This year’s Chile Pedalers tour offered something quite different from our previous tours. We’re going East instead of West, green instead of brown, and fertile instead of barren. At the suggestion of Dennis and Lyndsey Morris, we planned three days of riding in the justly famous Pennsylvania Dutch country near Lancaster, followed by three days in Gettsyburg, with tours of the Civil War battlefield and surrounding countryside in PA and northern Maryland. Since we were not doing point-to-point rides, this gave us great flexibility of routes, options to ride or not, and the chance to just take a whole day to lazily explore the area in detail. Dennis and Lyndsey spent about a month in the area checking out routes and restaurants, and put together fantastic cue sheets for each day’s ride. It must be nice to be retired!

We had six tandem teams for the tour: Chile Pedalers regulars dede Collins and Dennis Cooper (dede made all the hotel arrangements), Lee and Dean Marvin, Edel and Tom Mayer, and Vicki and Rick Thompson. Chile Pedalers founders, Dennis and Lyndsey fit us into their heavy cross-continent cycling schedule. We were also joined by a delightful couple from Clinton, NY – Jerry and Betsy Wilson. As usual the whole thing was made possible by Rick’s ingenuity and willingness to get our bikes across the country. In preparation for their future wanderings, Rick installed a large box behind the cab of their truck, capable of carrying at least four tandems and a motorcycle. They hauled this along with their fifth-wheel, while Dennis and dede accompanied them in their minivan. The Marvins and Mayers flew to Baltimore and rented a car for the week, so we had plenty of ground transportation available once we all got there.

Our first gathering point was Lititz, a small town about 10 miles north of Lancaster. Although Lititz barely shows up on PA state maps, it seemed pretty big by NM standards. The whole area is pretty heavily populated even though it is primarily an agricultural region. The Warwick Inn would be our home for four nights – a comfortable, new motel of the standard variety, with an excellent Italian restaurant next door.

Day 1. “Silk City Diner Ride” (42 mi., 2800’ climb)

We followed a circuitous route to the east of Lititz, designed to keep us off major highways and take us through picturesque farmland, over covered bridges, and through small communities, to deliver us to the morning’s objective – food, of course. The weather was beautiful, and the traffic light as were wandered the country roads. It was a new experience for us to actually have to pay attention to the cue sheet, however. The multitude of turns, and roads that generally do not go in straight lines or keep the same name, made it imperative to pay attention. This gave the stokers something to do, but was bit of a challenge for us old farts without our bifocals. By the time we got to the lunch stop, we had gone 26 miles and made 32 turns – more than you’d make in a month in NM. By the second or third day we’d be pretty good at following the cue sheet, but this morning it was a bit of a distraction.

This area is on the edge of the main Amish population east of Lancaster. We passed a number of horse-drawn buggies, and learned quickly to identify the Amish farms – large, prosperous, no electric wires, big gardens, lots of kids, distinctive dress, and horse-drawn farm machinery. One thing they don’t tell you in the tourist literature, however, is that late May is the peak of manure spreading season. We were to have an aromatic tour.

At noon we arrived at the Silk City Diner for lunch. This is a popular NJ-style diner made from an old railroad car. (Apparently the original rail car was made in Patterson, NJ – the Silk City, hence the name, but no silkworms were in evidence.) The highlight of the very large menu were two refrigerated cases full of fattening looking deserts, which proved irresistible to most of us. This was not a good omen for completing the rest of the ride in top form, but we soon adjusted our outlook of what constituted a successful ride to include a big mid-ride lunch. The afternoon portion of the ride provided more rolling terrain, with some wooded areas and couple of substantial hills. Snavely Mill Rd, in particular, presented us with a steep climb, followed by an easy roll back to the motel.

Edel’s bird-watching duties had to compete with following the cue sheet. She also found bird spotting more difficult because of all the trees. It was hard to get a good look at things. We were delighted, however, with the chance to see all the eastern species we seldom see in NM, and with the sheer number of birds we saw and heard all along the weeks’ routes, particularly in wooded areas. Today’s Bird-of-the-Day was a common merganser, seen unexpectedly on a small stream early in the ride. We also discovered that Lyndsey is great at taking photos from the back of the bike. With a number of digital cameras in the group, we were able to review all the day’s photos that evening. Consequently, Edel and I took only a few old-fashioned film pictures.

The Morris’s arranged dinner this evening at an Amish dairy farm near Lititz. We were treated to a hearty home-cooked meal of mostly homegrown foods, and a pleasant introduction to Amish farm life. The mother, Naomi King, and teenage daughter welcomed us and prepared and served us dinner, while the rest of the family were still at work with their chores. She was also quite happy to answer our questions about Amish traditions and way of life. They are trying very hard to maintain their old ways with minimal modern conveniences. They are remarkably successful at it, by virtue of lots of hard work. By design, their way of life offers little in the way of education, or opportunities to interact with the rest of the world. It seems a healthy and wholesome lifestyle, but overly restrictive from my point of view.

