MD: Tag

[ibike2havefun]

I had to ride out to Hagerstown today and figured its been awhile since I got any tags in. I tell you what, an ice cream stop in Middletown on a Saturday afternoon is a busy place!

Welcome back to the game after your time on the bench. Nice move, too- seems that area is a popular spot for tag drops. I am already scheming and planning for future raids myself. Hoping to get out there this coming weekend; anyone else want to "tag" along if I do? Blrfl? KenKeni? Anyone? Bueller?

 

[Blrfl]

Hoping to get out there this coming weekend; anyone else want to "tag" along if I do? Blrfl? KenKeni? Anyone? Bueller?

I got out for a nice ride yesterday, but the quarry was my folks' place in Columbia by way of 28, 85, 80 and Brighton Dam Road. Since I was up at the monument in April when Moddy trekked through there, someone else can move it.

My daughter is up to her ears in marching band, which makes me the same by extension, but we do need to get a RTE together before the summer is out.

--Mark

 

[ibike2havefun]

Steve (TerranSin) put the tag here:



and this morning I moved it a couple miles south:



Hard to see in the morning light, but the monument stone itself is the tag. Parking to compose a shot can be a bit of a challenge; I'll accept anything that is clearly recognizable as being in the right vicinity even if it's a different angle.

Here's a better shot of the monument itself:



And the nearby historical marker signs in case you are interested:



I also strolled a few hundred feet into the woods, following the path along the crest of the ridge to the monument at the spot where a CSA NC unit stood and died in an attempt to slow the Union advance. It was easy to imagine the yells, shooting, shouting, and mayhem of battle in the trees where powder smoke would have been drifting in and out and making an already chaotic situation even more surreal. Quite an experience just to visit. Although it's a relatively little-known spot it is well-tended and worth the visit. Plus, the roads to get to it are great riding.

 

[DaveY]

Interesting place to visit...


New tag is a historical place of a different sort.

 

[ibike2havefun]

Dave-

OutSTanding! I've been past the new tag many times, but always on my bicycle. (Can tags be moved by human-powered vehicles?)

 

[Blrfl]

Can tags be moved by human-powered vehicles?

Only if you're lugging your ST along, 'cause it has to be in the picture.

--Mark

 

[ibike2havefun]

What a great day for a ride!

I'll see your steel truss bridge...

and raise you an historic stone one:

This is probably the most well-known bridge to have played a part in the Civil War.

(Be prepared to scramble up a steep hill slope if you are going to try to duplicate the angle in the money shot.)

 

[Terran Sin]

Old- Burnside's Bridge, Sharpsburg at Antietam Battlefield.

Nice tag pick Keith! I was a bit late to catch this when the leaves were at peak color. But the park itself is always neat to ride through and the roads in the area are very hilly and a blast.

New- Okay, I spent all my time joyriding and couldn't settle on where to go for the new tag. Suddenly the shadows got long, the temps dropped and my ride home became the priority. This should be very easy. How many river rafting places could Maryland have anyway? I parked on the side of the road and it was a little bit of an odd angle. The rafting company building is neat looking and while the parking there also has an angle it may be easier to back in and shoot that instead.

 

[ibike2havefun]

Nice! Now I have some research to do... and you were right about the beautiful day.

EDIT: You were right, too, about the location not being overly obscure. I now know where to head next time out. The trick will be getting there without much recourse to highways.

 

[ibike2havefun]

Old tag, with de-obsfuscated sign:

New tag, just a few miles away. Great place to warm up after a chilly early morning ride, or after a dunk in the river courtesy of the rafting company...

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm..... thick creamy savory potato and bacon soup, coffee, really good bread, and a lemon cake to chase it.

Have at it!

 

[Terran Sin]

Wow! Let me compliment you sir on a fine photo tag stop. It's a shame the warm weather is leaving us and it may be awhile before I can make it back here. Here's the old tag:

Beans in the Belfry is the kind of place you always hope you'll find on the road. It's definitely the kind of place you want to share and bring others to as a destination or meet up point. I wandered inside to the comfortable old mismatched furnishings, high ceilings, neat wall hangings and 3 old guys softly jamming bluegrass in the corner. Great coffee, great sandwiches (make mine the Berlin) and not enough time on a December afternoon to stay as long as I wanted.

Sadly I had to leave as my chosen tag was a bit further "downstream"

Technically I'm still in Maryland here... I'll accept anything identifying in the area. Geez, after your great tag I feel like I'm doing border raids.

