Night before we start

We arrived in DC and went to our daughter's house for dinner with our granddaughters and Ron and Andrea. Have both bikes on the truck, one I'll ride and one for Wynn when he arrives from St. Petersburg on the third day of the ride. Checked in with Ralph and Tom and found they have ridden a portion of the trail as a warmup this evening. Ralph doesn't have shocks on his bike and said it is a challenge. I think he'll do fine though. We are meeting near Key Bridge at 7AM and will be pedalling as soon as Barbara takes a picture to post...kind of the "before" to get ready for the "after". The weather forecast is great for the week, even cooling off a bit from the mid 90's we've been subject to so that will make for a wonderful 7 days. First day is the longest at about 70 miles from Georgetown to Harpers Ferry. George Washington established the national armory at Harpers Ferry in 1790 taking advantage of iron deposits and water power. The Civil War brought more fame and trouble to the town with John Brown's ill-fated raid and the disastrous battle at Antietam and Sharpsburg, We'll ride along the Potomac on the Canal pathway that Washington wished for and Jefferson encouraged and launched. Almost lost to history until Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas led a walk up the canal in 1954 that ultimately resulted in scrubbing the Corps of Engineers plans to create a series of Dams all the way to Harpers Ferry and saved this wonderful bit of American history for generations to enjoy.
We'll ride over acqueducts, locks, dams, past ferries and through more than 200 years of American history and centuries of North American history on our trip up the Canal. And we'll be helping the Winston-Salem Symphony guarantee its future when you give to the Jack and Bobbye Salt fund to benefit the Symphony Endowment. Our mileage total for the week is 340...that would be a wonderful gift amount, don't you think.
I'll post tomorrow after the ride and hopefully have some photos to add as well. See you then.