Tuesday, July 6, 2010

We made it to Pittsburgh

After a big pizza dinner in Connellsville last night it was back to bed and up at 8 for breakfast at Ed's Diner next to the interesting Melody Motor Lodge. Corn fritter pancakes and Amish sausage for me, a quick oil of the chain and we were off at 7:20. The forecast was for hot weather so we wanted to get an early start. Destination about 45 miles away at the McKees Point marina where lunch and a shower waited for us...and Barbara with the truck.
We rode back down the hill we had ridden up the day before, traffic was much less of a problem, and a couple of miles and 12 minutes later we were on the trail headed west. Actually it was sort of northwest as we followed the river toward our final destination.
The trail is interesting. It is crushed limestone and there are enough very small rocks that your rear tire picks them up and flings them into the back of your helmet so when you shower after your ride you end up with several rocks in your hair. We moved along relatively quickly passing joggers and other bike riders, several campgrounds and houses before we got into the rural area. There were old railroad stone markers to show how many miles to the Pittsburgh station, where the water stops were, and a few old rail stations enroute. Ralph thought there might be a coffee stop at the 20 to go marker, but it was only a campground without food or beverage. There was a real toilet and running water though. We ate our fruit, rested for a few minutes and then off we went for the final 20 miles of our journey.
There were two significant sites, both the result of the coal mining in the area. While the banks of the river were limestone cliffs, there were numerous coal mines underground. Tom and I stopped short when we saw a red waterfall next to the path and a sign that explained the waterfall was an acid drain from an old coal mine. A few miles later there was another waterfall and this one had a white deposit in it but no sign. I expect it was some sort of calcium deposit leached from the limestone by the same sort of acid from a mine. No smell in this one, sulphur smell in the red one.
There were some pretty yellow flowers along the way next to the limestone cliffs. The flower was shaped like a bleeding heart flower and there were thousands of them. We went over a number of small streams that fed into the river, which was now flowing very slowly toward its destinations. No fishermen, boaters or paddlers were seen although it was a work day.
We began to see more and more small towns and I'll have to say the towns were pretty unimpressive. Lots of rundown homes although it did look like they had a sense of community with community centers that appeared active in most of the villages.
Finally we came to the end of the limestone path and moved onto a paved path with a short climb that put us next to an active railway. Pipes were being loaded onto trucks at the pipeyard. We climbed a hill to a road that crossed a bridge and rode the sidewalk across the river into McKeesport where Barbara waited for us under a blue bridge that signified the end of our journey from Washington DC to Pittsburgh. The last mile or so of the pathway was recently completed and after a final picure (see my facebook posting) we showered and sorted the luggage while Ralph waited for Cinda, Ralph's wife to arrive, and Wynn, Barb and I enjoyed lunch before departing. We signed the cafe wall to record our 350 or so mile trip, Ralph and Tom departed and then we left to take Wynn to the Pittsburgh airport for his flight back to Tampa.
Barb and I drove back to NC with one stop in Beckley, WV, for gas. We made it home in 7 hours, unloaded the truck and set out to water the plants. There had been no rain while we were gone and, although the irrigation worked, it wasn't enough so we had some catching up to do.
I'm going to give this a rest now. I'll post one more time when I have time to organize my thoughts about this adventure. It was really fun, I think I'll do it again with my family maybe?
And I'll try to organize some of the pix I took and post them too.
Thanks for following this trip. It was one of the most enjoyable biking adventures I've had with three great guys to ride with and a wonderful partner to help us through the ride.

