Huckleberry Hill

I got up around 6:00 am. It was raining. I made coffee and sat under my hammock’s rainfly. Rain always sounds so relaxing on a fly. I had had plenty of sleep or else it would of been tempting to go back to bed.

The day before I had only rode a few miles. Wednesday night I couldn’t sleep. I don’t know if it was from the excitement of being on the road again or too much caffeine at dinner but I was awake until 4:30 am. Then got up at 6. Every now and then I have insomnia. I don’t say I suffer from it because usually the nights I can’t sleep are enjoyable. This one was no exception. I gave up on trying to sleep around 1:00 and got up. The stars were beautiful. I built a little fire in the fire ring and stargazed until I felt tired. I slept a bit then got up and made coffee. One cup soon became 3 and I didn’t leave until 9 am. When I got to the Opequan Junction Campsite I stopped and filtered water. I also cooked some lunch. I made scrapple and cheese quessodillas.

After I ate lunch, I got really sleepy. I hung my hammock up for a quick nap. My quick nap ended up being 3 hours! So I decided to stay the night. I made some pasta sides for dinner and went to bed. Even after such a long nap I was still asleep by 10.

This morning, after 2 cups of coffee under my hammock tarp I headed out. It was pouring! Today was the first time I rode in rain gear. But it was too cold to get wet, low 50s. Around noon I stopped under the bridge to Shepardstown and cooked Ramen and made a cup of coffee. It was out of the rain at least.

I got into camp around 3:30 today. The big excitement for today was finding a beautiful lions mane mushroom. It must weigh ten pounds!

I couldn’t wait to get to camp and fry it up. I don’t have butter with me but I have olive oil. I’m really lacking in the spice department right now but I do have salt and pepper.

I fried ⅓ of the mushroom up for an appetizer. My main meal was rice and lentils Healthy and nutritious but not as fun as eating what you find.

It was still raining pretty hard when I got to camp. I rigged up my tents fly over the picnic table so I could cook out of the rain. It worked pretty well.

It’s raining still, but I’m hoping it will clear off tomorrow. At Mom and Dad’s I spent so long cleaning my bike and now it’s covered in mud again.

I need to resupply soon. Tomorrow I’ll be going through Brunswick, MD. I think there’s a grocery store there. I know there is a Dollar General which would get me through if that’s all there is.