Mel & Trinity

What a great three days In Pennsylvania, even with the thunderstorms and tornado warnings!

I left the gang in Harper’s Ferry on Sunday late afternoon with a heavy heart but I needed to get back on schedule. I arrived at Gettysburg around 6pm and managed to find an Inn in a central location. I had made a last minute Booking.com reservation so it was taking a little time for the booking to come through. I asked Laura at reception if I could leave my things at reception and head out for dinner, which she was happy about, so off I went.

As I’m quite fond of microbreweries, I chose the Appalachian Brewing Co. Brewpub and Grill for dinner. I had a steak dish and the Appalachian Ale – both were great!

Towards the end of my meal a couple from upstate New York, Kevin and Jeanne, came to sit at the bar next to me and we got chatting. Kevin used to serve in the coastguard, so they’d ridden in the Run for the Wall motorcycle rally in Washington DC the day before. I understand there were nearly half a million motorcycles on the ride. Wow! That must have been a sea of Harley Davidson’s. It’s definitely the most popular bike on the road in the USA.

Jeanne and Kevin were understandably tired so they didn’t stick around for long but it was lovely when they got in touch the next day! 😁

As luck would have it, the Memorial Day parade was taking place the next day at 2pm. I hadn’t planned to see that but it felt like something I couldn’t miss. I had a lazy morning and then started walking around town, the cemetery, the battlefield and went to the Museum of History. Gettysburg played such a fundamental part in US history that I felt lucky to be there on Memorial Day.

The parade was a lot of fun and it was interesting to see some of the uniforms of soldiers through the various ages. I moved closer to my hotel towards the end of the parade thinking that I’d make a hasty exit when it finished but then I ran into three Harley riders – Mike, Tom and Eric. All three were veterans (I think Mike was in the airforce, Tom in the army, while Eric was a marine). Eric reminded me of Sean Connery – he was incredibly handsome.

Tom was like a big teddybear and Mike was hilarious! He was telling me about a time when a swallow had hit him in the chest while on a ride and he was gasping to get his breathe back. Apparently it took a while – he had to pull off the road. He said when he looked down the swallow was on his lap doing the same thing – only it recovered faster and flew away. He was horrified! I told him that’s only because the swallow was tougher than him. 😂

I probably stood chatting to the guys for about half and hour before we parted ways. I thoroughly enjoyed their company and Mike was just pleased to see someone actually riding their BMW. He said that he sees them but normally in someone’s yard – not on the road. They wished me safe travels and I was off.

Below are some photos of the guys and the Gettysburg parade.

From Gettysburg I headed to Lancaster county. I wanted to see the Armish farms which Gordon and Gina had told me about when I stayed with them in Florida. I popped into Lancaster on my way to York but didn’t stay long as I wasn’t overly enthralled by the town. Their market was nice though!

Gordon had mentioned two places that I should go for lunch – Miller’s in Lancaster or Shady Maples in East Earl. As I wasn’t ‘feeling’ Lancaster I decided to seek out Shady Maple. For some reason Google Maps took me to the Sight and Sound Theatre in Lancaster – a Christiaan Theatre. It’s apparently a fantastic theatre. They were showing a production of Jesus but unfortunately not on that day, so Shady Maples it was.

A short ride from the Sight and Sound Theatre I saw a place called The Armish Village, so I decided to stop off there first. They had examples of Armish horse carts and farm equipment which was interesting to see. The bit I found a little odd was two young Armish ladies washing the floor by hand in the Village Store. I couldn’t help thinking, ‘where’s your mop’? There is keeping it simple and then there’s inefficiency. There was a little part of me that was wondering whether this was real or for show. I never got the answer to that question.

I had booked myself onto a 2 hour guided tour of the area, with tour guide Margaret. She drove our group of eight around the area, showing us the difference between the Armish and ‘English’ farms, and explaining the truth and fallacies about Armish culture.

