Day 71: Oakland, MD to Romney, WV

Today's Mileage: 49
Total Mileage: 3615

The morning was bright and clean on top of Backbone Mountain, and the air was cool. As we headed down, we ran into heavy, blinding fog as we re-entered West Virginia. Luckily, there was a restaurant open just on the other side of the state line, so we breakfasted there while the morning warmed up.

The first climb of the day was our last real big one in the Allegheny range, Mt. Storm. Because it was pretty easy, I wasn't sure if we had actually gotten to the top... but we were rewarded with a fun 5-mile downhill.

The rest of the day was a bunch of ups and downs through some of the prettiest country imaginable. The sun filtered through a leafy canopy over the road and the climbs were short, cutting between the hills instead of over them.

Once in Romney, we sat down for a late, well-deserved lunch at the only place open. The pizza was tasty, and we were exhausted. It was still somewhat early, and we considered riding further, but were discouraged to learn that there were no towns or places to camp for quite some distance East.

We decided to stay in Romney (which was our original plan anyway), and spent a couple hours resting in some grass by the gas station, hoping to meet a friendly local who would let us use their computer.

The computer was not to be, but we did meet Sherri and her dog Toby, who offered us a place to stay in their yurt. None of us had ever been inside a yurt before, so naturally, we accepted. The yurt was awesome - like being in a huge round tent, but homey and comfy like a house. Sherri had all kinds of neat stuff to look at and share with us.

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.

Day 69: Mountwood Park, WV to Belgium, WV

Today's Mileage: 65
Total Mileage: 3517

The morning began gray and foggy, but we were in good spirits, because at least it wasn't raining. We set out from the Mountwood Park cabin in search of some breakfast at the reasonably early hour of 8:30. After a few miles we arrived in Ellenboro and ate omelets at the Log Cabin restaurant.

We stopped at every town that popped up along the way, which broke the ride up nicely. A few miles out of West Union, a car stopped to offer some cold drinks. We talked with Danny for a while, and learned that he had also done some cross-country bike touring. He was headed West, but gave us the key to his house so we could crash for the night.

We had a late lunch in Salem, then headed on to Clarksburg in search of a library. The sun had finally come out and the afternoon was considerably warmer than the morning. In Clarksburg, we found the Italian Festival, which had musical and dance performances, as well as tons of food and junk to buy.

After a quick trip to the library to use their computers, we decided to grab a bite to eat in Glen Elk, on the North end of town. We happened upon a cute little place, and ended up having a great meal with wine.

At that point, we left for Danny's house, but were annoyed to learn that bicycles were forbidden on that portion of Highway 50. We thumbed a ride to Bridgeport from Fred, Jason, and Dip. How we managed to fit all of our junk into Fred's Jeep was a miracle. In Bridgeport, we met Doug and Scott, who introduced us to their family and drove us the rest of the way to Danny's house. It was dark by the time we arrived, but we found our way in and were so happy to rest.

Danny's place was filled with his Indian crafts and artwork. Every inch of space was filled with something interesting, and we had the whole place to ourselves!

Day 68: Athens, OH to Mountwood Park, WV

Today's Mileage: 59
Total Mileage: 3452

We woke up at Scott's house to the smell of "garbage eggs," a delicious scramble he had whipped up. He took us to his workplace in Athens, a center that offers services for people dealing with mental illness. We had coffee and talked with some of the members of the Gathering Place before heading out on our way.

The day was as rainy as the day before, and we were thoroughly drenched by the time we reached Coolville for a snack. Luckily, there was a wide shoulder most of the way, so the riding was easy.

We crossed over the Ohio River into West Virginia! Our next stop was in Parkersburg for a (late) lunch. We were thrilled to find a Lebanese restaurant and ate heartily, much thanks to Rick, who comped our meal. Rick also called Roger, a reporter from the Parkersburg newspaper, who came to the restaurant and interviewed us about the ride. Even better, Roger gave us some good information about a cabin right on Route 50, so we didn't have to get off track and camp in the rain as we had planned.

See Roger's story at http://www.newsandsentinel.com/page/content.detail/id/508771.html

Day 67: Chillicothe, OH to Athens, OH

Today's Mileage: 60
Total Mileage: 3393

Our host Lee started our day with a light breakfast, and we headed out in search of coffee. The day began a little late, and we had to travel in the rain to McArthur. It was slow going, and the bumpy shoulder didn't help matters.

