Day 008 - Havre de Grace to Joppa MD

It was a beautiful day mostly sunny with temps in the low forties. I had adjusted my schedule based on a forecast that the entire region including Philadelphia and Baltimore would be blanketed by 4 - 8 inches of snow. Driving from Philly to Baltimore this morning I did not see one flake in the air or on the ground. I felt silly having taken water proof hiking boots and gaiters in my car.

On thing the storm did do was beat up the Jersey Coast. Part of US 40 that the 30 Liberty Bell Wanderers walked with me a week ago today near Atlantic City was closed because it was under water.

The storm forecast reminded me of a doom and gloom winter forecast when Joan and I were stationed at NAS Norfolk. The Navy pulled the trigger and announced that only essential personnel should report. No one else not a single school district cancelled anything and not a flake fell. The local media had a field day at the Navy's expense. A short time later the exact same scenario occurred. This time it was the real deal. There was no way the Navy was going to cancel anything. Joan and I and all the other government workers struggled thru blizzard like conditions while the rest of the world enjoyed the scenery looking out their home windows.

I walked thru a couple towns where Joan and I had done AVA walks. On December 28, 2008 we did Havre de Grace. It was the last day of the football season and the Eagles needed four games to go their way to make the playoffs. We stopped to go to the bathroom and I saw on a TV that amazingly all games were going the Eagles way. They made the playoffs beating the Vikings and the Giants on the road before losing to the Cardinals in the NFC Championship.

We did the Aberdeen AVA walk in December of 2009. I think that walk held our personal record for walking the longest distance before realizing we'd missed a turn. Fortunately Ron and Janet were with us on that walk and Ron figured out a way to get us back on track.

I walked past the entrance to the Aberdeen Proving Grounds. When I worked at Lukens Steel we would send samples of Navy Armor plate down. They would fire live rounds at it to make sure it performed according to speciation. When Ellie and I did the Perryville AVA walk last December you could hear the blasts loud and clear even though we were miles away.

I made up the remaining 4 miles and am back on schedule.

Today's trivia question. How many pairs of shoes did I pack for the trip? Answer will appear in future blog.