Slam-Man!

We used Google Street View to find the Appalachian Trail head at Pen Mar Park, MD for a fastpacking trip to Harpers Ferry, WV. Next to an entrance for the trail we saw this:

A weekend of running and hiking from Pennsylvania to West Virginia promised to be an epic trip, but first we had to see what this was all about. Before heading into the woods we had to see this.

After the three-plus hour drive from Philadelphia on Friday night we pulled into the parking lot at Pen Mar Park and then immediately drove back out to see if anything from this June 2012 Street View image remained. Pulling around the corner, my friend Kelly started laughing and exclaiming "Miki, it's there!" We pulled into an adjacent parking lot of an apartment complex where a woman stood at the corner of the building with a pit bull on a leash. The woman was wearing a sweatshirt and jeans, but I could see it was the same woman from the image. We parked and in excitement I exited the car and immediately the pit bull broke free and headed straight for me. I yelled out "Dog!" while Kelly remained in the passenger's side and I jumped back into the driver's side repeating "Dog! Dog. There is a dog." Once the owner had collected the dog Kelly slowly exited the vehicle and asked if she minded if we took pictures with the mannequin. She yelled to a car parked next to her "Babe, can these guys take pictures with Slam Man?" A full-face tatooed man slid out from under the engine compartment of the car, stood up to get a good look at us and stated "I don't care." and promptly returned to his work. The owl was no longer on Slam Man's shoulder, and the girl was not wearing her knee-high stockings (at least we couldn't see them through her jeans), but nonetheless the moment had become utterly spectacular. We each took our turns posing with Slam Man.

If you ever find yourself in this area of Maryland, I suggest you pay a visit to this perfect piece of Americana. What a perfect way to start the weekend trip.

Disclaimer: The woman may have said "Sandman" which also would make sense, but we felt Slam Man was more original and well, just look at this guy.