Day 6 In Cumberland 15 miles on C&O Canal Towpath total = 167 miles

Today is the last day of our trip. We slept in until about 8:00AM. We went to breakfast and packed up all of our things and checked out of the hotel around 11:00 AM. I was able to store the trailer and our baggage at the hotel so we took our bikes for a ride.
We rode down to the C&O Canal towpath trail.

It was nice to ride without having to pull the trailer. We were riding around 10 to 12MPH which was better than I was doing with the trailer but we could not go any faster because of the condition of the trail. There were a lot of mud patches due to the rain over the past few days. In general, that trail is not as smooth or as well maintained as the Great Allegheny Passage is. The towpath is well shaded by tall trees which probably why it takes so long to dry out.

The canal itself is covered with a green fungus.

The many turtles we saw would be covered in green as they sunned themselves.

We rode on an old aqueduct which was how the canal was able to cross streams and rivers.

After we had gone about 7.5 miles we turned around and headed back. It was passed our lunch time so we went back to the Crabby Pig for lunch. We decided that crabs were in order for our final meal in Maryland. Blue crabs and king crab.

Avery nice lunch!!
Then we went back to the hotel to retrieve our baggage and headed for the train station. We met a mother and son who did the same ride we did only 2 days later. They stayed at the Morgeun Toole Company B&B in the same room (Arnold room) that we stayed in. We all laughed because the old lady cooking breakfast came and told them the same life story that she told us!
The engineer that we had met the other day also was there with his grandkids so we said hi to him as well. Finally the train came and we boarded for Pittsburgh.

Turner and I went to the dining car for some dinner and talked to a young college student heading back to Colorado Springs for school. He was very impressed with Turner's knowledge of Colorado skiing.
Finally we went back to our seats for the remainder of the ride to Pittsburgh. Turner slept for a couple of hours and finally woke up when we were almost there. Brad (Turner's dad) was there to meet us and take us home. This year's adventure is over, wait until next year!

Day 5 In Meyersdale 0 miles

Turner and I slept in this morning. We got up around 9 went to breakfast in the hotel. After breakfast, we went to check out the Amtrak station. We found it about three blocks from the hotel. We checked the train schedule and were checking out a freight train that was sitting there with the engine running. I said to Turner, I wonder if they would mind if we took a spin. As we were laughing about that, the engineer leaned out the window to talk to us. It was noisy so he got down out of the train and came over. He told us all about why he was waiting (needed clearance from his dispatcher). He was taking the train to Connellsville. He told us all about his job. I told him that a cousin of mine in Kansas husband was an engineer but he was retired now. He said that he was smart to get out! Turner and I laughed about that later. A freight train went by while we were waiting and he pointed out the different types of freight cars.

We left the station walked down to the C&O Canal museum.
We decided not to do any bike riding today. I think 4 days of riding wore us out.
The museum is part of the National Park which maintains the bike trail and the canal itself. The museum was very interesting in describing life on the canal.
Above the museum is the Western Maryland Train Station. We went up to check it out. It was large and still in great shape. It is used for the scenic train rides. We went into the gift shop and talked to the clerk. She was very impressed with Turner. She marveled that someone his age could do that ride.
We walked down the towpath bike trail to see the canal boat replica and to see the beginning of the trail.

We decided that ice cream would be a good lunch so we had some!
We went back to the hotel to rest up for dinner. About 4:30, we walked to the Crabby Pig for dinner.

We sat outside to eat. I had ribs while Turner had a pulled pork sandwich. He said it was very good but not as good as Carver's in State College or his mother's! After he finished it, he ordered another one!
We walked up to see the Motorcycle exhibit in the historic district.

There were  dozens of motorcycles parked on display. We saw several that we liked.

We noticed a dog that had one side of his face white and the other side black. We went over to see it. The lady said that he was only 16 weeks old. Turner petted him. He seemed like a nice dog.

