Trains, Planes and Automobiles

July 4th this year was celebrated (?) with my return travel to the US. After a few great days in Hamburg - where the locals are known as Hamburgers - meeting Colleen’s host family and the friends she made over the last 10 months, it was time to get back at it. Truth be told, I’ve missed the riding. I had been in a good groove before the broken rim and I want to get back to it.

The trip back started with typical German efficiency. I had been warned by my child, and the airline, that the Hamburg airport was experiencing huge delays due to lack of staff and an overabundance of travelers. I set out from the apartment at 7:15 for an 11:00am flight, even though I had no bags to check. I got to the first train station as the train was arriving. I waited two minutes to switch trains at the second station and arrived at the airport about 7:50. It took me less than 15 minutes to get through security and my gate was right there. Awesome. Now I had nearly 3 hours to kill in the airport. I had left my book at the apartment because it was heavy and I didn’t want to be carrying it on my bike. Not to worry, it’s 2022 and I have my phone so I did what everyone else was doing and stared at until it was time to board. In the process, I managed to run the battery down relatively low and the Lufthansa flight did not have seat power. We arrived in Frankfort at gate A11 and my connecting flight to Boston was out of Z52 with about an hour to get there. Of course after waiting in line at Passport Control, I was down to about 10 minutes by the time I got to the gate. Fortunately, the flight was delayed a few minutes so I grabbed some snacks and waited.

When boarding began, I got in line and that‘s when the real fun began. As I scanned my ticket to board, I got the big red X and the beeping. This was not my flight. Apparently both Lufthansa and Condor had flights to Boston leaving at just about the exact same time. I was trying to board the Lufthansa flight when my ticket was on Condor. There was a time in the not to distant past where those airlines were basically the same so I had never even given it a thought when I looked at the board. Now I had to get back to Gate B45 for a flight that was scheduled to leave in 4 minutes. Again, fortune smiled on me as the Condor flight was delayed and I had an hour to get back there. This time, I stopped to grab a sandwich and a bottle of water, not realizing that somehow I had gone out of security and had to go back through. So much for the water. I finally made it to the gate, got on the right plane, and then sat on the runway for 45 minutes, using the rest of the power in my phone. I plugged it into the seat power but it wouldn’t charge. I asked the young lady next to me if her seat power was working but it was not. I tried the video screen to turn on a movie or play a game. Nada. Turns out the entire plane had no seat power and no working video monitors. Good that it was “only” an 8-hour flight. I was so bored that I seriously considered asking the lady next to me if I could read her book (she had 2). Instead I just sat there doing nothing for a very long time.

The Boston end was also very efficient. I guess there aren’t that many people actually traveling on the 4th. I grabbed my rental car and made the drive to Albany in about 2 1/2 hours. Kevin and Bryan had picked up my repaired bike from the shop and generously put me up for the night.

Yesterday was a lot more driving. My original plan was to drive to Wheeling, WV, do a ride, and check that state off my list. I decided to call an audible and instead, I drove to Gettysburg and rode around on the battlefield tour, which was about 19 miles - most of which was in pouring rain. Afterwards, I was debating whether to detour to Baltimore and catch the Orioles game - it would have been a good move as they won 10-9 in extra innings, but chose to drive to Sharpsburg, MD instead and do another riding tour of the Antietam battlefield. The rain had stopped and had turned into oppressive humidity, but it was a worthwhile experience. Seeing those battlefields on the heels of the Dachau experience in Germany last week, was very humbling. For those that might not be history buffs, Antietam was the site of a 4-day battle in September 1862. After a series of earlier defeats, the Union army was able to basically fight to a bloody draw and stop the Confederates from advancing further into Union territory. By doing so, it gave Lincoln a chance to draft the Emancipation Proclamation and changed the course of the war. The last day of the battle, September 17th, remains the bloodiest day ever on American soil with nearly 23,000 troops dead, wounded or missing.

Only pic of Gettysburg Battlefield I could get before the deluge

Burnside Bridge over Antietam Creek. Rebs on the high ground on the right side of the bridge kept mowing down Union soldiers trying to cross. Union finally succeeded when they sent some folks further up the creek to cross and flanked the Confederates. Not sure how many died here but it was A LOT.

Gettysburg

Antietam