The tent was wet and saggy this morning, but it wasn’t as bad as yesterday. We got up and packed to go since we planned to eat breakfast in a couple of miles in town. But first, the bike shop.
C&O Bicycle is right off the trail and we wanted to pick up a new tube and some patches. Jon also suspected he had something wrong with his rim that was causing multiple flats and he was right. They put new rim tape on for him.
The only place open for breakfast was Sheetz so we grabbed breakfast sandwiches there, resupplied on snacks, and stood in the parking lot to eat. I was happy to get back on the shaded trail. It was supposed to be cloudy today but the sun was hanging around and it already felt stickier than yesterday. I knew it would get hotter too. I am not a fan of the heat.
We planned on Williamsport for lunch, stopping for a few short breaks along the way. A few miles before then, Jeremiah got another flat. He quickly found a thorn sticking through his tire and threw a previously patched tube on while I patched this tube. The mosquitoes came out as soon as we stopped so we had to work quickly.
Riding again, we made it to Williamsport without further incident for a late lunch at Tony’s Pizzeria. They had air conditioning, fresh salad, hot pizza, and the waitress was willing to mix the lemonade and sweet tea for us. It was wonderful. I did not want to go back outside.
But, of course, we had to. We rode a few more blocks to the Dollar General to resupply camp meals for the remainder of the trip, then got back on the trail.
My knee has been hurting since before riding into Meyersdale, and it was actually not quite as bad today as yesterday, but frequent breaks definitely help. I noticed a bruise on it yesterday, but I’m pretty sure I bumped it after it started hurting while riding. I’m not sure what is going on, but it’s not too bad as long as I’m not pushing hard.
We passed the midpoint of the Towpath and came upon a cool section where we rode on cement promenades jutting out into the water for a couple of miles.
The plan was to meet my old friend Matt at the Big Woods campsite, but there was no water pump there when we arrived so we decided to go a few more miles to the Horseshoe Bend campsite. I had just enough signal to send him a text with the new coordinates. Once we started riding again, we found the water pump a little ways down the path, but we decided to keep going anyway.
The day’s total ended up being 49.6 miles. We set up at camp, then Matt showed up after parking on some random road nearby and bushwhacking in to the trail. I actually met Matt years ago at DelFest, a bluegrass festival in Cumberland, MD. We caught up while cooking dinner and then he headed back out and we cleaned up camp to escape the bugs and climb into our tents.
It’s so hot and humid in the tent, but it’s supposed to rain tonight so we can’t leave the doors open for airflow. Our sleeping bags are just lying next to us unused.
Love seeing your pics and descriptions of the C&O. We live near Hagerstown, MD and walk on it at least 3-4 times a week. Hope you’re loving it! Do you typically blog/write at night and then upload when you have good signal?
There’s a good signal along most of this trail where I checked. I do try to write at night if I’m not too tired, sometimes the next morning if I wake up early, and sometimes a few days later if I get behind.