Friday, July 10, 2009

Thursday, July 9, 2009

ugh!!!!!!!

blah...blah...blah...

Monday, July 6, 2009

happy independence day!!!!!

mike & i loaded up the car with our bikes, bob yak trailer & camping gear. we headed to cumberland (maryland) on friday morning and pedaled off on our trusty bikes down the c & o canal towpath. the first mile marker we came to was 184. this is actually the terminus of the trail...we started at the end and road toward the beginning. kinda backwards, huh!
the weather was great...no...BETTER than great...it was PERFECT! surprisingly, we didn't see many people on the trail...but everyone we saw seemed happy and that made for a nice "trail vibe".
throughout the day we pedaled past old lock houses and canal locks (both wet & dry), a gang of geese, a fema trailer outpost and an old cemetery that happened to have a freshly shed snake skin laying around in the grass. mike took a tumble and left an "ass print" in some thorn bushes along the edge of the trail.
we road all the way to old town (maryland) at about the 166.7 mile point, but we set up camp at the pigmans ferry hiker/biker site that is a short distance from mile marker 169. our neighbors were a herd of cows that decided to walk single file past our campsite...they looked at us...had a bit of a moo fest...then went along their merry way. i was happy that there was a fence between us & them!
it was nice to relax around the camp fire...stretched out and laid back against a couple of large logs...sipping on the beers that we managed to keep cold somehow...sweet!
next morning, we brewed some coffee (mmmmm!), packed up and headed back to cumberland. we got a real good look at a green heron...fly-hopping from one vantage point to the next while hunting for a snack in the canal waters. speaking of snacks, we stopped for a rest & a bite at the largest swamp white oak in maryland. it was an awesome tree...so beautiful!
we finally made it back to cumberland...good tired, good dirty and good thirsty! we had a celebratory beer at an outdoor pub that catered to the bicycle set...it was a nice place to cool down. after that, we loaded up the car and had a pleasant drive home...it was a perfect weekend!!!!!