More Maryland

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Saturday 17th:

Getting prepared for the off, Bryan noticed that his and my rear tyres were starting to crack around the centre blocks. Bit annoying as we had probably only done around 500 miles since fitting them new. We decided that we didn't want to be in the back-blocks, have a tyre fail and have no way of sorting it. We decided that the best option was to buy another tyre each and carry them with us. We found a wrecker on the GPS who carried motorcycle tyres so this was our first stop. Bryan bought a 2nd hand 75%!w(MISSING)orn road tyre which we be an ok “get you home”. By now it was 9am so we headed to a big dealership 20 miles away. Arriving there they had one Dunlop dual purpose rear tyre in stock??? which Bryan bought. They told us to try a Honda shop around 10 miles away where we found a better selection & I bought a Michelin Dual Sport tyre. A Lady customer asked all about our trip and wanted to be included on our blog so she gave me her email address and she now has been.

We headed for Sharpesville as we wanted to see the Antietam battlefield. On the way we stopped at a diner for breakfast (see photos) which was an American “blast from the past” Our timing was great as today was the 160^th anniversary of the battle at Antietam. It was apparently the bloodiest day of the civil war with 4000 troops killed in one day. The Union soldiers arrived into this peaceful farming village a few days before the battle and obviously had intelligence that the confederates were on their way. They set up their canons and fortifications in fields surrounding the village and wisely the locals took to their basements not to re-emerge until after the battle.

When the locals re-emerged they tended the wounded and dying of both sides. No locals were killed in the battle but some caught diseases from the wounded and succumbed to these. (Probably mostly typhoid)

We talked to a senior high school student who was there on a field trip, and he gave us a lot of information about what had transpired here and at Gettysburg. He said he had learnt some at school but had an interest in history so had read a lot regarding the events.

Because it was a milestone anniversary they had a type of re-enactment with Men in Union uniforms and firing of 2 canons 3 times. Quite a procedure so you wouldn’t get any rapid fire. Apparently when the Confederate troops arrived here many were shoeless having worn out their boots marching from further south. It wasn’t until after this battle that Abraham Lincoln started work on his statement of emancipation (freedom of slaves) which was really what the war was about.

We visited the museum, which was pretty low key, then headed out into the forest again heading North on our route. We were now in the Michaux State Forest which once again was huge – about 185,000 acres.

We were in and out of this and other forests all afternoon on really good quality gravel roads with linking sections on seal. Our bikes performed well, the roads were enjoyable to ride, with just enough challenging sections and we finished the day in Carlisle Pennsylvania after just over 300kms.

Once again, our motel was a few miles out of the town, so we rode in, walked the main street, and had an enjoyable meal on the sidewalk outside a noisy restaurant. All in all, another brilliant day made better by having solved our tyre problem.

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