 

[Blrfl]

Good thing you weren't on the ferry a week or so ago: CLICKY

--Mark

 

[ibike2havefun]

Wow! Let me compliment you sir on a fine photo tag stop. It's a shame the warm weather is leaving us and it may be awhile before I can make it back here.

Beans in the Belfry is the kind of place you always hope you'll find on the road. It's definitely the kind of place you want to share and bring others to as a destination or meet up point.

Glad you liked it; it's certainly my kind of place. We should try to meet up there on purpose some time, before, during, or after a ride.

I wandered inside to the comfortable old mismatched furnishings, high ceilings, neat wall hangings and 3 old guys softly jamming bluegrass in the corner. Great coffee, great sandwiches (make mine the Berlin) and not enough time on a December afternoon to stay as long as I wanted.

There seldom is, is there?

Sadly I had to leave as my chosen tag was a bit further "downstream"

Technically I'm still in Maryland here... I'll accept anything identifying in the area. Geez, after your great tag I feel like I'm doing border raids.

And I know riiiiiiiiiiiight where that is.

I have two locations in mind that will be suitable for cool-weather cross-border forays; I've been saving them in hopes that by keeping the rides relatively short I might tempt you out a few times over the winter. Or maybe Mark will come out to play, now that the band has stopped marching for the season...

 

[ibike2havefun]

Okay, when it's 72 degrees at the end of December in the mid-Atlantic, you're pretty much OBLIGATED to go move the local tags around, aren't you?

Steve put the MD tag here a few days ago:

And all is revealed:

But it isn't there any longer.

It's relocated itself to a new location a few miles away, at a venerable family restaurant known to be bike-friendly and also known to serve hearty winter fare in case someone gets a mid-winter itch to do some more tag moving:

Enjoy the chili and a cup of coffee while you ponder where the tag may go next...

 

[Terran Sin]

Nothing like starting the new year off with a brisk ride and tag move!

The Tag was at Bassett's in Poolesville. Good food and a slower pace of life.

I decided to change tracks with the new tag. After all, how many train stations could there be in Maryland?

Happy New Year and happy train station spotting!

 

[ibike2havefun]

Went out for a ride today, soaking in the spectacularly mild end-of-February day. Looky what I found just lying around at the Point of Rocks train station. Isn't that...? Could it be...? Why, YES, it IS the MD tag!

Let's take it somewhere else... the sign is the tag, but anything that shows that building is okay due to the difficulty of finding an open parking spot (suggest arriving early in the day...) anywhere nearby.

Alternatively, this HINT is an acceptable substitute since it's on the alley alongside the building in question. It also doubles as today's history lesson.

 

[kendoo]

Old


New

 

[ibike2havefun]

Nice choice, Ken. I see you're on your annual NY-to-Jax tag-moving run. You've got awesome weather this week to do it, too. Very envious!

 

[ibike2havefun]

I put my feet in the footprints of giants; lo and behold, Kendoo's tag didst magically appear:

However, bitter disappointment soon followed, on realization that pie is still a month and a half away.

After sulking for a while about the lack of baked goods, it was time to move on. While en route to my intended new tag location, I happened across this tableau and could not resist making it the tag instead. So here you go: new tag. I always thought members of the legal profession joined after extensive education and study. Never had any idea you could just grow 'em as produce.

 

[Terran Sin]

Yay! I found it after spending 2 hours and an extra 64 miles trying to find this with my manly intuition. It is a great tag but I tricked myself thinking I recognized it by the corn maze reference. It wasn't the Crum Farm visible from Rt 15 like I thought (and rode thru far too far into muddy tracks and shifty gravel). I finally broke down and asked the manager of the local liquor store/general convenience store (cause it's semi rural Maryland). But I couldn't follow his directions and wandered far off the track, discovering a neat little covered bridge. Eventually I whipped out the cell phone and asked the internet. Voila! I should have gone south instead of north. So here is the delightful Lawyers Farm. A short trip from Rt 15 towards the east.

There's almost a dozen giant constructs to check out, so check them out yourself! (I'm telling ya- if you need to time travel with the Transformers into the zombie apocalypse, this is the place to start at!)

After stressing myself out earlier I knew I needed to find the peace of a saint for the next tag. I had never been to catholic school but I was a Navy guy so I knew who was my go-to. Just asking for a little charity sister!