Flip-Flip-Flip-Flipadelphia!

Baltimore was a freakin’ blast! Our hosts, the Gambrills, were incredible.

As we arrived on Friday night, August the 24th, they threw a party and invited their neighbors to come welcome the B4B boys. We ate delicious food, drank local beer (Natty Boh!) and shared stories of our travels. 

Saturday, the 25th, we had our event with BBBS of Central Maryland and went to the Orioles game with friends in the B’More area. 

Sunday, the 26th, we went to the rained out game… which was unfortunate. HOWEVER„, our tickets are good for the make-up date on September 24th. We could just make that game on our swing back down south after we leave Boston on the 23rd. So… OK… we’re convinced. After the game, we came “home” to a delicious dinner of crab cakes and power pasta. The crab cakes were homemade and with delicious Maryland crab. Holy cow were those the tastiest things I’d had this side of the Mississippi.

The Gambrills were amazing and we were lucky to stay with them. 

We took off early the next morning for Philly after being well fed. Apparently our route led us past Cal Ripken, Jr.’s house and Ray Lewis’ house. We maybe saw a little bit of em… but nothing with a giant CR or anything like that. 

The ride, which was along back country roads for many miles, was thought to be an easy one. But there were so many cars on the back country roads, we never had a break. To add to that, we had no shoulder. So we had that going for us. When there was a break we could snap a quick picture of the countryside.

When the road is very traffic-y, it does make us ride faster and more focused. We need to stay focused on the road, away from traffic and acting like a car as much as possible. So it does speed up our day’s ride.

And we get to see a couple gems like this pretty lady we found on the side of the road

And we were lead over a couple of bridges too. This one served as a Hydroelectric power power plant. You can see how we had nearly no shoulder. True for most bridges, but this was consistent with most of our ride.

Our host was actually in Delaware, not in Philadelphia. Yes, we thought the same thing when they offered to host us. Wait, wait, wait! Delaware is THAT close to Philly?! We had to look at a map to check it out. But sure enough, Wilmington, Delaware is only about a 30 minute drive from Citizens Bank Park. Great for us!

We rode right through downtown Wilmington and up to the Aerenson’s house in Wilmington. We were excited that we were able to finish so early as well because the Royals High-A minor league team, the Wilmington Blue Rocks, happened to have a home game that night that we arrived! We met the wonderful family, showered up, ate a KILLER lasagna and headed to catch a couple innings of a Blue Rocks win.

It was great to be able to bust out the Royals gear again and support our hometown team. 

We were excited for a few days with our AWESOME hosts in Delaware. Yes, we’re in… Delaware.

Being in Delaware meant that we were afforded the ability, by our fantastic hosts, to ski, wakeboard and wake skate! We had a blast ripping up the river. 

They have a cottage on a river, that might be a bay, and looks like a lake. I can’t tell you where it is, because it’s a secret. We were skiing on glass all day! 

Rex and Adam had grown up on the water and it felt like home again to be out there behind the boat. “Just like riding a bike” holds true for water skiing. Kale, the Aerenson’s son, was a pro. He skied with such grace and fluidity. Really fun to watch.

On our skiing day we also had our first experience of Scrapple. I’d try to explain it, but I don’t even know what it is. It’s a mush of a bunch of different meats held together with corn meal. We had it on our breakfast bagels as we neared our skiing house. It’s a Delaware thing. You HAVE to get it when you are in Delaware. VERDICT – it tastes like chicken.

We really want to send a huge thanks to our Delaware hosts and our Baltimore hosts. We had never met our hosts in Delaware and only once, when Adam was a child, had he met the Gambrills. They both opened up their homes and their families to the B4B team during our stay with them. Incredible amount of gratitude and we want to thank them with all that we have! You guys rocked!