The Fire House

The post IS out of sequence and posted at 11:59 pm Friday night. Details of how we got to Shepherdstown, WV will come in a later post but...

We are camped behind the property of the Shepherdstown Fire Department. They were very gracios in letting us pitch tents and hammocks in the back of their property. After an hour or so a couple of the young firemen came out and asked if we needed anything (ice, water,showers etc..). 

We nicely thanked them for the offer but declared we'd be just fine. There's a Sheetz close for supplies and the McDonald's across the street has clean restrooms. All is good and as they depart they 'mentioned' that we're actually camping 'under' their siren that calls all the on call firemen if something happens. 

At 11:30 pm the LOUDEST siren I've ever heard goes off and pierces our ears and sends vibrations down your body. Apparently, not enough firemen heard it the first time because it went off again ten minutes later.  Five minutes after that Tom says 'the Clarion Hotel has 21 rooms available for $139 but if we use Dan's military discount we can get them for $84'. 

It's now 12:26 am and all's quiet for now.., 

Mayor of the trail Charlie (meets Lars)

For those of us who know Charlie this comes as no surprise. As a matter of fact, this is exactly what we hoped for. 

Charlie rolls into the Kitchen with a gentleman named Lars. As I understand it, he is a 65 year old retired Doctor (of radiology) from Sweden and he is basically/really just riding the world. His travels have taken him everywhere. My encounter with Lars was pulling of the trail to go to the Kitchen. This older man says 'did you get you bike fixed'?  It's 90° and he's riding in a long sleeve flannel type shirt and is fully self contained. So, even though he was a doctor, you might ask 'how can you afford to travel the world'?  The answer is a budget of $7 a day. What can you eat on $7 dollars a day?  Nuts, peanut butter, and Daisy Sour Cream. 

Anyway Charlie is now the Mayor. 

The School House Kitchen / where in the world is Charlie

(Note - I understand the dates on the blog don't necessarily match up to our ride dates. As I'm blogging from my phone I can't find a why to correct this. I'll fix it when I get to a computer.)

Jared and I are back on the trail (at MP 175) and Dan/Tom are waiting for for us at The School House Kitchen (MP 166.7).

 Dan calls me to see how far out we are and if I've seen Charlie.  As we are on the phone Charlie rides up with his new friend Lars. (More to come on Lars later). Although we missed lunch at the Kitchen, Dan, Tom, and Charlie said it was great. What we got was a work welcome from the staff and some great pie. 

The Kitchen also has a great work philosophy -

Screeching halt - Cumberland Trail Connections to the rescue

After a great initial 12 miles our ride came to a grinding halt. Jared rebounds from his 'night in the tub' and we're enjoying the ride when we hear metal and spokes blending together. After Jared skids to a stop we see the results. His rear derailer exploded, twisting the chain, and scattering what appears to be important bike components all over the trail. To speed up the story - we called Cumberland Trail Bike shop and Josh was our new hero. Not only did he pick us up from trail, they completely repaired the bike (new derailer, hanger, chain, and wheel) and got us back on the trail with in two hours. Many thanks to Josh and the shop. 

Sorry for the lack of pics but that wasn't really on my mind at that moment. 

Anyway - Jared and I are back on the trail working our way up to Dan and Tom. Not really sure where Charlie is but I don't think he's in DC yet. 

And we're off!

Wesnesday morning...

After a great night at Uncle Jack's Pizza Pub

we got up early and started loading the bike. A few more visits to Cumberland Trail Bike shop for misc 'things, we're close. (Side note on snoring - it happens and it can be loud. Jared spent the better part of Tuesday night sleeping in the hotel bathtub, with earplugs in, trying to escape it - and based on his general disposition Wednesday morning it didn't work. Not the best way to start a long bike ride). 

Anyway things are falling into place and we're ready to shove off. 

But wait - where's Charlie?  Running behind. 

Don't worry - he gave us a 1-1/2 hour head start and still caught us with in twenty miles. 

And we begin...

Arrived in Cumberland

The trail begins... but first 

Unload at the hotel and

A quick beer. Charlie arrived around 9:00 tonight and we start riding tomorrow. 

Reagan National

We hooked up with Dan just north of Richmond and followed each other to Reagan. Parking is better than I thought. We went to Remote South and found some spots to stash the cars. Unlike the 'internet'published rates for airport parking ($22/day) as mentioned in other blogs the rate is only $14/day.  Best thing is there's a VA trail from MP 0 on the C&O that runs right next to the parking lot.  I've read it winds through some great sites on the way to the airport - I'll report back on this at the end of the ride. 

Time to load up!