The evening ended with a beer at Rick and Vicki’s RV campground – for a peek at an entirely different lifestyle.

Day 2. “Heritage Ride” (56 mi., 2300’ climb)

Today’s route took us into the heart of Amish country, following lightly traveled farm roads, with as many horse-drawn buggies as cars, no real hills, and lots of turns. Thankfully we’re getting more comfortable with the cue sheet, and can relax and enjoy the countryside more. Our first stop was at the Ephrata Cloister, a reconstructed religious settlement from the early 18^th century. The cloister was founded by a religious fanatic who gathered a devoted group around him to live an ascetic, monastic life. As with most groups that espouse celibacy as a virtue, they had a hard time reproducing themselves. Eventually people found the demanding lifestyle a bit too rigorous, and the community died out. The local Indians called the community the ‘den of snakes’, which gave the local area it’s current name – Cocalico Township. The restoration preserves a unique frontier community and gives us a glimpse of a failed lifestyle. 

From there we wandered south towards Strasburg, through farmland heavily populated by Amish folk. This area is also popular with the tourists who come for the picturesque landscape, and unique lifestyle and crafts of the Amish. We stopped at farm stands and bought rhubarb jam, and came across a group of cyclists on a ‘Backroads’ tour. They looked like a pretty overweight, inexperienced bunch on hybrid bikes, but obviously enjoying their tour.  Many of the horse-drawn buggies we saw on the road here were actually tourist wagons, hauling people around to the Amish craft shops.

One of the prime destinations was the railroad museum just east of Strasburg, which a number of folks wanted to see. We stopped for lunch at a tourist trap named the ‘Choo Choo Barn’ next to the museum. Despite the unpromising name and junk store, the restaurant was very good. Somehow Jerry and Betsy missed seeing the group pulled in at the Choo Choo Barn, and continued riding into Strasburg. We didn’t see them for the rest of the day. But they also had a nice lunch in Strasburg and an enjoyable ride back to Lititz. While most of the group headed for the museum after lunch, Edel and I took a tour of Strasburg – a touristy town of restored Victorian homes, lots of shops, and lots of traffic. Leaving Strasburg, we passed the Caboose Motel, where you can stay in your own caboose, stopped for a pee at the Toy Train Museum (not as popular as the real train museum), and passed a lot of farms with the names Stolzfus and Smucker on the mailbox. The postman must have a real challenge keeping them all straight. We also stopped at a big yard sale put on by a bunch of Amish families. Mostly the usual stuff, minus the electrical appliances, but containing lots of roller blades and skates. It turns out that Amish kids aren’t allowed to have bicycles, but roller skates and foot-powered scooters are quite popular.

We bypassed the farm museum on the way back, and wandered through more farmland, over another covered bridge, and through a very well-to-do suburb of Lancaster before arriving back in Lititz just in time to get an ice cream cone before the shops closed. We found a promising establishment called Edel’s Deli, but unfortunately they were already closed. 

Bird-of-the-Day: Baltimore oriole.

Day 3. “Cornwall Furnace Ride” (48 mi., 2800‘ climb)

The day started with a short ride into Lititz for breakfast at the Gen. Sutter Hotel. It’s a nice old place with a sumptuous breakfast menu – a big improvement over the ‘complimentary breakfast’ at the motel. The scrapple I was anticipating all week wasn’t up to snuff, however. Here we suffered our first injury of the trip. There are different versions of the story, but here is how I understand it. In the mens’ rest room at the hotel there was an old claw-foot bath tub with a female mannequin in it luring us with her charms. She apparently charmed Rick into trying to get in with her, resulting in a nasty fall and massive bruise on his butt. The Sunday morning breakfast crowd was then treated to the spectacle of Vicki ministering to his wounds on the sidewalk.

The weather was foggy and misty for the morning portion of our ride, but it had little effect as we headed NW from Lititz into more hilly and wooded terrain than previous. We had a long stretch through a state game preserve of beautiful forest, peaceful roads, and abundant birdsong. All through the forest we heard the beautiful song of the wood thrush, definitely the Bird-of-the-Day. This eastern version of our hermit thrust, and cousin to the robin, is seldom seen, but easily heard in deep forest. When you hear a wood thrush you know you are in a fantastic place. Also, after hearing cardinals all over the past couple days, we finally saw one. Thereafter we were seeing cardinals everywhere.

