Chestertown, MD

On May 24th, the Maryland Motor Maids had a scheduled event to ride to the Chestertown Tea Party Festival. Nancy and I had made plans to meet Cheryl and Kelly at Baker’s Restaurant on Rte. 213 in Elkton, and ride into the Chestertown.

The day started out uneventful. I met Nancy at our usual meeting place off I-95 and we were on the road by 8:50 as planned. It was a beautiful day for riding - some late day isolated thunderstorms were predicted but never came. Surprising enough, there was very little traffic considering it was Memorial Day weekend. We were ahead of our scheduled meeting time … but that didn’t last.

We were traveling about 45 mph along Rte. 40 in the left lane when low and behold a bouncing black object appears on the road in front of me. My first thought was a tire – wrong. It was Nancy’s run away side bag! Both myself and the car behind us missed the bag. We were able to safely pull over and do some back tracking – one on foot, one on the motorcycle. Nancy found the bag tucked in the high grass on the side of the road. Unfortunately, there was one tragedy - the “biscotti” never survived the fall! All that was left were thousands of crumbs in the bag … mixed with some “emergency quarters”! After we bungeed the damaged bag on my bike and, for peace of mind, bungeed the surviving bag on Nancy’s bike, we continued on our way.

All four of us arrived at Baker’s at the same time and continued the ride into Chestertown. Chestertown is located on the banks of the Chester River. The town offers a blend of history, arts and shopping. The Tea Party festivities were held at the park on the river along with vendors, crafts, and all day events.

Cheryl and Kelly had given Nancy a bag of Maryland "token" goodies - crab flavored chips, bay seasoning and some chocolate cookies (I forget the name) - because she is always sharing goodies from the Dining Car; i.e. above referenced biscotti!!!! Nancy was able to find room in her one remaining side bag to transport the goodies back home - which they did make in one piece!

After a short walk through the town, we stopped at the Imperial Hotel for lunch. That was the first time I had “Crab Cake Eggs Benedict” which was delicious. After lunch and another short walk through the town, we decided to head for home to be in front of the thunderstorms – just in case!

We had a great day with great friends.