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.