We arrived at Mt. Gretna a bit early for lunch, but the promise of food and the pleasant forest surroundings made it a delightful place to hang out for a while until the restaurant opened. Mt. Gretna is an old summer resort community with a large playhouse and Chatauqua Hall. It is still a vibrant summer attraction. The restaurant had great crab-vegetable soup, but lousy pork barbeque. 

After lunch we took a tour of the old Cornwall Furnace, one of only two intact charcoal-fired iron furnaces. The furnace produced pig iron using ore from a nearby mine, and charcoal made from the surrounding forest. The furnace was in operation until 1860, and the mine closed only in 1972. The furnace was restored in the 1940’s, and gives an excellent view of the operation of an old iron works. I think this falls into the category of jobs you’d least like to have. The adjacent miners’ town was a lot nicer than what we’ve come to associate with mining towns in the west. Impressive, substantial stone houses have withstood the passage of time and are now occupied by affluent yuppies.

Our peaceful ride back to Lititz included a 10 mile detour to cross another covered bridge, and a nice snack break next to an old mill pond. Our leisurely pace got us back to town just after the ice cream shop closed, however, and we could only watch with envy as Rick and Vicki enjoyed their cones. Dennis and dede and Jerry and Betsy were the last ones in, arriving just as the skies opened with a good thundershower.

Day 4. “Orchard Tour”

Today (Memorial Day) we transferred to Gettysburg after breakfast – about an hour and a half drive. Edel had caught an annoying cold early in the trip, and breathing was becoming more difficult, so we decided not to ride today. You’ll have to get the ride description from someone else. We did drive through the area west of Gettysburg which the route took, and it looked like very lovely rolling foothills with lots of orchards and small farms. Instead of a ride, we took a drive to places where Edel lived and worked nearly thirty years ago in nearby Chambersburg and South Mountain. The old places inspired no longing to return.

When we returned to the hotel, we found out that Jerry and Betsy had taken a bad fall as a result of hitting a dog that ran in front of them. They were a bit scraped up, but managed to ride back to the hotel. Unfortunately, their tour was over as Jerry had banged his knee pretty badly. He was in a leg splint and on crutches until they could get home to see an orthopedist. They were in remarkably good spirits that evening as we gathered at the elegant Farnsworth House in Gettysburg for dinner.

Our motel was the Eisenhower Inn, about 5 mi. south of Gettysburg. It was a big place but seemed mostly empty. We had all of four rooms, which rated a welcome on the lighted marquee out by the road. The only other folks staying there seemed to be an antique Ford club, who were having a flea market of old Ford parts out in the parking lot. We were looking for a good hood ornament to put on the tandem, but didn’t find anything suitable. The hotel staff were pretty strange, acting as if they were booked solid, when in reality the place was empty, and hardly anyone was working there. I suspect they’ll be out of business before long. But we all agreed that it still beat the (A)Bandon Beach Motel. Dede was much relieved. 

Dennis & dede’s addendum:

The Orchard Tour, 3 bikes rode to the Adams County Winery where Lyndsey served cheese, salsa and crackers that she bought and carried to have with our cold drinks bought from the winery. The Thompsons and ourselves bought wine and presentos for people back home which we had to carry back. They were worth it though.  This particular day (Memorial Day) was crowded with activities in Gettysburg so Dennis and Lyndsey planned this ride to avoid the traffic, which was very successful.  The back roads were mostly empty.  They also had a short and long version (38 and 48 miles respectively) of the ride.  dede and I had decided to do the short version, but  I folded the cue sheets together, and when dede turned the cue sheet over, we were on the long ride without knowing it.  At about 35 miles we discovered this fact, but decided it was shorter to finish the ride rather than back track to where we deviated from the short version.  I learned not to put two cue sheets together and then fold them neatly to fit in the plastic bag that Dennis and Lyndsey provided.

Day 5. “Gettysburg Battlefield Ramble” (35 mi., 1000’ climb)

Lyndsey had arranged a guided bike tour of the battlefield for late in the afternoon, which gave us virtually the whole day to explore the town and park at our leisure. Edel was still feeling the effects of her cold, and I was starting to have symptoms as well, so we departed at a very slow pace, well after the others. It was a pretty soggy morning, misty and cool, but no rain. Our route took us on a beautiful meandering route from the hotel to town, where we stopped at the battlefield visitor center. This was pretty much a zoo, so we didn’t stay long, but took a brief tour of the town then headed for coffee and a sandwich at Reed’s Coffeehouse. Dennis had recommended a stop here on the day’s cue sheet, and it was well deserved. Reed runs a friendly little coffee and used book shop where you can easily waste the whole day. We don’t see how he can possibly stay in business, but he cheerily served his few customers who seemed to be regulars for the most part. The featured sandwich was named after a local hero of the Civil War era, who is known as the “most famous unknown American”. I can’t remember his name either, but he was a firebrand abolitionist, as well known as Lincoln in the 1850’s and 60’s. I’m not sure what he would think about having a roast beef sandwich named after him.

