Day 5

            Today was our long day- 60 miles. We had breakfast at 6:30 and left at 7:30 to get an early start and beat the heat. It didn’t work. It was already hot and humid when we left. About 10 miles out, I noticed my rear tire was very soft. Finally I had to stop and pump it up. Then it was every 4 ½-5 miles it needed air. I put air in it probably 4-5 times before lunch. Lunch was to be in Paw Paw, WV, just across the river from the Paw Paw Canal Tunnel. Carol was to check on whether there was a restaurant or just a convenience store. The pizza shop did not open until later so she bought some sub sandwiches and brought then to the parking lot at the tunnel, rather than shuttle us (in 2 trips) the one mile into town. So while everyone ate, I repaired my rear tire.

            I removed the tube and put air in it. As I looked around the outside of the tube, I saw a hole with a circle “chalked” around it. I lined it up with the tire to find out what punctured it, and inside the tire, there was a hole in the tire with a circle “chalked” around it. When I pinched the tire, I could see a piece of glass which I picked out with my knife. Now I have not had that tire off in several years, but the mystery is, why would I mark it and not fix it and why, after years and 150 miles in the last 4 days, would it suddenly start to leak. Anyway, I patched it and it has been fine the rest of the day.

            We had 30 mile till lunch this morning and then 15 miles till Bill’s Place (afternoon break), the ONLY other to get anything to eat or drink all day. We had lunch at 11 and break about 2:30. The towpath was fairly rough (unlike the GAP Trail) but was surprisingly dry, given all the rain they had a week ago (like Ohio).  We had feared the worst, but each time there was a puddle, there was a dry spot to ride across it. Five miles after Bill’s Place, we arrived at the end of the Western Maryland Rail Trail, which parallels the Towpath. Then it was 13 miles of asphalt pavement downhill to Hancock, and our overnight stop. We arrived at 5 PM. Carol shuttled us (2 trips) to the Super 8 Motel at the edge of town; After showers, we ate at Weavers Restaurant, a well known local restaurant. The heat was very tough and stopping to rest every so often, was very hot but we needed breaks, even if stopping was hotter than riding. When you ride you get a 10 mile an hour breeze. But we all feel heat is better than rain all day. We are tired and ready for bed.

Our group at the 184 1/2 mile marker on the Canal.

Zero mile marker will be in DC.

LF. Jan, Gary, Tess, Deb, and JD.

2nd row-Dean, Lee, Jenny and Bob.

 

Here we are at a very unusual site. It is an interstate (goes from MD to WV), 

 low water (you can not cross when the water is high),

privately owned ( not government)

toll bridge.

 

Keith, patching his bike tube, in the parking lot of the Paw Paw Tunnel.

 

Our group, in front of the west end of the Paw Paw Tunnel.

 

 

Bill's Place

Bar, restaurant, bait shop, grocery, canoe rental, Mayor's office, etc. in Little Orleans, MD.

 

Jenny, soaking up the cold air from the AC unit above the door at Bills.

 

Little Orleans Directory.

If it's not at Bill's Place, it isn't in Little Orleans.

 

Starting on the Western Maryland Rail Trail.

 

Temperature at Hancock when we arrived.

(Actually it was probably only 97 degrees.)