Berkeley Springs to Romney, West Virginia. ONLY 54 miles is the goal today. (Peg, the lonely webmaster, is headed to Pittsburgh to drop Troy at college and to meet up with Doug in West Virginia on Saturday, Aug. 23. This will probably be our last rendezvous until San Diego, unless I get strung out some weekend in Sept. So, the website will not be updated until I return on Sunday, August 24.And the way Doug tells it, there will be A LOT of typing for me to do. So loyal followers, check the site again on Sunday or Monday.)
Okay, folks disregard the above...I'm at a library in Romney, WV. Made it here by 3ish.
Don't You Ever Fear Those Mountains in the Distance
(Line from a song called "I Hope You Dance" and it never meant anything until now) I am not fearing them I'm fuckin' petrified!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Seriously, they are a formidable challenge. Each day seems to get increasingly intense. There has not been a mountain I can't climb but it is strenuous and the heat doesn't help. Today I pedaled up for 3 and a 1/2 miles without a break until the top, and that was just one mountain. I probably crossed over 4 on the day. The downhill is when you cool off and recoup only to do it again. Many of them are twisting roads, up and up and up. Finally you see sky through the swath the road has cut and you know you're almost to the top. After that, down or flat would be nice.
8AM start...45 minute delay because of leaking water supply and derailer adjustment. The day began with fresh legs and a 3.5 mile climb right out of the gate up to Prospect Peak, a scenic overlook. You could see WV, MD and PA plus the Potomac and Cacapon Rivers. A sign there said National Geographic considers this one of America's Outstanding Beauty Spots. A very pretty scene with mountains, valleys, farms, fields and 2 rivers running through it. Picture pretty. I wish that I could paint it.
As I rode along I kept saying Cacapon...."Cack-a-pon" "Cack-a-pon" "Cack-a-pon" I love saying "Cack-a-pon" Said hi to some cows I passed and told them I really love their milk. Seems at the end of the day I could sit down and drink a 1/2 gallon without stopping.
The route today was 9 west to 29 south to 50 west. I hate dump trucks, log trucks, and hawgs. Hawgs because the exhaust sounds just rattle me. I vibrate! The trucks are just annoying as they pass.
Rested on a bridge over the Cacapon River.. Nice sunny quiet spot on a hardly traveled road. One dump truck did pass and the bridge shook for a bit afterwards. Another stop at a country store in Largent, WV found me talking to some locals. Cacapon means beautiful waters they said and offered alternate pronunciations. There was a rock on the counter that was rather flat and someone wrote on it with white paint "Turn Me Over" so I did and on the other side it said "Ahhhh, thank you!"
Next stop (every stop was crucial for water refills) after climbing another 3 mile mountain was a country store. The old geezer inside told me the nearest restroom was in Paw Paw, WV about 4 miles up the road. I only use the rest rooms for the water generally, so I then flat out asked him if I could fill my water bottle and he said no. He did not care about the biking across the USA schpiel. So I bought 2 bottles of water and left. Seems to be one of 2 outcomes...people who could care less what I'm doing and friendly people who are obliging.
Had lunch at a roadside eatery in Slanesville. Met up with a guy who stopped earlier to give me a weather report. He then offered directions to Romney. Gee, thanks but I have a map. Refilled the water bottles in the ladies room of an adjacent store...men's room out of order and the owner said it was okay.
Do ya get it? I DON'T WANT TO RUN OUT OF WATER.
I take the day a little at a time, one town at a time, one junction at a time. Lots of short little goals amid the big goal for the day amid the BIG goal for the trip. Coasted down a 1 mile hill and turned west onto Route 50. About 2 miles along on the left side of the road I saw someone walking with a wide brim hat, a stick and a backpack, but he had sneakers and was not wearing your typical hiking get-up. I yelled to him "Hey you're not doing what I think you're doing, are ya?" He crossed the road and told me he was Adam Corya and he is walking from Washington, DC to Indianapolis for a cause called Ambassadors For Children.
www.walkforchildren.org
We were 8 miles from Romney and that's where he was headed too, so I said let's meet in town. He told where he was staying but said he goes to bed really early. It was here that I took the picture of the day of Adam walking to Indianapolis on the north side of US 50. From the same location he took a digital picture of me riding to San Diego on the south side of the highway. OK, see ya in Romney!
One more stop at a peach stand on the outskirts of town. Talked to some locals and they told me what to expect tomorrow as far as the mountains go. One 5 mile straight up. The highest elevation sign I saw today was 1542. I know there are 3500's around here. Yikes!
Left the peach stand after eating a couple and coasted down a 2 mile hill in to Romney, WV. 53.58 miles for the day, 5 hours 13 minutes biking time, 325 cumulative miles.
The carrot in front of me all day was my first General Delivery Mail stop. Got to the post office and alas, no mail for me....kinda disappointing... Anyway, if you have sent anything to Romney, WV and it was sent first class they will forward it to Charleston, WV.
Then a library stop to type this. Afterwards, I rode up to the Cool Wink Motel to see about having dinner with Adam. Manager said, "He just got here. He’s in room 24.” It was 7 PM now and he said he goes to bed early, so I hoped to catch him. Adam said he already ate dinner and suggested breakfast at Shirley’s around 10 AM. I said, “That’s way too late!” So we just sat outside and talked for about an hour. He had a very detailed laminated chart of mileages to food and hotels on his entire 584 mile route to Indianapolis. He drove it first and made notes of mileages to each important stop. Offered to have office at motel photocopy it but it wouldn’t feed through the machine with the lamination on it.