Bob's BMW Dirty Dozen Ride #1 (Western Charles County AKA SMIBland)

So it all started about a month ago, and Bob's BMW hosted a evening of fine pizza and a seminar on Adventure Riding from Rawhyde Adventure. After the seminar, they asked for 12 people willing to lead rides. Blaster, decided he had found his calling.

So in the next few weeks, after a few tweaks of the .GPX file, this is the route he envisioned:



Download GPX file here

It would encompass some of the finest roads and sites in southern Maryland.

Stops:
• Thomas Stone (National historic site)(Gravel parking lot)
• Mallows bay (Sunken ghost fleet)(1/4 mile long gravel road to site)
• Durham Church (The oldest surviving Episcopal church building in the U.S. state of Maryland.) (gravel parking lot)
• One room schoolhouse
• Old Charles county Courthouse in Port Tobacco
• St. Ignatius church (Founded in 1641, St. Ignatius is one of the oldest Catholic Parishes in continuous service in the United States.)
• Lunch break: Captain Billy’s crab house

Part #2
• Confederate memorial
• Confederate POW camp memorial
• Point lookout lighthouse
• Drum Point lighthouse

So on a cool summer morning, after a nice donut and briefing
we were off. The team comprised of 7 riders (Alan, Bruce, Courtney, Dana, Dave, Kim, and Marty)





We decided to take I-95, to SMIBville as Wash/Balt parkway was a crawling. However, the decision to take I-295 through DC was perhaps illfated. As many locals may know, I-295 failed to be upgraded to current highway standards and thus was never incorporated into the interstate highway system.

After a minor mechanical blurp left two riders stranded on the highway, Washingtonians showed us little remorse as they cursed, honked and then maneuvered around us. Thankfully, traffic was easily snarled and the risk being rear-ended (as we were now stopped in the fast lane) subsided. Oh how I longed for a patch of land for a safe haven for us, but nothing but gaurdrails. Luckily, after pushing the bike for 100 yards, it decided to start and had no more mechanical issues for the rest of the ride.

Our first stop was Thomas Stone home:















Mallows Bay:
http://www.dnr.state.md.us/naturalresource/winter2001/ghostship.html

Aerial Photo:

Getting a feel for the country roads turns:


Durham Church:

One Room School House (It's only open 12-1600 on Saturdays):
Used from 1878-1953




Whoops, forgot to mention it rained down here really hard last night...as the kickstand sank into the earth..


The phrase that uses all the letters in the alphabet:




Remedial schooling for some..


One bigas* tree:


Courthouse (It's only open 12-1600 on Saturdays)

SMIBs do rule!






The weather was a bit hot, and all the excitement was beginning to show:


St. Ignatius Church




No idea what this says, but looks pretty enough..


And finally some chow! How to catch a SMIB-->FOOD. And now there were 9 with the addition of Wayne and Erik!


How about some food porn:




Who gets a burger at a seafood house...oh, sorry Dave, those that get Gout!






And everyone had a great time and great smile!


Anyhow, the day ran a bit long so the remainder of the sites will be ride #2. Stay tuned for scheduling!

PS No riders were mortally harmed in the making of this ride. However, this rider gets the best sport award, and hope to ride again with you soon!

You didn't show everyone your new hat.

Nice RR Dana.

great RR Dana... Funny how ADV riders and Japanese love to take pictures of food.

Another nice report Dana. I'm glad Bruce found his calling.

Where do you get more info on stuff like this through Bobs? I'm on the waitlist for the next rawhyde adventure riding clinic, I also happen to be 8 miles from teh store

I don't know if I would say it was my "calling" but since joining ADV I have wondered how I could pass on something on to other riders since I have gotten so much from the site. Setting up some rides seems like a good way of giving something back. I can definitely say that time management on a ride is monumental...little things chew up so much time and next thing you know it's getting late in the day or its 2:00PM and you haven't stopped for lunch yet. One of the big things is be realistic of how much time you will spend at any particular stop...I realized this again yesterday and it brought back memories of doing the light house tour last year and running late both days. Note to self double your initial thoughts of how much time to spend at each location, you will use it, and if you don't use the time being ahead of schedule is OK and allows for little route detours.

I had a good time yesterday and the upcoming rides should only get better! If you have any thoughts for future rides around the DC/Baltimore area feel free to pass them on and if you have a map that would be great as well.

It is posted on the website under events. My ride was only up for about 4 days prior to the event, due to working out the details of just how to pulled this off. We should be able to give more notice on my next, and probably others as well, rides since I understand now what needs to be done. I also along with others chat about our upcoming rides in the regional section, I post mostly under the SMIB section.

Time is a hard thing to figure on a group ride,the few I've planned have always ran way longer than planned. There is a guy that rides with us a lot that always has to have a smoke and comb his hair at every stop so that has to be accounted for.

a few more pictures from the ride

your basic traffic stop over the shoulder shot



our fearless leader



wandering around Thomas Stone's yard



field repairs on Courtney's bent clutch lever



Momma Dorito providing static instruction on cornering



Kim pretending to pray at Old Durham Church



the view from the choir loft



what school looks like from my favorite seat - the back row



Mr and Mrs Beisner



St Ignatius Church



One of the stained glass windows



this was a fun day and I am looking forward to the next one

Specifically there are listed on the right hand side, in the yellow column.

http://www.bobsbmw.com/community/evtcalendar/bob_calendar.html

Also if you (or anyone else) would like the .GPX file, happy to share it with you.

Probably something to do with rate of recovery for the TTRUs..:)

I didn't know smoking afffected hair positioning, but that is good to know!

Looks like a great group


I too hate wet grass/GS side stands

Hermys BMW in Port Clinton, Pa is a Rawhyde GS Community dealer also and once they have their dealer clinic on BMW MOA Rally Saturday we will be off on our first basic GS Ride too. But you took the lead and it looked fun. Thanks for sharing and helmets off to Bob's.

I sure hope we can partner with you on some of these ventures. Lots of great riding up north........so lets talk........we can even camp at Starbucks.

BTW Hermys BMW will be a stop for the BMW MOA Rally Advance GS Ride lead by BMW PC. It has a railroad tunnel water hazard. And the famous Reading Coal Company Black Dakar. And I need your best to join us .... I mean I need volunteers to help lift bikes........I mean have fun with us.

This thread is about that GS Ride on Rally Friday and Altriders Tour on Rally Wednesday and it will be filmed, so please come join us in Bloomsburg.

http://www.bmwmoa.org/forum/showthread.php?t=53098

Check out the GS events here, come north GSers http://www.bmwmoa.org/forum/showthread.php?t=50277

hey, if you're riding to the MOA rally, the GS Giant has an Adventure Detour for you, that starts at Bob's.

Extra GS BS points for eating BBQ at the shop's party on Wednesday!

.

Don't forget about potty stops too. Us geezers don't have the space we once did somehow 3 cups of coffee turns into 2 gallons of ur... wee.

I'm just happy to have some hair to comb