Peddie
Bicycle Touring 2009: June 13-22
Riding Backroads
into the Country. Home
| Home | Itinerary | Gear and Equipment List
| Health, Consent, Agreement
Forms |
| Overview Map | Meeting with Students (Caspersen 205, Thursday 2.19.09 DM/X period) | PJClements: 609.290.4864 |
| Riders’ Reflections from 2006,
2007, 2008 | Click, then Open
for Caitlin Heim’s Slideshow | PJClements’s Site |
Following the route of last
three years’ sophomore ride and the inspiration of the “Trail of Tears” cycling
trip in 2004, and the 1996, 1998, and 2000 cycling trips of The Principio
Project, the Peddie Bike Ride 2009 is focused on enabling younger Peddie
students to experience their country first hand, country that they, and much of
modern America, could otherwise easily forget. A group trip in all respects,
students not only ride each day’s route and explore the countryside but also
plan menus, shop, cook, clean, and manage their own success and the success of
the group, under the guidance of veteran Peddie faculty. Is the trip fun? Rich? Challenging? Worth the time? Click
for participants’ testimony.
This
year we pedal out of Hightstown and head south to Bordentown, where we’ll load
up in vehicles and leapfrog over suburban Philadelphia to a campground south of
Reading. Then we’ll cycle through Lancaster County and Amish country, camp on
the Susquehanna, head west below York and into Gettysburg, and then climb into
the mountains west of Gettysburg. From Blue Ridge Summit we’ll turn south into
Maryland and head through Boonsboro, Sharpsburg, and on to Harper’s Ferry, West
Virginia. We’ll then drive into Washington, but finish our cycling with a tour
down the National Mall, finishing at the foot of the Capitol. Cool.
Each
day begins with breakfast, breaking camp, a route meeting, and, just prior to
departure, the “Rumination,” or question of the day [“Does the land make the
people, or do the people make the land?”] Cycling through the morning, stopping
for a leisurely lunch along the road, we generally arrive at our campsite mid
afternoon. The day’s food crew departs either after lunch or on arrival at camp
to shop for that evening’s dinner, and the next day’s breakfast and lunch.
Others enjoys the campsite, spending time making camp, writing in journals,
comparing notes on the day’s trip. Dinner is a focus for everyone, and evening
campfires, and the stories, songs, and camaraderie they engender, finish the
day. The next morning, we happily do it again!
Important also are the
cultural, historical, and geographic opportunities along the way. For example, we visit the People’s Place
Museum in Intercourse, PA; we explore the exhibits and the battleground of
Gettysburg; and we’ll enjoy the historical and cultural opportunities of
Harper’s Ferry, WV. We also “smell the roses” along the way, easy to do in the
Amish farmland of Lancaster County, along the forested mountain ridge carrying
the Appalachian Trail through Maryland, along the quiet current of the
Chesapeake and Ohio Canal or the still powerful Potomac River.
Click here for the daily itinerary, and for a list of
and restrictions about gear
and equipment, and here for pictures from Bike Ride 2007.
The cost of this ten day trip
stands at $700 (as of November 2008). A
$100 deposit secures as spot, with the balance due by June 1. Make checks
payable to “Peddie School,” with “Bike Trip” in the memo, and deliver to Pat
Clements.
-- PJClements
document last update: November 11, 2008 by Patrick J. Clements pclement@peddie.org
Copyright (c) 2008 Peddie School
URL:
http://falconnet.peddie.org/faculty/pclements/cycling/BikeTrip2009-Index.html