C&O Canal.

My mom drove us to Williamsport, MD to start. After loading the gear on our bikes, taking some pictures and saying goodbye, we were on our way by 11 am.

It has been at least 2 months since I rode my bike, 6 since I have been on it fully loaded. And we are definitely fully loaded! We have a lot of food. Including fresh vegtables from Mom and Dad’s garden. Potatoes, onions, garlic, green peppers and some of Dad’s beautiful collards

We hope to go at least 10 days without getting groceries. As I wobbled from one side of the path to the other I was reminded of just how much food and gear I had. A heavily loaded bike handles quite a bit different than an empty one and it takes a little while to get a feel for the way it balances. Rose was having just as much trouble as I was. The cooler on her front rack weighed 18 pounds. That was a lot of weight up high. It was full of frozen steaks, chicken breast, vegtables and coffee creamer plus a few frozen water bottles. I assured her that the canal was flat and real easy biking and we wouldn’t have any trouble. But… there was a detour. The problem with any detour on the canal is that you leave the banks of the Potomac river and immediately start going up hill. Steep hills. And it was hot. It was 96 degrees and I could feel the heat coming off the black top. Nearing the end of the detour we had to push our bikes up a few hills. At the top of one particularly steep hill I laid down in the shade and waited for Rose to catch up. We were both walking our bikes up the hill and I had gotten ahead of her by a few minutes. I was startled from my short respite by loud swearing followed by the sound of a bike falling over a few seconds later. I got up and walked back to help her. She said she lost her grip and it fell over. Being as she was in the middle of having a melt down I didn’t question her on how that was possible. I think if I had, she may of referred to me with the same colorful adjectives she was using liberaly to describe the hill the heat the road the detour and her bike. Trying not to let her see me laugh, I picked up her bike and pushed it the rest of the way. I was glad my sunglasses hid the tears of laughter. I dont think her bike fell over I’m pretty sure it was pushed. But only Rose knows for sure. Here is a pic you decide. Lol

By the time we were back on the canal after the detour it was around 3 pm. We stopped at the next campsite for the night. For dinner we had Adobe beef tacos and rice. It was delicious.

During dinner a mother with her two daughters pulled in to camp. The girls were 6 and 8 years old. They were from Canada. They started their ride in Cumberland and were doing all 184 miles to DC. Claudia the mother commented how hard it was to get vegtables on the trail. Both her girls were on their own bikes and she didn’t like riding on roads to go to grocery stores. We shared some of our potatoes and a few other things with them. The kids were impressive. After riding all day, they set up the tent while Claudia started dinner.

After a quick swim in the Potomac we headed for our hammocks.