Completion of Day 3 (12 July) (Day 3 distance biked 75.3 miles): Within 30 seconds of leaving the restaurant in Cumberland, Md, the left side of my rear pannier rack detached from the mounting point on the frame and the rack arm was freely bouncing against the rear brake disc. Luckily, since Cumberland is the connecting city between the C&O Canal and the Great Allegheny Passage, there was a bike shop within a couple hundred feet. I bought a few screws, one for backup, and re-attached the rack to the bike frame. Then came the seemingly endless upward slope of the start of the Allegheny Passage. Approximately four miles into the climb there was a porta-potty that I utilized and when I went to take my bike of the kick-stand, one of the two legs snapped, rendering my kickstand useless. Just more dead-weight added to an accumulating list of unnecessary items I thought pointless to carry. I detached the kick-stand and found it a new home in the garbage can next to the porta-potty. I camped that evening at the Husky Haven Campground, in Rockwood, PA. The Husky was a great deal at $10 and the facilities were nice.
Day 4 (13 July) (Day 4 distance biked 81.7 miles): After crossing The Eastern Continental Divide the day before, the rest of the ride to Pittsburgh was mostly downhill. I lunched in Confluence and the rest of the ride was scenic, but kind of a blur as I try to recall the day’s highlights. I did stop in one town along the trail that appeared to be a popular starting point for rafting. I picked up some local blueberries, a cucumber and some cured meat at shop that sold some locally procured produce. Some contrasting points between the C&O and the Allegheny are that the C&O has many free camp sites all along the path and it also has water pumps for wells treated with iodine at every camp site and many in between. The Allegheny has only a few free campsites and a few water pumps along the route, The Allegheny did have a collection of bike tools and bike pumps at some sites. Sleeping at Dravo Cemetery sounded a bit creepy until I arrived there, the cemetery was adjacent to the campsite.
Day 5 (14 July) (Day 5 distance biked 59.5 miles): With less than 25 miles from Dravo to Pittsburgh I set out for Pittsburgh with a few goals in mind, to get my bike checked out and tuned at the REI along my route and to see if I could mail ahead some of the obviously not so needed equipment at the moment, an electric bear fence, bear spray and cold weather gear; necessary items as my trip would progress Northerly in latitude, but obviously not needed in the current phase of my trip. David, the bike tech at REI, made some necessary adjustments to my bike and got me along my way. My next stop was a UPS store where I shipped 15 pounds of the currently unneeded items ahead to family friends in Minnesota that my daughter helped coordinate. Thank you Britney and the Van Heels! My route out of Pittsburgh took me through a few nice hills and detours, but one detour led me to a road that didn’t exist and after the help of some of the locals I was back on route ready for my first hotel stay. The weather turned on me during the last hour and it poured on me while I tackled some hilly terrain. I stayed in Monaco, PA that was a bit off my route. I used the laundry room that night.
Day 6 (16July) (Day 6 distance biked 79.3 miles): On my route that day I stopped at a drive-through burger joint that brings your food to your car on the tray and sets it in your window. I probably looked out of place without a car and may have been a brief topic of conversation for a few of the patrons. Day 6 seemed to throw at me hill after hill. I finally got stop at some road-side local produce sellers. This particular place was run by the Amish and I bought cherries, blueberries, green apples and homemade granola. I also stopped at an Amish home that was selling baked goods in their front yard. This particular family had something that caught my eye, zucchini bread; something my Mom used to make when I was young. The day turned into night and I hadn’t solidified my plans to where I was going to stay and I had to turn on all my Christmas lights to be seen. I use a GPS for primarily recording my route for record and I use my phone for navigation. It was dark and my phone was low on power and I was trying to connect the phone top the solar battery to run off of and charge and I broke my USB cable. I tried in vain to fix it and it was getting late and I had no idea where I was going to stay. I haven’t become familiar with my GPS for route navigation and I needed to get a spare cable quickly, so I did a Walmart search and luckily there was one along my route in Kent, Ohio. I think I was out of Walmart with a couple of new cables about 1230 A.M. and I was tired. My plan was to go to the nearest fire station, introduce myself, tell them I am retired and also a certified EMT-1 in Alaska (although not working or volunteering yet). When I navigated to the nearest fire station it was apparent that it wasn’t be utilized anymore. I decided to sleep on what I thought was an area of trees on the fire station’s property, but I was wrong. I think it was around 2 A.M. when a police officer and his light woke me and asked me what I was up to. I tried to explain what I was doing, the best I could in that foggy moment after a long day, and the police officer was very nice and just suggested that I move off of someone’s property line and onto the property of the fire station. So the police officer helped me move my items into a shed that was utilized for salt storage and off to sleep I went. The next morning as I was getting up I think I met the woman who owned the land, but she was extremely nice and even brought me out a cup of coffee.
Day 7 (17 July) (Day 7 distance biked 62.6 miles). After I finished the cup of coffee provided by the kind woman, I departed. That day I passed through the Cuyahoga National Park and encountered some more challenging hills throughout the day. After passing the park the route was relatively free of changing from one road to another, which made navigation easier. The landscape also changed from rolling hills to farmland, miles and miles of farms. Not only was the heat a challenge, but the monotony of the seemingly endless road became a challenge to overcome. My odometer hit 500 miles towards the end of the day; 1/9 of the way to Anchorage complete. I stayed at the Schuan Acres Campground for $22 and took another long shower to wash the several days accumulated filth away that baby-wipes just can’t compete with. My allergies were acting up after my shower and after taking Benadryl I went out rapidly. However, I do remember waking and yelling “Who is out there” at one point in the middle of the night. It must have been a dream because nobody replied. Checkout is surprisingly late, 3 P.M. and while it has given me time to rest the clock keeps ticking away and the amount of daylight hours to ride to my next unknown place to stay gets smaller.
Peace on the Peninsula 