Day 4: Cumberland, MD – Rockwood, PA

I took my sweet time getting ready this morning as I wanted to squeeze every dollar out of my expensive hotel room. I left town shortly afternoon and began the long uphill ride to Frostburg.

There was a light rain for the entire hour and a half climb and the temperature was in the high 60s or low 70s. It was pretty much perfect weather.

I never made it into town as I stopped at a little shop on the outskirts for lunch. It was pretty mediocre but it gave me the time to write the entry for the previous day. Speaking of which, I know that some of my writing is rather trite since it is composed primarily of short, matter-of-fact sentences. I need to work on that.

Leaving Frostburg, it was a few more miles uphill, passing into Pennsylvania, until I reached the Eastern continental divide.

Something has been bothering me these past few days. Whenever I come across two people walking side-by-side taking up the whole trail, it always seems to be that I am coming from behind them. In order to proceed I must alert them on my presence. Therein lies the problem – whenever I say ‘on your left’ or some variation thereof, people get extremely startled. If I yell from far away they get scared by the fact I’m yelling. If I wait until I’m close, it’s just as bad.

A strange game. The only winning move us not to play.

So perhaps the correct way to approach the situation is to turn it into a new game. Try and scare these people as much as possible. Maybe they’ll get used to it or die of shock. Either way, problem solved.

In any case, the next 100 miles are all ( extremely slightly) downhill so I proceeded leisurely. The rain had let up but the clouds remained, keeping the temperature down. I called it a day after 44 miles in the town of Rockwood PA which had a nice little restaurant called the Rock City Cafe. The staff was super nice so I would highly recommend it.

Accommodations in Rockwood were both more varied and cheaper than Cumberland. I was sad I had spent so much last night as I vastly prefer spending money on small b&bs instead of large hotel chains. I kept it stingy and stayed in a campground with showers, setting up camp as darkness fell.

Today’s mileage: 48 miles
Total: 242

Day 3: Hancock, MD – Cumberland, MD

It rained hard last night, with the approaching thunderstorms waking me up at about 3am. The campsite I pulled into already had people there, so I had decided to use my rain fly for privacy and so I was lucky it was already set up when the storm started.

I slept a fair amount and got up at about 8 and set to packing up my very muddy gear. By the time I was done it was hot and humid outside and I was caked in mud. It was time for a shower.

I set my sights on Cumberland, the end point of the c&o canal and got to pedaling. With each passing mile marker I would count down the remaining miles. Only 57 miles until a shower. It’s like counting to 57 except really slowly.

The first half of the day went by quickly. There were no towns to stop in for food so I would snack on what I had and move on. About halfway through there was a 3000 foot long unlighted tunnel. My front light had stopped working last night so I set off into the darkness. Once a few hundred feet in, the tunnel became like a sensory depravation tank, with no sounds but the echoing of my cleats and the inability to see the wall two inches from my face.

Eventually I started stepping in puddles so I felt my way around for my rear light and used that as a flashlight for the last third of the tunnel.

Oh, and there were snakes.

As I approached Cumberland, the forest would change sometimes from the typical greenery to more pine trees and rocks. The smell of these forests were reminiscent of California, though I still have far to go.

Eventually reaching my destination, I found all the motels/hotels on the city to be expensive. However, 60 miles of promising myself a shower was not something I could go back on so I chose the cheapest one, took a shower, did my laundry in the bath tub, ate dinner, and slept.

Today’s mileage: 60
Total: 194

Day 2: Brunswick, MD – Hancock, MD

My choice of campground last night was a poor one. The combination of trains passing by every hour 100 feet from me and the sweltering heat kept me from getting hardly any sleep.

I got up at 6 and found myself surprisingly not tired. It took me a while to pack up camp ( I need to get my routine down) and I hit the road at 8:15.

The first 45 miles were a breeze, so I kept on going, stopping in small towns for lunch and dinner.

I made camp just in time for darkness set in.

Today’s mileage: 82 miles
Total: 134 miles

Random finish line sign along the way. I wish.

View from the trail detour along rural roads.

Day 1 – Arlington VA to Brunswick MD

I spent all day thinking of how to start this entry, but came up with nothing good, so you’re stuck with this.

Tires didn’t hit the pavement until noon due to some last minute preparation. The first two miles included the hardest hills for the day, and after those climbs the miles went by easily.

After two errands and two food stops I stopped for the day at 7 and set up camp.

Today’s mileage: 52
Total: 52

I Want to Ride my Bicycle

Pretty much what the domain says, I’m planning on biking across the country from DC to California this summer/fall. I’ll be going alone and am planning on camping most of the time, with occasional breaks at motels and houses. It seems like a fun thing to do, so why not? I’m hoping to meet people along the way so if you think you’re vaguely near my path and want to meet up, send me an e-mail.
I have a lot of preparation to do (obviously making a dorky website is more important) but the idea is to head westward in early August.
More coming soon.