Cumberland MD.

I ended up staying at White Rocks camp site last night even though i wanted to ride a few more hours. It started raining while I was cooking dinner so I decided to stay put. I made pasta, creamy pesto with smoked oysters . It was just a package of Knorr pasta sides. I put in a tin of oysters for the protein (18 grams). It really started raining hard so I grabbed my soap and washcloth and was able to get a shower. The rain fly I use over my hammock is a pretty big one. It catches a lot of water and if you set it up just right you can funnel all the run off into a small stream. Its more like taking a shower under a garden hose then an actual shower but on a hot,humid day nothing feels better!

I made it to Evits Creek . 64 miles. That’s where I’m camped tonight. It was pretty slow going today with the mud. It continued to rain a little off and on but the cool rain felt good. Evits Creek Campsite is about 4 miles from Cumberland. I reached camp and set up my gear as fast as possible. I got in about 6pm. The Crabby Pig restaurant closes at 8 so I was in a hurry. I set up my hammock threw my panniers inside and headed the 4 miles to dinner. I only took my handle bar bag, it has my camera, lenses, wallet and cell phone. Without all the weight from the gear those 4 miles flew by. Unfortunately the 4 miles back to camp were not quite so effortless after softshell crabs french fries, oysters on the half shell and a huge peanut butter milk shake 😋. It was an awesome dinner! (Thanks Linda)

I didn’t take many pictures today. I didn’t really think about it. Im so familiar with this section of the canal its like my back yard. I guess I forget how beautiful and unique it is. That reminds me of a quote by Marcel Proust. “The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeing new sights, but in looking with new eyes”. I guess I need to start paying more attention. I did watch a family of wood ducks for a bit. There was 5 little ducklings that looked like they just hatched. They were swimming in a real low water place on the canal that was covered in a green scum.I kept expecting to see a big old snapper poke its head up through the algae and grab one of the little babies for its lunch. That didn’t happen and it was raining too hard for me to get out my camera even though I wanted to.

I only saw one other biker today while riding. They too just had there head down intent on churning out miles. We passed with only a brief wave. At the restaurant a couple, probably 65 or 70 years old used the restroom to change out of there wet muddy biking clothes. I assumed they were then going to eat but they headed out, got on there bikes and left. They said good luck to me as they passed my table. I guess they saw my shoes with pedal clips. ( I do not wear spandex!) Or maybe they figured only a cyclist would be enjoying an Epicurean feast while soaking wet with muddy water pooling around his feet. After my meal I rode up to a little sidewalk ice cream shop for my milk shake. I got my shake and sat down on a low concrete wall to enjoy it and that same couple sat down beside me with their ice cream. They had biked from their home in Pittsburgh and were catching the train back. When I had seen them earlier they thought they were running late. But they said the train was delayed so they had an hour to kill. They were credit card touring. ( credit card touring is when you don’t pack any thing but some clothes ,eat out every meal and stay in motels and b&bs you can always recognize one buy the size of there tiny little panniers). I enjoyed chatting with them for a little bit then I headed back to camp. No one else is here so I have it to myself. I never mind sharing a site with fellow campers the problem is theres only one table. With panniers, in order to find anything, you have to pretty much dump them outn so sharing a table is hard. This campsite sits right next to a very busy train yard so it makes a goodnight sleep hard to come by. Tomorrow I climb for 20 miles up Big Savage Mountain. Im not sure how many miles I will go. I would like to do a couple big days and get to McKeesport where ill be joining the Montour trail and then The Panhandle trail down to Weirton WV. I’m exited to get some place I haven’t been.