I really like the Armish value of family – that I certainly share. What I definitely could not deal with is not ‘straying to far from home’. For this reason the Armish ride scooters instead of bicycles. ‘Hell no’, is all I could think!

The farms were immaculate and outside of the lack of tractors and other mechanical devices it was difficult to tell the Armish and English farms apart.

The one thing you definitely cannot miss in the area though is the scent of the Lancaster perfume – the smell of manure. Man, that took a bit of getting used to! It basically destroyed any fantasy I ever had at living on a ranch because I imagine it would smell the same.

I left for Shady Maples around 4pm and arrived there around 4.30pm for an early dinner.

Shady Maple is not quite what I was expecting. When Gordon said it’s an Armish restaurant I was expecting a quaint setting. This was not quaint! It felt more like a cruise ship dining hall, which also reflected the average age of the patrons. I expect that the food comes from the Armish farms but that it’s run by English, which is what the Armish call their non-Armish neighbours.

It was surf ‘n turf night, so I tried a selection of food. I’m not really a seafood fan but I thought it was worth a go. As it turned out I wasn’t that hungry and only managed a single plate of food and then I had a some jelly for dessert.

When I got outside to leave it was rain. Hmmm…I better check the weather. The first thing that popped up on Dark Sky, a weather app that I use, was a Tornado warning. WTF! Where did that come from.

I sat for a bit under cover and as soon as there was a break in the rain I ran to Trinity to get my waterproof trousers. I needed those for the hour ride back to my hotel in York.

The first 20 minutes of the ride was fine, the next 20 minutes was in the blistering rain with pretty strong wind, and fortunately the last 20 minutes was clear. If I had turned west instead of east after 40 minutes it would not have been pretty. The clouds in that direction looked angry!

When I arrived at the hotel I placed Trinity between two pillars outside the front door of the hotel. That would give her some protection from the wind and rain – hopefully it would be enough.

The severe weather warnings was until 10pm. I sat on my bed with the curtain open watching TV and watching the weather outside. Around 9pm the wind really picked up and then the lightening started. At a point the TV lost its signal and I was watching a little Samsung logo turning around on the TV saying ‘signal lost’. At this point I popped downstairs to see if Trinity was okay.

The thunderstorm was roaring but it was no Tornado. The receptionist said that if the weather got worse I could bring Trinity into the reception – it didn’t come to that. Just after 10pm things calmed down dramatically and I stopped looking outside.

Below are some photos of Lancaster County.

The reason I stayed in York for two nights was because I wanted to visit the Harley Davidson factory in York and the Steel Tour Tour was sold out on the Tuesday. I booked the Wednesday morning tour which started at 9.30am.

Unfortunately you’re not allowed to take photos of the factory but it was fantastic! I’ve never had a desire to be a factory worker but if I had to pick one this would definitely be up there. It was so interesting! I particularly loved the robots that ran on magnetic strip along the floor. The walkways are also controlled by a traffic light system which really appealed to the Transport Planner in me.

At the end of the tour I sat on six different Harley’s that were on display. I was slightly gutted they did not have the Fat Boy on the floor. I think I’m going to have to go and test ride one some day (not that I’ll be replacing Trinity anytime soon).

Below are a few photos at Harley Davidson, including Linda the tour guide.

I decided that I’d have a big ride and try and make it up to New Haven that night. I stopped at Quaker Steak and Lube in New Jersey for lunch, where I had a steak salad, which was probably one of my favourite meals to date. When I came outside I could see the rain was coming. It did about 30 minutes later and it did not stop.

It was 28 degrees Celsius when I was in New Jersey and it dropped to 14.5 degrees by the time I hit Connecticut. I was starting to get wet and cold so when I saw the traffic standing still ahead of me I decided to take the nearest exit. When I saw an undercover car park I pulled into it for cover so that I could put some warm clothes on.

