October 11

I had a nice stay with my son Patrick last night.  We went out for pizza and then closed the night out with a Hagen Daz thick shake from Smashburger.  Scrumptious!
I was a little worried starting out the day's ride trying to get out of the traffic of Rockville and Bethesda but everything turned out OK.  After just 2-3 miles I was riding in dedicated bike lanes that led directly to the Bethesda Trolley Rail trail:

That got me into Bethesda where I picked up the Capital Crescent Trail which was really nice.  The Rock Creek trail yesterday was very bumpy from tree roots lifting up the pavement - but this Capital Crescent Trail was beautifully paved:

Here's a shot of a bridge on the Capital Crescent Trail with the C&O canal running underneath:

After several miles the Capital Crescent Trail led me to the C&O Canal Tow Path:

I was surprised how bumpy and rocky the trail was.  If Sue and I come back to ride the C&O Tow Path in the future we will need to get different bikes with some sort of suspension system like a shock absorber for the front fork and the seat post.
A stranded barge:

Crossing the Chain Bridge from Maryland into Arlington, Virginia:

Here's my host for the night - Dave, his son, Trey, and their enormous dogs:

Should be in Fredericksburg tomorrow.  (Still looking for the warm weather.)

October 10

I had a wonderful stay in Ellicott City, Maryland at the home of a former patient of mine named Glenda.  I was prepared to stay in my tent last night but Glenda was concerned about the wind and cold temperatures so I brought my sleeping bag into the family room for the night.  We had a wonderful dinner together along with one of her freinds, a retired navy Admiral.  In the morning she prepared a super breakfast.

Honestly, all I was expecting was a place to pitch my tent and I ended up getting Four Seasons like accommodations!!
On the way to Rockville I passed the little town of Brookville with a historic marker indicating it had been the United States capital for 1 day in 1814.

Several miles down the road I had my first encounter with a driver offering me "friendly" advice!  And I don't mean words of encouragement!  Oddly enough this was on a relatively quiet back road and the guy, driving some kind of Utility truck, was going in the opposite direction - so I wasn't affecting him at all.  He screamed at me through  his truck window and then moved on.
A few miles down the road I entered the Rock Creek Hiker-Biker Trail.  A beautiful trail through the woods paralleling the Rock Creek, almost 19 miles long, and takes you almost into Washington, DC.  The trail is paved but it was a little bumpy due to tree roots lifting up the pavement.  It would be a perfect trail to run or walk on or use a bike with a front shock absorber.  Bumpy or not it was nice to get off the roads.

Also - yesterday I hit a big milestone - went over the 1000 mile mark.  Woo hoo!

Tonight I'm in Rockville, MD with my son, Patrick, and tomorrow it's on to Washington, DC and then Manassas, VA.

New Map

I'm trying to use a new map that will show the entire route.  Please leave a comment and let me know if it is showing up correctly and if you like it compared to the previous map.
Thanks.

October 9

Well, today is the start the rest of the trip.  1800 miles to go!
I left the house this morning at 9am heading for Ellicott City where I'm pitching my tent in the backyard of one of my former patients.  My concern today was the wind, 25MPH.   That's a strong force when you're riding a bike.  I would never go out on my 13 pound road bike in that kind of wind - it would just blow me off the road - or onto the road and into traffic.  But the touring bike is big and heavy and it handled the wind pretty well.  Only a little wobble here and there.  It helped too that the wind was mostly gusting from North to South and I was heading South so that worked out pretty well.
Done with Pennsylvania and into Maryland:

I got to Ellicott City earlier than expected so I stopped at the Howard County Library to update the blog.  WOW - this is the biggest, nicest library I've seen yet.  And it's full of people!  I thought that was odd for a beautiful Sunday afternoon.  But then I'm happy to see people using these terrific resources.

Tomorrow I'm stopping at Rockville, MD to visit my son, Patrick.  That will be my last family stop until I see an Uncle in Melbourne, Florida.

October 4

Last night I stayed at the home of Tom and Julie in Reamstown/Stevens, PA.  What a lovely couple.  They have been participating in the Warm Showers program for 3-4 years now and they aren't even cyclists themselves.  They explained that they participate for 2 main reasons: first to meet interesting people from all over the world.  Indeed, examining their guest book shows that people from all over the United States, Europe, Asia, and the Netherlands have been to their house through the Warm Showers program.  Second, they wanted to show their two daughters that there are a lot of truly good, trustworthy, honest people out there and not just crazy, violent people that we all hear about on the news every night.  Interesting people and a really nice place to stop for the night.

Today was one of my best days riding because the sun was out and I was riding through beautiful Lancaster County farmland.

Many of the farms were either Amish or Mennonite.  Very hard working and industrious people.
Here's some tobacco drying in an Amish barn:

More Amish pictures:

Along Brubaker Valley road between the towns of Clay and Elm I came across this old Brubaker family cemetery.  The headstones all date from the 1700's and 1800's.

Here's something you don't see every day.  A chicken sitting on top of a goat!!

Lancaster, York, and Adams Counties, I think, have some of the best farmland and quiet country roads for cycling that I have seen anywhere.  A wonderful day to ride.
Crossing the Susquehanna River:

I was scheduled to stop in Wrightsville for the night but I was making good time on the roads and I was longing for home so I put in 66 miles and made it home.

I'm happy to be back home.  I'll rest up for a few days before hitting the road again - so there probably won't be any blogging for the next few days.

October 3

Hard to imagine, but the sun did actually come out today.  Today I'm riding from Pottstown to my hosts in Reamstown/Stevens, PA.  After climbing another incredibly steep hill I came upon a quaint little "village" called St. Peters Village.  The entire village is only 1/4 mile long and situated on one street.  It has an Inn, a bakery, ice cream shop, gift shops, antique arcade, and some other small shops.  Buildings on one side of the street overlook French Creek.  An unexpected find.

After getting out of the mountains I was again in the sunny countryside.

Not far from my destination I came across this truck and it made me think that home is not too far away!

October 2

Well I'm quickly running out of friends and family to visit on this trip.  Yesterday I stayed with my brother-in-law, Tim and his wife Kelly, in Chalfont, PA and tonight I'm staying with my oldest son, Brian, in Pottstown, PA.  More light rain on today's ride.  I think the sun is scheduled to return tomorrow.  We'll see!
Here are some pictures from yesterday's ride:

The most wonderful sign I can think of!!

Crossing the bridge from New Jersey to New Hope, Pennsylvania:

I thought this was an interesting sign (sorry it's a little blurry) because all the bike signs I've seen so far indicated that the law required cars to give a bicycle 3 feet of clearance.  Here in New Hope it says 4 feet of clearance.  Of course that rarely happens - 4 feet would put the cars almost in the other lane.  I have to say that all the car and truck drivers, so far, have been very courteous in either giving me space or waiting patiently behind me until there was adequate room to pass.  So a big Thank You to all the drivers out there for being patient with bicyclists.

Just a picture of a street in New Hope, PA.  I stopped for a bowl of soup (because I was really cold) and a cheesesteak at the Italian Restaurant on the left side.

Continued on my way to Chalfont riding on the Doylestown Hike/Bike trail.  It was a nice wide trail and beautifully paved:

Today's ride to Pottstown was rainy again.  Only one picture.  This is part of the Perkiomen Trail which I rode for several miles.  Despite the poor weather it was nice to see other people using the trail to walk, jog, and bicycle.