After lunch we followed one of the auto tour routes of the battlefield, which took us on a big loop around town, along the Confederate lines, to the areas of major action along the Union lines, and finally back to the visitor center. Along the way we passed memorials to every unit that fought in the battle, and statues of major figures. Along the way we also passed the “Eternal Flame Peace Memorial”. It struck us as rather absurd to erect monuments to ‘peace’ at the sight of the bloodiest battles in our country’s history. We seem to hold our failures in reverence. We have no memorials to the wars that didn’t happen, which would be a much more significant achievement.

We got back to the visitor center in time for our guided tour, led by Tim Smith, a Civil War historian. He’s not much of a cyclist, but very knowledgeable about the people and events of the Gettysburg battle. He took us on a two hour tour of some of the most important areas of the battlefield and filled us in on many of the details of the action and personalities involved. He also gave us a good history of the development of the park and placement of all the monuments. The three day battle that was fought here has remained an enduring part of our country’s psyche for nearly 150 years. Despite being the object of a thriving tourist trade, the battlefield is maintained as a sober reflection of the realities of the Civil War, and the many thousands who lost their lives here.

Following a leisurely day of cycling and history (avg. speed for the day = 9.8 mi./hr.), we beat a retreat to the hotel for a nice dinner of pizza, salad, wine and beer in the hotel garden. Jerry and Betsy had spent the day resting and visiting town a bit, joined us for dinner, and planned to leave for NY in the morning. He seemed to be doing quite well, which gave us hope that his knee wasn’t as badly injured as first feared. 

Bird-of-the-Day: red headed woodpecker (I don’t think it was Woody, however.)

Day 6.  “PA/MD Metric Century” (63 mi., ~3200’ climb)

It started out cool and hazy this morning, but no real threat of rain. The route heads south from Gettysburg into northern Maryland, with a lunch stop at Thurmont, near Camp David. Edel was doing better today, but my breathing was getting worse, so we decided to do the short version of the route (52 mi. instead of 63). We rode with the group until the shortcut turnoff at 26 mi., then ambled slowly to the lunch stop, knowing we had plenty of time to get there. The route went through rolling, wooded, very lovely countryside. Selecting a Bird-of-the-Day was difficult due the many interesting birds we saw. We’ll call it a tie between the eastern kingbird and the brown thrasher. We don’t see them in NM, and we saw both in such abundance today to fix them in our memories for quite a while.  There weren’t any big hills, but we used all our gears on the many small rollers. The long route riders got a couple sizable climbs as well as a covered bridge and a stop at Catoctin Furnace, before arriving at the Cozy Restaurant in Thurmont for lunch.

The Cozy Restaurant is part of a larger group of pretty tacky shops and tourist traps. But it sure is popular, mainly for their all-u-can-eat buffet for $7. Their real claim to fame is their proximity to Camp David, and all of the presidential entourage that stops in. It looked like no actual president had eaten there, but they had lots of stuff about their guests, press corps, etc. I guess if you can’t sponge a meal off the government, the Cozy is the next best thing! We ate all we could (the bread pudding and rhubarb pie were outstanding), then got back on the bikes to head back to Gettysburg. It was only 19 miles back to the hotel, with no real challenges, so we all returned none the worse for wear considering the big lunch.

This was our last day of cycling for the tour, so we celebrated our accomplishments with a fantastic meal at a restaurant in Frederick, MD, about 45 min. south of Gettysburg.

Epilogue

Thursday morning everyone headed in different directions. Dennis and Lyndsey to their so-called home in Florida; Dean to BWI and back to work; Edel and I to Virginia to visit friends and relatives; Dennis and dede, Rick and Vicki, and Lee to NYC for a bit more vacation before heading home. 

This tour was so well organized by Dennis and Lyndsey that it will be hard to duplicate. We had better routes, cue sheets, and information about restaurants and local attractions than you get on most commercial tours. It was a real treat for us desert rats to ride in the lush farmland and forests of the East Coast. The landscape was equally pleasing in a different sort of way than we are accustomed to. The riding was perhaps not as strenuous as past tours, but was compensated by interesting places to visit, and things to do. As is our custom, we consumed far more calories than we burned, so we have to go home and get in shape again.

We all owe a big thank you to Dennis and Lyndsey for the organization, dede for hotel reservations, and Rick and Vicki for bike transportation. We also hope that Jerry and Betsy are now well recovered from their accident and back on the bike. 

We’ll soon start gathering suggestions for next year’s tour. 

dede’s comment:

Rick will not be able to take our bikes again so we have to remember that in our planning.