I sat in that parking lot for a good 30 minutes watching the weather and looking at my accommodation options. There was a four star hotel opposite me but it was not in my trip budget. So I sat waiting for the rain to stop and being entertained by my friend Joa via WhatsApp. When the rain got harder rather than softer I decided I’d had enough of the rain and I booked a room in the Delamar hotel opposite me.

I walked into reception dripping like a downed rat. The guy at reception was so sweet! He kept offering me a towel but that wasn’t going to help much. It was taking time for the booking to come through Booking.com so he told me he’d put some towels down on the couch so that I could get comfortable. He then brought me bubbles. Woohoo! I had two glasses.

The hotel was beautiful! My room overlooked the harbour – sadly I didn’t get to enjoy my balcony.

After a shower I popped down to the bar and restaurant that was attacked to the hotel. I had put on the nicest clothes that I had with me and I was still underdressed.

The restaurant was really pricey. Luckily I’d had a late lunch so I had sliders and a glass of Prosecco. There was a band playing which I was enjoying so I ended up having a second glass. $52 later I called it a night. Yup, this evening was definitely not in the budget!

The hotel provided a very basic continental breakfast. I was a little disappointed with that but then I realised that none of the guests ate breakfast. A number grabbed a cup of coffee, nodded their heads and walked off. One lady grabbed a banana and a gentleman took a pasty. Nobody really spoke. I had taken a yogurt (one of the only 2% fat ones I could find as the rest were fat free – I bloody hate fat free food – it’s ‘plastic’ not real food) and some granola. I didn’t finish either. They were too sweet.

I sat in the lounge in this beautiful hotel overlooking the boats in the harbour, which was so idyllic, and thought that if I ever had money that I didn’t want to live like this. Give me real food and people that speak to each other any day!

The best part of my morning was speaking to Richard, the porter, as I left. He rides a street bike and we had a good chat before I left. Of course it helps to have a common interest.

From Greenwich it was a 1.5 hour ride to Groton, Connecticut, which is where I was heading to see the Nautilus – the first nuclear powered submarine. As I approached I saw signs for New London and thought I’d pop in there first to see what it looks like and get a photo with the sign. I live in London, UK, after all. I had to see what New London looked like.

I never found a sign in the town so I headed into Groton.

When I arrived in Groton I pulled off the road to see where the Nautilus was located. I had just stopped the bike and a truck (a Bakkie for the South Africans) pulled up next to me. This is how I met Richard.

Richard said he saw the foreign numberplate and had to say hi. He rides a Harley but sadly due to ill health never rides more than about 20 miles from his home. He said riding always makes him feel better so he rides all year round. I smiled and said, ‘Yes, riding is good for the soul’.

Richard told me of all the places that he always wanted to go but now wouldn’t make. He wanted to go to California, to Leeds in the UK and Jerusalem. My heart bled for him and I felt so blessed that my health was good and gave me such freedom of movement.

As it turned out, Richard worked on the Nautilus when it was still in service. How funny! He showed me how to get there, we took some photos, exchanged details and off I went.

Meet Richard.

The Nautilus is located next to the US Navy Submarine Base. After it was decommissioned it was turned into a Museum. The Museum building houses artefacts and facts about submarines during WW2, along with models of the submarines. I met Forrest at the museum. He is a submarine veteran. What a cheeky chap! I thoroughly enjoyed his company.

After lunch at the Groton Townhouse Restaurant, which had a great steak salad but a slightly somber waitress, I hit the road for Provincetown. I found a room in a nice place at a reasonable price so I wanted to ensure I didn’t lose it.

1.5 hours outside of Provincetown a truck pulling a boat jackknifed on a bridge, shutting the road. The cops turned all the traffic around and I went to wait at McDonalds. It took 2 hours to clear the road, so I eventually got to Provincetown at 9.30pm. It was raining so there was little point of going out. After a shower I jumped into bed. I wanted to be wide awake for the day that lay ahead.

I had heard so many good things about Provincetown – I couldn’t wait to see it. It definitely lives up to its reputation – more about that tomorrow though!