Post by Husky23 on Jul 2, 2006 14:33:51 GMT -8
...and a two day cycle trip ;D
I picked up, and had installed, my panniers on Saturday from the Triumph dealer in Frederick, Maryland…those color matching hard bags for my Triumph that I got free with my purchase of the bike. Makes the rig look abit fat in the ass, but all too handy for road trips…as I added that in as well after the install; shedding my backpack and stowing it in the panniers, as I prepared for the next leg of my historical trip.
Figuring I was heading north 70 or so miles anyway (and into the heart of General Lee’s Northern campaign); I reserved the penthouse suite at the ‘Inn At Antietam’ in Sharpsburg, Maryland. A wonderful Bed and Breakfast house built in 1908 and adjacent to the National Cemetery in Sharpsburg. A Bob and Charles own it and they were quite nice and very accommodating. I arrived by back country roads, getting lost once, and having a bicyclists run into the back of my Triumph at a country road stop sign…go figure, huh? (No damage at all to my mount…and it worked out after he got up…because he pointed my in the right direction to Sharpsburg). Also, by a stroke of luck, Sharpsburg, or rather the US Park service put on a fire works display that evening. Bob and Charles told me that the Park Service provides bus shuttles to and from the main battlefield for viewing but it can get really congested…and indicated many people go to the city cemetery (which happens to be directly across the street from the national cemetery) to view the fire works.
Where I stayed (and I'd recommend it):
Since I arrived in Sharpsburg abit later then intended, due to a new mechanic having a conniption fit mounting the racks and hard bags, and Bob and Charles said many parts of the Antietam Battlefield will be closing soon to prepare for the concert and fireworks, I decided to clean up, take a short nap, and hike down a couple of blocks to ‘Captain Benders’ Grill and Tavern and pound a few beers back. As evening approached and dusk was near…I got a couple of beers to go and stuffed em into my thigh pockets…then headed back to do a walk through of the National Cemetery, timing it well so all I’d have to do is walk across the street shortly before 2130 to grab a patch of grass covering a long lost dead person and watch the fire works.
Oddly, that was kinda neat, perching myself, as many couples and kids did the same, on the gentle slope in side the cemetery facing the battlefield for a 4th of July fireworks celebration…amongst the dead. Appropriate, I thought, and especially so as the fireworks commenced; with the flashes of multicolored lights and the booms and bangs ricocheting off the hillsides. My mind drifted…imagining a lone soldier on sentry or holding the line at night as a battle rages near or nearing during our nations own fight for independence, the Civil War or any battle Americans have participated…it gave me pause…and a deep sense of incredible gratitude for those, past and present, that even now defend our nation from attack and sacrificed their lives to maintain our liberty.
Thank you.
Then after the show, I again trotted back down to the ‘Captain’s ‘watering hole and downed a few more beers, just relaxing and allowing all (or some anyway) the stresses of work, home and family to wash away…awaiting for the morning to visit the battlefield of the bloodiest single day on our Civil War.
The Map
Dunkard Church (Then & now w/ a disable cannon and several dead Confederate soldiers laying near)
Bloody Lane...I remember a Civil War photo of stacks of dead piling this trench
Go here to read some about it: www.nps.gov/anti/
Then, of course...a monument.....ROFL
I picked up, and had installed, my panniers on Saturday from the Triumph dealer in Frederick, Maryland…those color matching hard bags for my Triumph that I got free with my purchase of the bike. Makes the rig look abit fat in the ass, but all too handy for road trips…as I added that in as well after the install; shedding my backpack and stowing it in the panniers, as I prepared for the next leg of my historical trip.
Figuring I was heading north 70 or so miles anyway (and into the heart of General Lee’s Northern campaign); I reserved the penthouse suite at the ‘Inn At Antietam’ in Sharpsburg, Maryland. A wonderful Bed and Breakfast house built in 1908 and adjacent to the National Cemetery in Sharpsburg. A Bob and Charles own it and they were quite nice and very accommodating. I arrived by back country roads, getting lost once, and having a bicyclists run into the back of my Triumph at a country road stop sign…go figure, huh? (No damage at all to my mount…and it worked out after he got up…because he pointed my in the right direction to Sharpsburg). Also, by a stroke of luck, Sharpsburg, or rather the US Park service put on a fire works display that evening. Bob and Charles told me that the Park Service provides bus shuttles to and from the main battlefield for viewing but it can get really congested…and indicated many people go to the city cemetery (which happens to be directly across the street from the national cemetery) to view the fire works.
Where I stayed (and I'd recommend it):
Since I arrived in Sharpsburg abit later then intended, due to a new mechanic having a conniption fit mounting the racks and hard bags, and Bob and Charles said many parts of the Antietam Battlefield will be closing soon to prepare for the concert and fireworks, I decided to clean up, take a short nap, and hike down a couple of blocks to ‘Captain Benders’ Grill and Tavern and pound a few beers back. As evening approached and dusk was near…I got a couple of beers to go and stuffed em into my thigh pockets…then headed back to do a walk through of the National Cemetery, timing it well so all I’d have to do is walk across the street shortly before 2130 to grab a patch of grass covering a long lost dead person and watch the fire works.
Oddly, that was kinda neat, perching myself, as many couples and kids did the same, on the gentle slope in side the cemetery facing the battlefield for a 4th of July fireworks celebration…amongst the dead. Appropriate, I thought, and especially so as the fireworks commenced; with the flashes of multicolored lights and the booms and bangs ricocheting off the hillsides. My mind drifted…imagining a lone soldier on sentry or holding the line at night as a battle rages near or nearing during our nations own fight for independence, the Civil War or any battle Americans have participated…it gave me pause…and a deep sense of incredible gratitude for those, past and present, that even now defend our nation from attack and sacrificed their lives to maintain our liberty.
Thank you.
Then after the show, I again trotted back down to the ‘Captain’s ‘watering hole and downed a few more beers, just relaxing and allowing all (or some anyway) the stresses of work, home and family to wash away…awaiting for the morning to visit the battlefield of the bloodiest single day on our Civil War.
The Map
Dunkard Church (Then & now w/ a disable cannon and several dead Confederate soldiers laying near)
Bloody Lane...I remember a Civil War photo of stacks of dead piling this trench
Go here to read some about it: www.nps.gov/anti/
Then, of course...a monument.....ROFL
