Day 6

We made it to Chisel Branch campsite yesterday afternoon. It is one of my favorites sites along the canal. It has really easy river access with pretty big rocks that make some great places for swimming. Several other cyclist stopped and chatted with us a bit as we relaxed at the picnic table. Eventually we made our way down to the river to cool off. Cooking dinner after our swim, another cyclist rolled in and set up camp. Mark had started in Pittsburgh on Thursday and was really doing some big miles. He had done over 70 this day. I was a bit envious that he only had 14 pounds of gear. We all shared a picnic table cooking dinner. Rose and I are definitely at the other end of the spectrum from Mark when it came to dinner. We were cooking steaks in a cast iron pan, potatoes, couscous and bread and butter. We even sautéed onions.

Mark didn’t carry a stove and mostly relied on town food and snack bars. He liked to be fast and light. It was really nice talking with him. He had thru-hiked the Apalachian Trail a few years ago, so we had a lot to talk about.

It’s nice to be cool and dry, listening to the peaceful sound of the rain on my hammock tonight. A couple thunderstorms came through this evening and really cooled it down. It was a beautiful day but a little bit hot. 87 degrees. We went for a swim after setting up camp. We were both tired and decided to make it a short day. Neither one of us slept very well. A raccoon was trying desperately to find something to eat in our gear. Earlier in the evening we had watched it climb onto Mark’s bike and get into his small bag of trash. So we were prepared and hung all our food panniers from a tree branch. But the racoon still knocked over Rose’s bike climbed on mine and knocked off the water bottles and helmet. Our sleep was interrupted many times by either Me, Rose or Mark yelling GET AWAY FROM THERE and clapping our hands,followed by the sound of a small animal crashing through the underbrush.

I had got up to use the restroom around 5 am. After such a restless night, I had no intention of staying up and was looking forward to a couple more hours of sleep.Walking back to my hammock I noticed my handlebar bag was wide open. My heart beat quickened as I walked toward it. It has my valuables… my wallet camera and camera lenses. My wallet was not there! I couldn’t believe someone would steal it. I was upset with myself for not putting it in the hammock with me. I’m often told I’m too trusting and that might be true. Many times I have done things that most people think is crazy. One of my first trips on the C&O, I was headed to D.C then back to Williamsport where I had parked my van. On my first night at camp I met a man who needed to get to a bike shop. He was headed in the direction I had came from and would go right by my parked vehicle. With out even asking his name, I gave him my keys and a description of my van and told him to put the keys under the seat when he was done and as long as the van was there when I returned in 3 days he could use it as much as he needed in that time. Not only were the keys there, he had left a gift card for Taco Bell. I got the better end of that deal. Haha I’ll rent my car for tacos any day! I digress, back to the wallet. I couldn’t imagine why someone would take a wallet but leave a Cannon dslr and lenses. I started to suspect the raccoon. I walked in the grass around my bike and there was my wallet! And two packs of mustard. At the Potomac Grill a few days ago, my sandwich came with mustard packs. I had put them in my shirt pocket with my wallet then when I got back to my bike I put my wallet and mustard packets in my bar bag. I was now wide awake and decided to stay up. Trying not to wake anybody, I quietly went to retrieve our food bags. I had just about managed to get the coffee out when Rose clapped and yelled GET AWAY FROM THERE! I guess I need to learn from the squirrels how to be more stealthy. Haha.