Monday, July 5, 2010

Monday's ride to Connellsville, PA

Lets just say that while the hostel was clean and convenient, it probably is not what we would normally look for in the future. Rockford was a pretty little town and our bunk beds were adequate. The check in process was good and the idea that one person would invest so much in three buildings on this bike trail is impressive---but Rockford, well, it is small.
Then we decided to drive to Somerset for dinner and the gps found a most interesting route. Thought we were going to Brigadoon and it wasn't the once every 100 years it appeared. We got to the restaurant finally but it was closed so we wet to the chain across the street and had a really good meal. Back to Rockford and to bed...but here came the trains through the backyard and they don't slow much for Rockford. Anyway we got through the night and breakfast and were back on the trail at 8:20. All downhill for 47 miles or so and we turned the speed up to take advantage of the ride. Wow, it was beautiful. We followed a stream most of the way..lots of trout fisherman, floaters, kayakers and canooers (is that a word?) on the route. Most of the way we were in a rhododendron forest and they were in bloom. They built some world class bridges over roads and streams on this run using the railroad bridge structures. They are impressive, some more than a quarter mile long and very high. Ralph doesn't do well with high so he focussed on the roadbed missing great views. Wynn let the Scott bike roll down the old train bed and we made a short stop for fruit and beverages. Our first stop was at Confluence where we rode into town looking for a cup of coffee. We found one and also found a neat bike shop where Ralph and Wynn took a test ride on a recumbent bike. Never did find out how they liked it. I went inside, found a t-shirt but decided that 4 was enough already from previous stops, and visited with the proprietor. His wife noticed that I had a bit of blood on the back of my leg and offered an antiseptice towel and band-aid. She said she likes helping all the trail riders who come by. Then we relaxed in the town square park. Still no phone service, but it was a neat little town with the trail and the river providing what appeared to be a large part of their economy. There were tons of fisherman in the river as we crossed the bridge and turned north on the trail through the Ohiopyle park. Our next stop was about noon at Ohiopyle station in the Ohiopyle park. The town was full of visitors and was very crowded. We ate our sandwiches we had packed from the supplies Barbara had gotten. She by the way spent the morning driving to Connellsville to practice her putting before getting to the motel. More on the motel follows!
Anyway leaving Ohiopyle, which by the way is one of those parks that seems so natural that you are really surprised to suddenly come upon the small town, we dodged through a ton of folks on and off bikes, most oblivious to those of us who really were going someplace, until we got about 5 miles down the road. Then back up to speed until we got about 3 miles from Connellsville where we stopped to finish the fruit in our bags and headed toward town. We passed a stream that was red...later realized we were in a steel mill area and the water was red because of the high iron content. The rock formations were massive, there were rapids in the river, huge boulders were dotted with towels and young people sunning and swimming. We were nearing civilization. Into Connellsville we rode...these towns come upon you quickly out here on the trail.
Since the 5th was the monday holiday nothing looked open. Some people gave us directions to the motel and off we went. Traffic was awful and very agressive so to the sidewalks we went for our protection. Up hills through an area that didn't look too appealing and there it was, just above and across the street from a super Wal*Mart, our home for the night, the Melody Motor Lodge. And there was Barbara at a picnic table out front with fruit, cheese and beverages. Lets just say the Melody Motor Lodge was a great place many years ago. We like first floor rooms and that's good because that's all they have. Remember how it was in the 50's? Office in the center with the rooms to the right and the left and then at the ends back toward the adjacent highway. Inside bedspreads with flowers and pink and green tiles in the bathroom. Where is Elvis?
However, very clean and very well maintained so we are pleased. And we found out our thrilling bike ride from the trail could have been so much easier and shorter. The trail paralells the back of the motel so tomorrow morning we'll just jump on the trail and go to our final destination.
Wynn and I washed our bikes, I found a McDonald's to post this for you and Tom and Ralph are trying to find a good German restaurant to go to for our last night on the road.
I am sort of melancholy. This has been so much fun and it is almost over.
I hope you are enjoying this and only wish I could post pix but still don't have the right cable. I'll make it up when I get back to NC.
In the meantime, remember a couple of things: I am doing this ride to honor my friend Jack Salt and to raise funds for Jack and Bobbye's fund to benefit the Winston-Salem Symphony Endowment fund so call Mary Beth Johnson at the Symphony to make your gift. I and Jack will appreciate it, and thanks to everyone who has helped on this ride including all the guys at Clemmons Bicycle Shop and especially to Barbara who made this ride lots of fun.
We finish tomorrow just east of Pittsburgh near McKeesport. Then Ralph and Tom head back to Philly and Harrisburg respectively, we drop Wynn at the airport for his flight back to St Petersburg and Barb and I turn the truck loose for the drive down I79 and I77 toward Bermuda Run.
See you.