In McArthur, we lunched at a pizza place and I warmed up with some hot tea. It was hard to get back on the bike, but within a mile I caught a second wind and sped into Athens. The rain continued, but at least there was a decent shoulder, making the riding a lot less stressful.

We hung around a coffee shop in Athens for a while, staying out of the rain and hoping to make friends with somebody who would let us crash at their house. As friendly as we made ourselves appear, we didn't score a place to sleep so we headed out to find some dinner.

The restaurant where we ate had great ingredients and a decent beer list, and we started chatting people up at the bar. Soon enough, a nice guy named Scott offered us a place to stay... it didn't take much convincing when he mentioned he had a hot tub. We also enjoyed some lively conversation and shooting darts with Scott's blow gun.

Day 66: Hillsboro, OH to Chillicothe, OH

Today's Mileage: 36
Total Mileage: 3333

We awoke at dawn and it was very cold and hard to get out of bed. Karin decided she was sufficiently tired to sleep a few more hours, so Debbie and I decided to go on without her, taking advantage of the cool morning air. The morning air was actually pretty chilly, which made the uphills more enjoyable than the downs, because I could warm up a little.

I wasn't feeling great on the bike and was VERY ready for lunch and a rest by the time we arrived in Chillicothe. I had just had a bunch of work done on the bike the day before, but now there was some new obnoxious squeaking going on. My body felt stiff and my butt was sore.

Luckily, we were in Chillicothe (our intended midpoint) nice and early, and we were able to enjoy a leisurely lunch. The waiter even gave us some free buckeyes, which were neither nuts off a tree (as I had presumed) nor a deer's eyeballs (Debbie's literal interpretation) but tasty chocolate-covered peanut butter balls.

I spent a long time in the library trying to figure out a new plan. We had covered more miles than planned a couple days before, which had put us about a half-day ahead of schedule. Ideally, we could make up some more miles along the way and arrive in Washington, DC a day earlier than planned. Unfortunately, this was not to be. Sometimes, the geography and placement of towns decides your fate for you. There weren't enough camping and lodging options to cover a couple stretches over mountains, so we decided to revert to our original plan. This meant that we would stay the night in Chillicothe, making it a very short day. We napped for a while in the park, then approached a police officer about camping there. He wasn't sure what to tell us, but suggested that we might get away with camping in the woods at the edge of the park... would have to risk possible drug dealers and vagrants bothering us. We weren't thrilled, but decided we didn't have much of a choice.

Once Karin arrived, we did some laundry and I went back to the library for more internet time. Debbie roamed around town and found her way to a coffee shop. It turned out that Lee, our waiter from lunch at Grinders, also worked at the coffee shop. Fortunately for us, he offered to let us crash in his living room.
We ate dinner at a lively bar, and waited around for Lee to get off work. We arrived at his house, and were relieved to have a roof over our heads, as it was scheduled to rain overnight.

Day 65: Cincinnati, OH to Hillsboro, OH

Today's Mileage: 69
Total Mileage: 3297

We began our day a little later than usual, because all of us had enjoyed staying up to watch TV the night before, and we agreed to sleep in until 8 a.m. Continental breakfast at the Ramada was ritzier than we're used to, so we ate a bunch before heading out on our bikes.

The ride out of Cincinnati was sort of ugly and there was a ton of traffic. Even once we had found our way out of downtown, there were tons of cars on the road. We happened to see a bike shop, so Karin and I stopped in to get a few minor problems fixed. Smitty's Bike Shop turned out to be a real find, and the guys inside were so helpful and generous! I got my rear brake fixed, my rear wheel trued, my right hood back in place, a cable replaced and all my gears tuned up... as well as a free water bottle and socks! Thanks, Marty and Grant!

Karin and I set out for Skyline, one of the chains famous for Cincinnati Chili, which is a sort of a meat sauce served over spaghetti with a TON of cheese. By the time we were nice and full of chili, it was already 2:30, so we continued the ride to Hillsboro.

Highway 50 had no shoulder and a lot of traffic. Further complicating matters was the introduction of some hills, a land feature I had forgotten about since the Ozarks: argh!

We finally made it to the campground, just a few hilly miles East of Hillsboro, where Debbie was waiting. There was just enough time for a shower before it was dark and we crawled into our tents.