Planes, Trains and French Toast Muffins

Jet Airliner, Leaving on a Jet Plane, Peace Train, Long Train Running, all great songs to have playing in your head while travelling to the trailhead.  I flew from SFO (San Francisco) to DCA (Reagan National).  Then as a nice surprise, I was able to hike from Reagan into DC.  Hiking through the National Mall on the way to a truly unique American adventure brought out the pride and respect in how fortunate we are to live in our great democracy.

The Lesser Known Revolutionaries

On my hike through  the mall, there are so many places to stop.  I look for the lesser known.  The George Mason Memorial is one of my favorites.  A founding father whose ideas that were codified previous to the American Revolution in the Virginia House of Burgesses that gave the more known revolutionaries the basis for the points in both the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution.  Another favorite is the Rochambeau statue.  The Count actually played “rock, paper, scissor” with the troops during the revolution around the campfires for moral boosting camaraderie.

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Trail

I stepped off the train in Harpers Ferry.  The sun was shining on the Shenandoah.  I touched my first white blaze.  I headed up to the Inn where I was staying.  After settling in, I was on the porch playing my guitar, and the innkeeper popped her head out of the front door and said, “too bad you’re not staying tomorrow night (this was Wednesday, with tomorrow being Thursday) as there is a jam session that has occurred every Thursday for the past 42 years.  I said, “do you have a room tomorrow night ?” she said yes.  I took her to dinner, and she took me to the jam session.  Magic.

French Toast Muffins

On Friday morning, I headed across the street to the bakery and coffee shop.  Looking in the baked goods case, I saw “French Toast Muffins”.  I asked the baker, “do they come with maple syrup?”, and without even breaking the stride of the conversation, the baker’s daughter piped up “oh, yes, and we put a pat of butter on it and heat it up”… They were delicious…So for the rest of the day as I hiked north, any SOBOs that passed me and mentioned that they were headed for Harpers Ferry, I gave them the story about French Toast Muffins.  My guess is that the bakery sold a few more than usual the next morning.