Mckeesport.

Yesterday was only a 34 mile day. We left Connellsville around 11. It was hot and neither one of us was very motivated. I used most the morning brushing up on my lollygagging skills. I was glad to see I still had them. Somehow the hours between 7 and 11 flew by and I think the only thing I accomplished was finishing off several cups of coffee.

We hadn’t ridden very far when it was time for second breakfast. Cold sausage and egg sandwiches! Rose had made them earlier. They were delicious. 3 eggs 2 sausage patties and cheese on sourdough bread.

Shortly before reaching camp for the night I ran into Ron. The last time I saw him was on a bridge near the Alabama state line. We stopped and talked a while. He told me about the rest of his trip, he had turned around and rode back to PA shortly after I had seen him on Rte 98.

We got to Dravos Cemetery campground around 6pm. After a quick swim in the Youghagany River we set up camp and started dinner. Dinner was chicken and Mac n cheese with some free vegetables that a good Samaritan had put along the trail. In hiking lingo that’s what we call a trail angel and finding free food is trail magic

After a crazy morning ride we arrived in McKeesport city park. Our plan was for Rose to catch a bus to the Pittsburgh Airport and rent a car. I was staying with the bikes and gear. Then when she returned, we would load the bikes and begin the 4.5 hour drive to Middleport, NY. It was only 10.05 miles from where we camped last night to the park. The bus stop was about 2 blocks away from there. So logistically this all worked out great. What didn’t work so great was over sleeping! The bus we wanted left at 10:13 am. We had 10 miles to ride and I did not wake up until 7:45. Last night I had planned to be on our bikes by 8 am allowing us to take our time and enjoy the last section of this wonderful rail trail. I had even set 2 different alarms! I have the unique ability to turn any alarm clock off without waking up. In the past I have gone to great lengths to prevent this. Back when I had to be up at 4:30 am for work, I had 5 alarms throughout my bedroom and one time when it was imperative that I was up on time, I even taped a mouse trap over the snooze bar. I only did that once. It worked very well but I don’t really recommend it. Anyway, we over slept. Raccoons were a problem during the night. Before getting into our hammocks for the night we had hung all our food and trash, thinking that’s would be enough. It wasn’t, and the little trash pandas where into everything. We ended up hanging everything but our bikes from the nearby trees.We parked our bikes right next to our hammocks so we could reach out and gently push the raccoons off of them. Well at least I was nice about it. At one point in the night I heard Rose say angrily “I’m going to clock this little ******** right in the face. I tried to stay awake to see how that unfolded but was asleep seconds later. With all our gear hanging up, packing was more time consuming than normal. And bus or no bus, I still needed coffee. We made a pot and drank a cup each while packing. With no time to spare, we were on our way by 9:17. We covered the 10 miles to the park in 45 minutes. We were still unsure where the bus stop was exactly. Parking the bikes Rose grabbed a small stuff sack and we started throwing anything she might need in it. Hard boiled eggs, some snacks, water bottle, drivers license, credit card, $25 in cash and her eye glasses. Neither one of knew how to pay the bus fare. It was $ 2.75 but we didn’t know if the driver’s accepted cash. Rose had 4 minutes left to find and get to the correct stop. Maybe from the way we frantically stuffed stuff in the stuff sack or maybe because we were dripping sweat and gasping for breath a man on a bicycle,named Tom asked if we needed help. Luckily he knew the exact bus stop and led Rose right to it. 5 minutes later Rose text that she was on the bus and headed in the right direction! We had made it! I sighed with relief. I had about 3 hours before Rose would be back. There wasn’t anyone else around so I took off my shoes and laid down on a bench. I hoped Mr. John F. Kennedy didn’t mind the smell.

Rose returned around 2pm. I had the bikes and gear ready to go when she arrived. When we were doing our budget, we had booked a small compact car a couple weeks in advance. I knew getting all our gear and bikes in would be a challenge. After removing the wheels from the bikes everything fit in, but just barely.

We got into Middleport NY just as the sun was setting. It was a enjoyable drive.

Rose also has a blog. I keep forgetting to put a link. Read here for her side of the adventure.

https://wildrosepedals.com/