We went back to the hotel for a lazy evening of reading and cartoon network!
Tomorrow we leave for home.

Day 4 32 Meyersdale to Cumberland 32miles Total = 152 miles

We woke up and got ready to ride. First we were served breakfast at the B&B. The cook was a nice old lady who came out and told us about her entire life story while we were eating. Very interesting! It was sunny and pleasant as we started our 7 mile climb to the continental divide.

We passed places which we remembered from our ride last year. Finally we could see the tunnel at the top! Turner sprinted to the top while I just chugged along.

Now the fun begins! All down hill to Cumberland. The elevation at the divide was 2,210', The elevation in Cumberland is 728'!! Sweet!
It wasn't too far before we came to the Big Savage Tunnel.

We stopped to turn on our lights and started through.

We also remembered to take off our sunglasses! We are getting smarter, not like last year when we left them on!
 The ride was fun just coasting down the mountain. Next we came to the Borden tunnel. This tunnel does not have any lights so we were sure remove our sunglasses and turn on our lights. We were safely through and finally reached the Mason Dixon Line.

We made it Frostburg MD and talked to a coupled of bikers heading towards Pittsburgh. One was training for a cross country trip. They were impressed with Turner's accomplishment.

Next we came to the Brush Tunnel. The Western Maryland Scenic Railroad train shares the tunnel with the bike trail. Warnings are posted to not enter the tunnel when a train was coming.
We saw the train a little later where it had stopped for folks to sightsee. It  normally goes all the way to Frostburg but there was a landslide and they were repairing the track so it can't go all the way.

We came to the bone cave. This cave was opened when the railroad was built. Numerous prehistoric  bones were discovered in the cave. It is fenced off now so that no one can enter.
Another three miles and we reached Cumberland. We checked into the Ramada and collapsed.
We went and got takeout Chinese for dinner. After dinner, Turner went for a swim.
Afterwards, I did laundry and talked to biker who had just rode in from DC on the C&O Canal trail. They did it in 2 days! 85 miles a day and camping in the rain. Crazy! He did say the trail was not in good shape.
Finally we went to bed knowing that we did not have to set the alarm. We will sleep as long as we want!

Day 3 Ohio Pyle to Meyersdale 42 milesTotal = 120 miles

We didn't wake up until 8:00AM, 10 1/2 hours of sleep, I guess we were pretty tired. There was a pretty severe thunder storm last night which left a few puddles around but no damage that we could see. We went to have breakfast which was ok but not up to Marylou's breakfast at the Bright Morning B&B. We headed up the trail towards Meyersdale.

The trail was steeper than yesterday's with unrelenting climbing. Our first destination was Confluence where we started our 2015 ride. It was 10 miles up the trail. There was a lot of debris on the trail from the storm. At one point, a small tree was down across the trail but it was small enough that we could move it to one side. Eventually we came to Confluence.

Now we started following the Castleman river. We continued up the trail on our way to Rockwood.
As we approached Rockwood, it began to rain. We spoke to a couple of volunteers at the visitor center who gave us a recommendation for lunch. We rode into town and had lunch. Turner ate his dessert first! The rain stopped while we were eating so we started back up the trail to Meyersdale.
We came to the Pickerton Tunnel which was just opened this year.

Last year we had to ride a 1 mile bypass, now it was a few hundred yards.
A little further up the trail, we spotted a large tree down across the trail. It was too big for us to move so we went through it!

 A rider came up as we were getting back on the bikes and told us the last 8 miles into Meyersdale was downhill, LIAR!! We kept climbing all the way.
Eventually we came to the viaduct which crosses I-68 and the valley.

We knew we were getting close. We finally arrived and found our B&B. When I went to give them my credit card, I realized that I had left my debit in the ATM machine in Oho Pyle!
We cleaned up and walked into town to have dinner at the Morguen Toole Factory. It was very good. Turner had a pulled pork sandwich which he had been wanting for several days. We walked  back up the hill to the ice cream store and then to our beds!
Again we were asleep by 9:30

Day 2 West Newton to Ohio Pyle 44 miles total = 78 total miles

We woke up at 7:00AM and got ready to ride. Marylou made us a wonderful breakfast which she served on the patio. It was a bright sunny morning just right for a great ride!