Saturday, July 3, 2010

July 3 Saturday ride to end of C&O at Cumberland

We got up early, showered at the campground and wonder of wonders, the camp manager brought Ralph's bag to his. It seems it had fallen off the truck that brought us from Bill's to the campgroung and we hadn't noticed it. Someone turned it in to the campground office and they brought it to us.
After having breakfast, fixing lunch for our packs, we left at 8:30 AM to ride back to the tow path, joining at about MP 140. Away we went on a 47 mile trip that rose slightly, sent us through the more than 3,000 foot PawPaw tunnel, past numerous locks including the interesting ones titled 64 1/3 and 64 2/3. Seems the builders decided they needed a couple of extra locks to handle the change in elevation but the contracts had already been let for locks 65 and beyond so rather than renaming them the simply changed the designations to those above. Anyway the story continues that the lockkeeper, who was paid $600 a year plus lodging in the lockhouse for him and his family and provided a garden plot, was a favorite of the canal workers, called Canawlers. He collected rare and antique coins. Seems someone decided to steal them, killed the lockkeeper, burned his house and went away. Sometime later someone was seen buying drinks and paying for them with the rare coins. The canawlers saw this and nearly killed the guy and when the police finished with their investigation they found more of the coins in his house so the killer was convicted and hanged.
The Paw Paw tunnel is quite a structure even now. It took 14 years to complete. We walked through. It is much longer than it appears and cuts through the mountain saving over 6 miles for the trip.
They had worked on the trail in some parts and the gravel they put down was softer than the rest of the trail. A little difficult to ride although better than the ruts and roots that showed up later.
A group rode by us, only the second group to pass us since we left DC. A short time later we came upon them crawling out of the canal. They had crashed and three of them fell into the canal. We helped them get out and left them once we saw they were alright. Didn't see them again though for the rest of the day. We had lunch at one of the lockkeepers houses. Ralph kept bumping a post holding up the porch roof and we were afraid it was coming down on us. It didn't so away we went. We arrived in Cumberland safe, sound and very dirty, at the Fairfield suites. It is a real bikers paradise. They have a room to store our bikes, are right at the end of the trail, and gave us a place to wash the bikes even providing clean up rags. It is a bikers paradise hotel with lots of business from the trail riders. We cleaned up, used th jacuzzi and pool, toured the town, had beverages and then dinner and to bed.
Tomorrow we go up and over the eastern continental divide. Big climbing day before finishing at a hostel, that's right not a hotel, in Rockwood, PA.
This continues to be great fun and we are looking forward to the rest of the trip, fast coming to an end on July 5.

