Baltimore to Lancaster

Saturday 19 July 1997

With work to finish, I'm unable to set off from Johns Hopkins till mid-morning. I take side streets east to the 45 (York Road) north, which becomes the 146 north at a fork in the road in Towson. I pass Loch Raven Reservoir and stop for a swim. (For future reference, it looks as if the water is easier to reach from the west end of the bridge.) At the far end of the reservoir, the road forks, and I follow the 146 (Jarretsville Pike) up a hill to the left. Just north of the reservoir, I pop the master link on my chain. I spend about forty-five minutes trying to mend it with a chain tool, but in the end I can't. I walk several miles to Phoenix, where I stop at a lawnmower store and speak with a nice guy named Tom. He used to work on bikes, and he calls around for me to find a bike shop close by. He points me to one about a mile and a half up the 146, next to a 7-11 on the right.

With a new chain and a lot of time to make up, I start out of Phoenix, an aptly named spot. The 146 merges with the 152, which terminates at Madonna, where I turn right onto the 23 and then left onto the 165, which becomes the 74 at the Pennsylvania border. There's a long stretch in northern Maryland and southern Pennsylvania without any stores to stop at for food or liquids. By the time I turn onto the 372 east and coast downhill to the Susquehanna River,

I'm feeling lethargic. The nice aspect of this terrain, though, is that there are a lot of small rivers and streams flowing through it, so it's easy to cool off by the side of the road. At one river I see a group of people tubing.

I come across the Susquehanna on the 372. After passing the Muddy Run nature preserve on the right, I turn left onto River Road. I'm absolutely parched by now, and when I see a family sitting out on their front steps, I stop and ask if they might fill my water bottle. We chat for a few minutes and I'm on my way again. I'm taking the hills very slowly, still not having had any food since Maryland. At the top of a steep hill on River Road, I turn right onto Drytown Road. This becomes Rawlinsville Road. I pass the Lancaster County Winery, which makes terrible wine. (Much better is the Twin Brook Winery, east of Lancaster on the 30.)

Less than a hundred yards south of Pennsy Road, Rawlinsville Road makes a right-angle turn left. (If you miss it, you come to a dead end at Pennsy Road, but you can turn left there and meet up with Rawlinsville Road again very shortly.) I stop at another house to get water, and chat with the old couple who live there, telling them about the summer teaching that I'm headed for. I ask them if there's a place nearby where I can get food, and they reassure me that once I hit the 272 there'll be a lot of stores. I thank them and head north again on Rawlinsville Road another mile or so, until it ends at Baumgarder Road, where I turn right. Baumgarder Road intersects the southbound lanes of the 272, and in order to save time and energy I turn onto the wide shoulder and head north rather than continuing on Baumgarder to the northbound lanes. My stratagem pays off: soon I see a Taco Bell on the right. It turns out that the young woman behind the counter and a couple of the customers are also bicyclists. The two customers own a tandem, and we talk about bikes and biking for a while.

I continue into Lancaster on the 272, which merges into the 222. At Walnut Street I turn left, and then at College Avenue I turn right. I cut left through the campus of Franklin and Marshall College to the staff dormitory, heave the bike up the stairs, and tell my story to my friends who are waiting there.