We continued to head east towards Connellsville and eventually Ohio Pyle. After a few miles, we past a interesting area called a Tufa Formation. It is 12,000 years old. How they know that is a mystery.

We stopped for a break at campground just short of Connellsville. Nothing too exciting happened except for a huge RV towing a SUV who was having problems getting it parked in the campground. Turner remembered my description of that configuration as a Biker's worst nightmare, "An 80 year old man in an RV towing a Jeep Cherokee". Because they cut you off when they pull over after passing you.
We passed though Connellsville and proceeded to start climbing to Ohio Pyle. Turner spotted a fenced in area that thought might be a prison but soon spotted the tanks of a fish hatchery.
Not too much happened after that, just steady climbing to Ohio Pyle. Eventually we came to the viaduct that crosses the Yough river into Ohio Pyle.

I realized that my rear tire was low once we got into town,  no wonder the climbing was so hard!! We stopped so I could pump it up and a man came up to see what we were doing. He was pretty strange but seemed impressed by what we had accomplished so far.
We found our place to stay. It wasn't as nice as the Bright Morning B&B but it was pretty good. We went to dinner and realized that this town is dead during the week. I went to a ATM machine to get some money, then to the ice cream shop for our night cap.
We were both tired so we went to bed at 9:30!

Day 1 Pittsburgh to West Newton 34 miles - 34 miles total

Today, Turner and I were up early and ready for our neighbor, Jim to ride us to the 2nd Ave Parking lot to begin our ride. We packed up our bikes and began the adventure.
We rode down the trail and then across the Hot Metal Bridge.

The first stop was the REI store on the South Side to pick up a spare tube for Turner's bike. We then headed east towards McKeesport. the ride was going along smoothly until we reached Duquesne and then it started to rain. We came to a small tunnel and decided to wait the rain out. As we were waiting a rider came from the opposite direction and we started to chat. Turns out that he was a McKeesport native in town for his 50th class reunion. He grew up on Versailles Ave near Union street not to far from my house on Pirl St.
The rain stopped and we started out again. Crossed the bridge over the Mon river and into McKeesport. I described all of the mills that used to be in the valley and pointed out some of the places of my youth. The bike trail goes through my old paper route along the Yough river and then it goes past 9th and Market where I worked for the phone company.
 We rode across the Yough river on the 15th street bridge and then up the river past Dead Man's hollow where I used to hike and camp with my Boy Scout troop. I told Turner about the old abandoned house we used to explore. He said that was something that he would like to do.
We came to Little Boston and stopped to have lunch. We sat outside and had some very good hamburgers. We talked to a couple who was also having lunch. They told us about some places to eat in West Newton.
We finished our lunch and started down the trail to West Newton. We hadn't gone very far before it started raining again.

We stopped at a picnic shelter to wait it out. After 15 minutes or so the rain stopped and we started out again. We stopped at the Dravo cemetery to look at the tombstones. We discovered that a veteran of the War of 1812 and 9 veterans of the Civil War are buried there. The last burial was in 1942.
We continued on for 5 more miles and stopped in Sutersville for some ice cream.  We passed a white water fall and then a red water fall.

Turner learned that they were caused by drainage from old mines. It was only 6 more miles and we reached our destination in West Newton. We were staying at the Bright Morning B&B hosted by Marylou and Rob. There are a total of four houses that they have converted in B&Bs. I remember how the old dilapidated houses were one by one refurbished but I had never stopped.
Marylou gave us a recommendation for dinner, Gary's Chuck Wagon in downtown West Newton. I had the ham and Turner had the grilled pork chops, very good.
We went back to the B&B and went to bed!