Volksmarch. Along the way, Monika checked the brochures and found that we were headed for another year-round event rather than what we had thought was another special weekend event. So we change our minds and decided to do the year-round Volksmarch at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. That has been on my list for a long time as I have never been there. We first arrived around 2:00 and felt too tired to do the walk. But after an unsuccessful attempt to find hotel room for the night, we had a quick lunch and felt rested enough to go ahead and do another walk.

The Valley Forge Volksmarch starts from the visitor center which has films and a lot of interesting exhibits on the Revolutionary War era around 1777-1778. We started out around 3:15 and took the multi-use trail (MUT) around to our first checkpoint near George Washington's Chapel. We had beautiful views of the old encampment area along the way. The Chapel itself is quite pretty and has a nice carillon tower, but it dates from the mid 1800s (not original). Beside the Chapel and at many other locations in the park, they had reconstructed the 12 ft. by 16 ft. log soldiers huts where Washington's Army spent the winter. The life of the common soldier in that camp was truly miserable.

The officers, on the other hand, requisitioned rooms or homes in the area and at least had a decent place to sleep. Washington's headquarters was a beautiful stone house and looked very interesting, but we were too tired for the extra walking and decided to do it another day. We circled back to the multi-use trail by way of a late 1800s railroad station made out of yellow sandstone, which gleamed warmly in the setting sun, and we also paused briefly to watch some Revolutionary War re-enactors doing a military drill (and I put on a Band-Aid).

The multi-use trail crossed the road near a statue of Von Steuben, which was surrounded at that moment by a group of military cadets recounting some aspect of Revolutionary War history having to do with bayonet charges. We continued in to the main area of the encampment along the "Historical Trace", the main road during Revolutionary War times. Along this old road we encountered an early 1800s one-room stone schoolhouse and some almost-tame deer, who obligingly posed for pictures. We also passed an artillery park where the ancient cannons were lined up as if on parade and the grave of an Unknown Soldier which reminded us of the cost of all these wars. When you do this walk you'll have the choice of doing the historical trace or staying on the multi-use trail for this section of the walk, and I would strongly advise walking the historical trace as it is far more interesting.

We looped back toward the start finish past a Memorial arch to the Revolutionary War soldiers. The American flag was flying just behind the arch, brilliantly illuminated by the setting sun. Washington's words of appreciation to the common soldier were engraved at the top of the arch and seemed very appropriate considering all suffering his Army endured at Valley Forge. Indeed, freedom is never free.

Since we could not get a room for the night, we decided to simply drive home. We avoided driving through Philadelphia by going east on Route 30 to York and then returning by Interstate 83 down to Baltimore. Unfortunately, there was a section of about five miles which was 2-lane road, and it backed up spectacularly. We inched along passed the tourist attractions and were finally hungry enough to stop at an Arby's for a quick dinner. (Denny's had a waiting line and we were really hungry!) Since I had walked 27 kilometers during the day, I didn't feel too guilty about having an order of french fries. We arrived home shortly before 10:00 and managed to actually get to bed before 1030, so it wasn't too late and the next day was Sunday, so we could sleep in as long as we wanted.