Friday's ride to Little Orleans Campground in MD

We welcomed Wynn to our group on Friday morning. He came from St. Petersburg, FL after teaching his summer school class at U of S. Florida. He was ready to ride with his Mr. Peanut riding shirt. We measured his bike, my Scott bike, and fitted everything to him and off we went, riding uphiull then downhill through town to the trail. It was another beautiful ride on the canal towpath. We again saw lots of wildlife, had a magnificent trail experience as we rode first to Hancock, our first stop and lunch stop in Hancock. What a surprise. There was Barbara again. We think she has tagged us with some sort of a GPS signal that lets her locate us. We enjoyed our sandwiches we had packed that morning, went to a bike shop and discovered to Ralph's chagrin that we had missed about 11 miles of paved pathway (the adjacent Western Maryland rails to trails path) but we fixed that by following it up the mountain for another 10-12 miles. The railway paralleled the canal but was about 20-30 feet higher. The old telegraph line poles were still evident. It went through some rugged country where the workers had blasted a path and then filled in he "saddles" so the roadway was regular although uphill. Then back on the towpath and we arrived at the Little Orleans campground. It was eventful. Gene in the bike shop in Hancock told us to be sure to stop at Bill's at Little Orleans before going up to the campground. We did and Ralph went inside. He carries his "man-purse" handlebar bag that has his watch, money, credit cards, glasses, etc., with him when he leaves his bike. When he came our from Bill's he said they were getting ready to take someone to a float trip and would take us up the hill to the campground if we put our bikes in the truck bed and road back there. Ralph and I agreed, but Wynn and Tom decided to ride up. When we got to the campground Barbara was already there and had check us in so we sat around waiting for the float trip to leave. Ralph realized he didn't have his handlebar bag and we began searching. It was gone! We went to our place to camp, set up tents and Barb and I set up and air mattress courtesy of Tanya and Bruce and put a tarp over the fleece sleeping bags and pillows we brought. Took a sleeping pill, Barb took two, and we settled in for the evening. Only it got really cold sometime during the night and I was too tired to get up to get more clothes on so just stayed there and froze. Barb had more sense and got up to get more clothes. We awoke the next morning, having not had much sleep, cold and coughing, and packed stuff up to get ready to go. I should add that we did go bakc to Bill's for dinner, added a dollar bill to his ceiling, and drove around a bit looking for Ralph's bag.
Anyway, we did make it through the one night camping somehow before the next day's ride to the final stop on the C&O Canal - Cumberland, MD.
Again we were dirty and tired after our ride up the canal. It is very dusty, is fairly bumpy, especially for Ralph who doesn't have an suspension on his touring bike. And Tom is riding a Gary Fisher bike but his rear shock is losing its oomph and causes his pedals to drag occasionally. He filled it with air but the problem isn't solved.

Here is a catch up on our trip from DC to Pittsburgh

I wish you could be here for this great bike ride. On Thursday we left the most remarkable small town - Harpers Ferry, WV - and rode to Antietam, MD, to visit the Antietam battleground.
Ralph, Tom and I left the C&O Towpath and climbed the hillsides of the Potomac, not insignificant hills, to vist the battleground. We rode through the town of Antietam, filled with 4th of July decorations, and turned right toward the visitors center of the Battleground. When there we visited the center, met the rangers who directed us to the sites where we could understand the overview of the battleground where 23.000 casualties were suffered combined for both sides. We visited the church near the center of the battleground, the hilltop where the confederates were ready with their cannons to defend the hilltop. There were three small forested areas where the confederates and union troops were bivouaced before their bloody battle that resulted in the union troops driving the confederates back across the Potomac. The union troops failed to press their advantage resulting in the firing of the union commander by President Lincoln and ultimately in the assignment of the directions of the troops to the best battlefield commanders rather than political favorites. The battlefields at the Bloody Lane and the bridge where the union troops crossed Antietam Creek to the blistering fire of the better positioned confederate troops, eventually outlasting the confecerates before sending Lee and his Army of Northern Virginia back across the Potomac.
Our ride totalled about 57 miles with the detour to the battlefield area. We stopped for lunch in Shepherdston, WV, and were surprised to see Barbara drive up in the support truck, unplanned and joining us for lunch. Then off to our next strop of Williamsport, MD. The Red Roof Inn was our stop for the night. We went to Hagerstown for dinner at a Mexican restaurant and settled in for the night. It is very dusty on the trail. They haven't had any significant rain for a long time. The trail is mostly in the shade, though, so it is really comfortable but we are really dirty when we arrive. We washed the bikes at a Sunoco station and I got Wynn's bike ready for him to ride when he arrives in the morning.
It is difficult to tell you how beautiful this ride is. We see deer, beaver, turtles, snakes, lots of birds, and other wildlife. We see the magnificent Potomac River flowing through the bedrock of this part of the country and we see the remnants of the historic C&O Canal preserved for all time as a national park for our enjoyment. My riding friends even admit, right wing advoates though they are, that this government expense is worthwhile. If only they cared more for the real wonders of this country, its people, they would be so much happier!
Anyway, I love them for their diverse and passionate opionions. They really make the time fly with their comments and exhortations.
The path is very dusty and we and our bikes are really dirty at the end of each day.
I'll send out a report on the Friday trip to Little Orleans where we will camp in tents or in the back of the truck. Tough for one whose idea of roughing it is Motel 6 or HI Express.