Day 70: Belgium, WV to Oakland, MD

Today's Mileage: 49
Total Mileage: 3566

We woke up to the sound of rain beating down on Danny's tin roof and decided to sleep another half hour. Once on the road, we looked for a restaurant to have some warm breakfast, and ended up stopping at a little place where there was no food, but the people were friendly. Two ladies gave us coffee and lots of information about the road ahead. When a husband showed up with McDonald's, it turned out they had gotten some extra free food, so they offered it to us too. The ladies also gave a donation to the World Wildlife Fund, the organization Debbie and Karin have been raising money for.

We continued along Highway 50 in the cool morning air, enjoying the hills and the green forests surrounding us. Our first mountain was Thornton, which we climbed easily and in good spirits.
We stopped for lunch in Fellowsville, and got more tips from the waiter about what to expect ahead. After climbing Laurel Mountain (tougher than expected) we had an awesome, windy descent to the legendary Cool Springs, which we had been hearing about since the day before. Cool Springs boasted a park full of old rusty tractors, some burros, and a store FULL of tourist schtick.

Outside the store we met Carl, who we convinced to carry our gear up Cheat Mountain, the biggest climb of the day. He agreed to leave our panniers, etc. at the convenience store in Aurora, at the top of Cheat Mountain, and we headed out on our light, naked bikes. It was a long 9% grade on a road with no shoulder, but we conquered it easily.

Once in Aurora, we collected our gear and decided what to do. We learned of a cheap motel just a few miles up the road, and decided to go for it, since our camping option would have taken us several miles off-route.

Highway 50 took us into Maryland, and the last two miles were a climb to the top of Backbone Mountain, where the motel was. We laughed at how hard it had been to get up to 3095 feet, considering the huge mountains we had pedaled over in Colorado.

There was a bar across the street, and we chatted over beers with some of the locals before heading back to the room for showers.