August 17, 1998 - Frostburg - Sharpsburg

DISTANCE TRAVELED: 12.22 Miles

TIME: 45 Hours

AVERAGE SPEED: 17.5 Miles/Hour

TRAVEL CONDITIONS: Very rainy in the morning with no signs of clearing. The afternoon cleared up to be very sunny and warm.

ROAD CONDITIONS: Fairly good roads since they had just been paved.

TERRAIN/DIFFICULTY LEVEL: All downhill so it was very easy and fast.

DAILY JOURNAL COMMENTS:
I woke up at 7:55 and quickly put on some clothes since we were supposed to be at a restaurant by 8:00. I got there five minutes late and got a large glass of orange juice which tasted like it was freshly squeezed. We then had two pancakes, three pieces of bacon, two eggs, and some hashbrowns. We finally left around 9:00 and I went back to pack up my things so that we could leave. Just as I thought that I was ready, it started to rain hard so we decided to stay longer and then ride faster since we knew that it was to be a long but easy ride. We played memory and then bingo until 11:00 and finally left at 11:30. We then rode to a gas station to get air before going 10 miles downhill in the driving rain to Cumberland. We found the train station at about 12:15 and were about to get on the trail when we met up with some other fellow riders who were waiting around the station. We started to talk and David told us that he had gone five miles and turned around since there was so much mud and water. Also we found out that instead of the 80 miles that we thought that we would have on the trail which would make the day a total of 90 miles, we actually had another 115 which would have made the day 125 miles! We ended up staying at the train station to wait for the SAG until 7:20! During this time, we sat around for most of the time and got some lunch at a local sub shop. For five dollars we got a foot long sub with heaps of meat inside. It was much better than subway. We also went to Dunkin Donuts to try to get a donation and got some munchkins for free. After eating, we sat around and at 1:00 I fell asleep on the brick ground outside at the station. Three hours later, I woke up to find that the rain and clouds were completely gone and the day was once again very warm. It was too late to go on and we discovered that the path still had puddles that were about a foot deep. We had been trying to reach the SAG all day but the phone didn't work. We called Abigail's aunt since Abigail was with us and tried to find out information of where the SAG was. Finally at 5:00, we discovered that the SAG had just arrived! It was incredible that it took so long since Anthony had left at 11:00, had almost no food to buy, and was only 2 hours from our destination. After we found this out, we went back to the sub shop and bought another sandwich before Anthony finally arrived. We loaded 11 bikes into the SAG along with 12 people!(Picture101) We then arrived at the house only an hour and a half later which made us even more suspicious of what Anthony had been doing. As soon as we got to the house, we all jumped out since we were so packed in and got some food as a second dinner. Matt, Jade, Dan, and I then found our place to sleep which was fortunately not yet claimed. We found a small room above the garage that had one bed and was very quiet compared to the rest of the house. I put all of my things inside and sat down to type on my laptop before going onto the internet for a little while. After updating a few days, I finally went to bed around 12:00.

TRIP ROUTE:
Get on Alt 40 and follow to Cumberland. Go to old train station and get onto canal path to Washington. Follow to sharpsburg.