Olympic Efforts
Every Saturday morning, automobiles and enthusiasts travel along the roads right in our backyard and the roads originating from all corners of the region to reach Hunt Valley Horsepower. Our bonds may be from the old neighborhood, from college, from the workplace, from the family tree and maybe from a few moments each weekend at Hunt Valley Towne Centre. Special stuff.
At least 4 times each year, our enthusiasts take to the road and get together for more special stuff. The road immediately to the north of Hunt Valley Towne Centre is beautiful Thornton Mill Road. Back in 2013, Baltimore County’s Adopt-A-Road Program provided a list of 4 roads that desperately needed an adoption community. Thornton Mill Road was on that list. What was deemed as a challenging road due to its length (3.6 miles) and windy sections was viewed as a tremendous stroke of luck for Hunt Valley Horsepower. Sure the sessions may not be easy but it was meant to be. Baltimore County’s a big place. Spending more time with boots on the ground than driving to the adoption road leads to a bigger impact. Challenge accepted.
It’s our task to gather refuse of all sorts – and we see just about everything - preventing it from tarnishing the natural beauty of the road and neighborhood but also preventing it from polluting the Chesapeake Bay. The next time you’re out for a cruise near Hunt Valley, add Thornton Mill Road to the tour. Bottles, cans, plastic bags and even car parts shouldn’t detract from the experience. Also, an important note is that over a third of our adopted road’s length travels along Western Run. Western Run is part of the Gunpowder River system which leads to the Chesapeake Bay Western Shore Basin. That makes the work even more critical.
If you have seen the boating conditions for the Summer Olympics in Rio, with every household and industrial refuse item imaginable floating on the competitive surfaces, well, we can’t have that here. We love our boating. We love our blue crabs. We love our bay. We should love our cut of the world.
In the spirit of the Summer Olympics, the 5 gentlemen in the photo above deserve gold medals. Yes, there was a heat warning last Saturday but each volunteer signed up with a steely resolve. Armed with ice-cold Gatorade, sunblock, bug spray, orange vests, pickers, bags and a wild mix of personalities, we brightened up the road and each other’s mornings. Great memories were made and the Western Run section of Thornton Mill Road looks sharp once again. Keep an eye out for 3 more sessions in 2016. You’re welcome to make some great memories of your own right alongside us. For the bay!