Not sure why we make plans, we never follow them

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We woke up refreshed after a night in the motel where we all had our own double beds, with clean sheets and a shower that actually has hot water. A continental breakfast later and we were on the road again.
The plan for the day was . . . . . Let's just stop there. There's no point saying what the plan for the days was because it changed so often. The Camouflage ManThe day started with a 3km climb out of town. Dave, Jeff and I were on the road and Tom was in the car. Off we went. At the top of the climb Dave and I waited for Jeff to get to the top. And he never turned up. We waited a few minutes and when we didn't see him come into sight we thought we'd better go back down to look for him. When we descended all the way back down and hadn't found him we were a little worried. We were about to start climbing up again when Tom turned up in the RV. Jeff had watched us ride by from the other side of the road, without calling out, as he changed his flat tyre. He assumed we'd seen him and just wanted to ride down the hill and climb up again. Yeah right! We believe he saw us coming and jumped into the bushes so we wouldn't see him, just to make us climb up that hill again. A Change of plansDave drove the second leg of the morning. When we pulled over it was noted that we were close to Gettysburg, the scene of a critical Civil War Battle that had its anniversary today. The boys decided we should change our route and ride to Gettysburg and have a look. As we rode I had my second mechanical event in as many days. In fact this one was as of a consequence of yesterday's. My joining pin on my chain had bent and my chain wouldn't spin on the jockey wheels at the back. A call to the RV and Dave was back with a new joiner link and we were back on our way. Dave then took the RV to a dump station to empty the grey and black water as we rode on. He called us on the phone as he had found out all the info on the battle re-enactments that we're going on. Tom, Jeff and I turned around and rode back to him. We all jumped in the RV and drove to the re-enactment site, we parked the RV and lined up to go in. Then we were told of the $35 entry fee per person. No one was too keen on paying that when we only planned on staying for about 30 minutes so we jumped in the RV and headed to Gettysburg for lunch. As well as lunch we had a look through a Civil War Museum. We are well and truly in Confederate territory. It's like they still begrudge losing the war. They fly the confederate flag as much as the American one. Not another Wrong turnAfter lunch we punched in the next towns, Hanover and then Manchester, into the GPS and Tom, Dave and I headed off with Jeff in the car. There was a massive tail wind and we made great time. It was only 24kms away and Jeff led us in the RV. At the end of the leg when we punched in the next town we realised we were way off course. We had punched in Manchester, Pennsylvania instead of Manchester, Maryland. Both Manchester's were the same distance from Hanover, so we didn't realise at the time. Back into the RV we all piled in and off we went to the correct Manchester in Maryland to start riding again, this time without a massive tail wind. Something to CelebrateOn the second last leg we finally had something significant to celebrate. We racked up 3000kms for the trip. We're not finished until tomorrow but this was certainly worth recording. When we got to the spot I knocked on the door of the house we were in front of and asked the man there to take our photo and he willingly obliged. People have been so friendly over here. Still can't get the RV Parks rightWe drove into Mt Airy quite late due to our chequered day and started the hunt for an RV Park. We ended up at a golf course. We then followed some golfers who said they could help with directions and, well, in the end we ended up back in a Walmart's carpark. This is getting ridiculous. And so the time has comeTomorrow, all things going to plan (did I really just write that?)' we will finish our epic ride across the USA in Annapolis. It's starting to sink in as to how big an accomplishment this is, but more about that tomorrow when we actually finish. And one more change of plansWe're now finishing our ride in Annapolis instead of Washington. We decided that there is no reason to double back from the coast to Washington so long as we all ride at least 3000kms. We'll stay in Annapolis tOmorrow night and celebrate and then travel to Washington on the morning of July 4th for the Independence Day Parade and partying.

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