Living as we do in the heart of PA Dutch country, we are blessed with not only natural beauty of all kinds, but also a unique opportunity for a "fun with place names" ride. These aren't really unusual - many a club has taken a ride to a cool road sign just because us folks really don't need much more than a place to head to and a little sunshine for an excuse to ride. Lots of times, we don't even need either.
I've always wanted to do this ride, and honestly I'm surprised that in 24 years of Lehigh Valley HOG, nobody else has thought of it. The hardest part was coming up with the name. That, and a place to eat. My rides tend to draw a big crowd (it's a rare occasion that I toot my own horn, but I'm kinda proud of that) and we've learned from experience that showing up unexpectedly with essentially a busload of people at Flo's Cafe does not always turn out to be the divine experience it was when we scouted out the ride alone. In this case, lunch involved about 15 seconds of careful consideration. All we needed was a scenic route to connect the dots - the stuff I'm good at.
Yes, the dots. What was it that was so damn cool about them? What kind of places would constitute a "Dirty Dutchman" ride? Well, we start with a short ride to Virginville, and take a picture at the post office. From there it's south to Blue Ball, west to Bird-In-Hand (that one takes a little imagination but it was on the way) then right down the road to the climax in Intercourse, PA! All easily done without leaving Berks and Lancaster counties, in time for a late lunch.
Which, if you recall, took 15 seconds to figure out. A few miles out of town right along our way home, is a legendary PA Dutch eatery that has constituted a club ride on its own merits: the Shady Maple Smorgasbord. As far as I know, it seats about 700. No reservation required. And they serve shoo-fly pie. What else could a Dutchman want?
Sounded like a good day on paper, and it worked out even better on asphalt.
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