2 Lefts

We began today with a Tour de Shoppes in Butler. First we went to the Smokehouse to get breakfast. Then we went to a bicycle-coffee shop for a cup of tea. Then we stuck our heads into a cabinet shop because Mike likes cabinets. Well, he likes making cabinets anyway. Our ride began with some all-too-familiar hills. After about 10 miles we turned onto the Northern Central Railway rail trail. This used to be a railway line but fell into disuse so they turned it into a bike trail. Do you know what's great about trains? They can't go up steep hills! So guess how many steep hills we encountered in 30 miles of riding on the rail trail... None! Not one! Incredible. The Maryland half of the rail trail sloped gently upwards through the Gun Powder Falls state park. The scenery was beautiful. Rivers, small waterfalls, tall forest, all viewed from a gravel trail with no cars to worry about. We had lunch at the top of the hill in a town called New Freedom just over the state line in Penn...

Today I have been singing Cookie Monster's "C is for Cookie song." Rach submitted the competing title of "Small Town Generosity" but as it is my day to write, the selection committee sided with me. First off, a big thanks to Cathie and Bob for hosting us last evening. Cathie and I chatted about current events and news of the day over breakfast. She suggested a book called  Hillbilly Elegy  which I am going to keep my eye out for. We also got a tour of the art studio she shares with Bob where they paint, weave, stamp, stitch, and more. Cathie has been working on temari balls recently. (A traditional Japanese embroidery craft - look it up.) Soon it was time to go and we saddled our ponies for another day climbing the hills of Maryland. If we didn't before, we're certainly turning into billy goats now. Lots of up. Never too long. But the thrill of the downhill was frequently short-lived. Just as a sweeping descent pushed our speed up and the wind whistl...

Memorial Day (a public holiday in the US for the non-Americans reading) was a rest day for us and we spent it in Washington DC. We took a train into the city from Springfield, anticipating bigly huge crowds. We had to steel ourselves for the masses, we have not spent much time in busy areas lately. Perhaps the overcast weather kept people away but it wasn't particularly crowded. We observed various military groups and high school bands setting up for the afternoon's parade. We didn't stick around to see the parade start and instead went to some museums. We visited the National Air and Space museum and the National Museum of the American Indian, both were great. Later, we trekked back to Springfield. Last night's accommodation was 5 miles off the route so this morning we set out to rejoin the main route again. For the uninitiated: we're following a route and using maps put together by an organization called Adventure Cycling. It means that we don't have to do n...

Let's begin with the charming. Our hosts Terry and Beth are delightful people and tempted us with all manner of food and drink and treats. I had a bowl of oatmeal heaped with fresh fruit and we talked over breakfast about different places we had lived and our families. As we put on our riding clothes for the day Beth and Terry donned their Sunday finest for a visit to their 10 AM church service. We had lots of stories to share and we could have stayed much longer. There was an ease and a peace at their home that was very inviting. Thank you to both for the hospitality. But, the time came to head off for the day so we said our goodbyes, rolled down the road, and began heading toward Springfield. The next phase of the day was all about trucks. Pickup trucks. Big ones with big tires and big diesels. Throaty exhaust pipes pumping out virile American musk. Real men driving real slabs of muscular metal. Hot rubber and gleaming steel. And I could have done without all of them. We were r...

Today's post: we rode. And we rode. And we rode some more. In slightly more detail... We said goodbye to Alex and Olivia in Richmond, retrieved our bikes from their storage room and pedaled away this morning. Today was a longer ride than usual at 76 miles. We managed about 30 miles before lunch at 1 pm. The ride took us past more wheat fields, farm houses, and people mowing their lawns. All over America, people like to mow their lawns. We climbed the biggest hills of the trip so far today. Granted, that's not saying much since we've mostly been in flat coastal areas but they still gave us a workout. Only one of us ended up in their lowest gear... it may have been me. Couldn't say for sure, would have to check the log books. We ate almost all of our food by the end of our day, we will need to do some good restocking tomorrow. Another day, another grocery store. As we approached our final destination of Fredericksburg ominous clouds gathered overhead. A road on th...

We've been living the life of luxury. Yesterday morning we finished the 15 or so miles on the Capital Trail and arrived in Richmond. Rolling fields of wheat gave way to the James River and railroad tracks and high rises. Our friend Alex from the Bikerowave moved to Virginia a little while ago to study medicine and has been kind enough to host us. First step: explore the culinary delights of the city. We had incredible sticky buns at a cafe just next door following lunch at a place called The Secret Sandwich Society. Then Rach and I walked down Franklin Avenue and eventually on to the Virginia Museum of Fine Art. We toured the galleries, listened to live jazz in the cafe, lounged in the sculpture garden, and generally took it easy. While we relaxed in the grass there were lots of teens in formal dress taking photos for what looked like their prom. Alex and his girlfriend Olivia met us there and whisked us away in a car! We had dinner at a great Thai restaurant and then stopped off...

"Gentle Undulations" sounds like a band from the 80s. It's also the best way to describe the terrain of southern Virginia. Our ride this morning took us past wheat fields in various stages of growth under a blue sky peppered with fat white clouds. We had no rain today, which was a nice change. We mostly rode on quiet rural roads with tortoises and snakes also making their way across the thoroughfare. We went past places with names lifted from my home country, places like Stonehenge, Isle of Wight, and Scotland. However - given that we went past all these places in the span of a few hours - the settlers decided not to copy the original geography. Around noon we took a 20-minute ferry ride across the James River to Jamestown. Jamestown was the first permanent English settlement in America and, boy, do people seem to like to visit it. Despite it being a fairly random Wednesday in May the visitors' center had a lot of cars parked outside it and people were making their ...

Today's Distance: 58 miles We had the whole campground to ourselves last night. It was quiet and serene. No more rain overnight, just some drops blowing off the leaves of the trees when a breeze swept through. Rach and I did some divide and conquer when I rode off to to the visitor's center to pay our fee and she broke down the tent and cooking supplies. It was overcast to start the day and the cool temperatures made the initial miles easy. Before too long we departed North Carolina and crossed into Virginia to make our fifth state. We're back on the main route and officially finished the Outer Banks section of the trip. The roads here are mostly farm lanes and quieter than some of the highways we have been riding on. Less commercial traffic which has been delightful. Scenery includes silos and barns, sweeping fields, and stretches of forest before another farm clears the horizon. As we approached our second break of the day we passed a sign that said "Roadside T...

We rode away from our inferior campground early this morning. We've been waking up earlier and earlier. The summer solstice is coming up plus we've moved north through 12 degrees of latitude since starting the trip; both factors make for longer days. Today's ride took us past many wheat fields and silos, and past familiar-looking swampland in an area appropriately named "Dismal Swamp". At one point a baby turtle scurried off the road as we approached. Unfortunately he fell down a grating in the road just as we rode past. I'm telling myself that whatever pipe is down there connects back to his home. Definitely. He's fine. Right? Thunder rolled around the clouds a few miles from us as we ate lunch at the side of the road. We decided we would outrun the weather but the rain had other ideas. The bad weather caught up with us in the mid-afternoon, though it wasn't too bad. A moderate amount of rain coupled with cool temperatures. We had a nice break i...