Columbus Day '08 - Gettysburg Ride

The weather reports leading up to Columbus Day looked promising, so I put the word out to the newly formed Columbia Christian Cycles to see if anybody was game for a ride to Gettysburg. I received positive responses from two of the guys (Fred & Mike) so we made the appropriate plans and got ready to ride. Fred and I met at South Columbia Baptist Church at 9am and headed out to rendezvous with Mike along the way.

The traffic wasn't too bad as we jumped onto Rt. 32 west and rolled on out to Pfefferkorn Road where we turned left for a little shortcut over to Rt. 144 where we turned left to continue west. I was pleased to see that 144 was freshly resurfaced which made our short ride out to Rt. 97 north all the more enjoyable. I really like Rt. 144; I could ride roads like that all day long! There are plenty of little towns to go through which allow for gas'n and go'n and the occasional refreshment stop. But I digress...

We went on up north on Rt. 97 until arriving at Rt. 26 where we turned left in the direction of Libertytown. About a mile down the road, we stopped at Metzler's Nursery where we hooked up with Mike and his shiny new Suzuki V-Strom. Continuing west, we hit Libertytown where we turned right onto Rt. 550 towards Woodsboro. Arriving in Woodsboro shortly thereafter, we did a quick gas & go stop before turning onto Rt. 194 towards Taneytown. This was a good road to ride, but we got stuck behind some 18-wheeler's and a farm tractor dragging a rather large implement of the cultivator type.

Reaching Taneytown, we had to sit for patiently whilst an 18-wheeler tried to figure out how to turn onto Rt. 194 without taking out some cars or the traffic lights. The delay gave us a moment to discuss how we hadn't seen any election signs for a particular candidate since we'd left Howard County.

Turning left on Rt. 140, we navigated some major road work for a short time until coming up to Harney Road where we turned right and headed for the PA line. This was a great road! I'd been on it once in the Avalanche but I'd forgotten about the nice twists and curves that this road offers. I'm sure sport bikers would yawn at it but it was a lot of fun on my cruiser. Harney becomes PA Rt. 134 (a.k.a. Taneytown Road) at the state line and it continues along to Gettysburg. This was probably my favorite road of the day; a nice two-lane highway through the country with very little traffic until you get into Gettysburg proper.

We rolled into town and went right to our lunch destination, the Springhouse Tavern which is part of the Dobbin House Tavern on Steinwehr Avenue. The place was built back in 1776 and I think the Springhouse Tavern really hasn't changed all that much over the centuries since. You really get the feeling that you're in a very old place when you go down the narrow stairs and come into the relatively dark and cramped pub area. Their website (www.dobbinhouse.com) says that the Springhouse is “...cozy and romantic...” but when you're with two biker buds, I'd prefer that it would say something like “cool old joint where you can get some good chow.” When I'm there with my wife, then it's “cozy and romantic!” Word of advice: get there early. The doors open at 11:30am. It was packed at 11:50am. I learned that lesson the hard way on a previous ride to the 'burg.

After lunch, we rolled on over to the new Visitor's Center for a quick look around. We thought about buying a ticket to get in and check the joint out, but the weather was just too nice to be inside so we got back on the bikes and rolled around the battlefield for a while. We enjoyed the views and considered the events that had transpired on that hallowed ground – until a handful of deer exploded across the road right in front of us. I hadn't seen deer move that fast since that last time I'd missed one in buck season. These critters were moving like they'd seen a Reb ghost out in the field.

We decided to head back toward home so we got going south on Emmitsburg Road toward Rt. 15. After a quick stop at Rider's Edge Yamaha (to allow me to droll over the beautiful Royal Star Venture in the showroom), we pointed our noses south and headed toward home. We took Rt. 15 south as far as Rt. 140, where we jumped off and got moving toward Taneytown and Westminster. Rt. 140 between Emmitsburg and Westminster is a great road (with the exception of hang-ups in Taneytown) but to add to the fun, hop onto the Old Taneytown Road (Rt. 832) at the roundabout just past Taneytown. It runs parallel to Rt. 140 and is a little more scenic.

The rest of the ride was relatively uneventful. We took Rt. 97 south at Westminster and Mike jumped off when he got close to home. Fred and I went on back to Rt. 144 east and cut across to Clarksville on Folly Quarter Rd. We split up at Clarksville and headed back to our respective HQ's and called it a day. All in all, we put just about 150 miles on the bikes on the round trip from/to Columbia.

I missed my CMA chapter's “Fall Foliage Ride” because I was away on business, but this ride more than made up for any of the sights that I may have missed. The scenery was just spectacular! The trees are turning, but there's still plenty of green left up high which really adds to the beautiful reds, oranges and yellow's that are really showing right now. The weather was absolutely perfect for the ride; cool enough for chaps in the morning but warm enough for the t-shirt in the afternoon. Makes me wish I had a few more vacation days to take so I could do some more fall rides.

This was the first ride for our newly-formed Columbia Christian Cycles. We're hoping to get the word out about our group so more Christian brother and sister bikers in the Columbia area can join us for rides and fellowship and most importantly, introduce Christ to the unchurched biker community around us through our testimony and relationship with Christ and each other. Contact Chuck Dean at srchiefchuck@gmail.com for more information.