August 3 New Waterford, OH to Washington, PA 62.7 miles

Our big white truck, loaded up and ready to go!

For the Tsameret Family

Greg and Chad generally win the "last tent down" award each morning

We keep a pair of sandals or shoes stuck just inside the truck door so we can get out of our cycling shoes when the day is done

 Last night at our campground in New Waterford was so nice and quiet! We really liked how pretty it was, too. The facilities were fairly primitive but it was easy to overlook that when we had such a lovely setting to enjoy. And when I got up late last night to use the restroom, there were tons of stars in the sky. I didn’t hear any noises in the night but several other folks said they heard coyotes so I must have slept heavier than I thought! We slept in today– breakfast was at 6am and cue sheets were at 7am after another camp breakfast.

 

 

James, Patty, Steph, and Jim wait for cue sheets

 

Tracey, Janet, Pauline, and Rosie (all members of the 1/2 century club) at breakfast

On the road again!

We left camp and headed out for Pennsylvania, our 11th state, which was only 23 miles away. We have just 1 more state, Delaware, and the District of Columbia to travel on our journey. And just 5 more days of riding… whew, the countdown has begun but most of us are avoiding discussion of that. Too much emotion, we don’t want this to end, or maybe we DO want it to end and we’re afraid it won’t! I could imagine a form of hell for cyclists– you are condemed to ride forever with saddle sores, bike stuck in the biggest gear, lots of steep rollers, and 100 mile days. That would do it for me! Oh yeah, and crummy campsites right next to I-90 and constant trains. Whatever the reason, I think we all are just taking things one day at a time right now but I expect things will change once we have arrived at Gettysburg. And I do thnk that we have learned to take things one day at a time because that is really the way to get through a ride like this– we are living solely in the present and not dwelling on the past or thinking what the future will bring us. But I wax philosophical. Back to the ride…..

The barn is in Ohio, the nukes are in PA

Greg enjoys that awesome downhill

Greg, Chad, and I greet our 11th state

We rode up and down a few hills and enjoyed the view from the top of one that showed Midland’s nuclear plants off in the distance. Then we enjoyed a very steep descent. Greg stopped to take pictures and was later disappointed that he had stopped and not tried for a new speed record down the hill. And one of the towns we passed through was East Palestine so I had to take a photo of my bike against the sign. In no time at all, the “welcome to PA” sign was in view. Ash, Pauline, Greg, Chad, and I stopped for a few photos to commemorate the next on our series of states and then headed out. Our first break stop was in the town of Midland, a poor-seeming town with the  nuclear generators we’d seen from the hill. Quite a few folks stopped for breakfast and/or coffee but I really like to keep moving to I grabbed a few fig bars and moved on. We crossed the river and got a good view of one of the power plants, then there was a long climb back up away from the river.

The fast young guys at lunch

Hmmm coal AND nukes!

Incredible heroism

A PA barn

By the time I got to the top, I was starting to think about lunch in Burgettstown which was about 14 miles away. But a few miles outside of town, Mark and Amy had set up our lunch stop in a cemetary, of all places! This cemetary has the gravesite of one of our Congressional Medal of Honor winners and the description of his heroism to earn the medal was certainly impressive. There was another collection of young fast guys, plus Dwayne and Jim at the stop when I arrived and I listened and laughed while they gave each other grief. Darrell arrived, grabbed some food, and was off for town. I decided to travel along with him so that we could stop in Burgettstown for ice cream. I was feeling a bit of withdrawl because I didn’t get any yesterday! After asking for directions from a local, we found Bimbo’s Ice Cream where the girl who waited on us had that East Coast ‘tude—- that is, we were interrupting her day to get our ice cream and she didn’t seem happy about it. But we persevered, got our treats, and sat out front to enjoy it. I took a photo of the “Welcome to Coal Country” sign and wondered why we were in coal country with 4 nukes not 30 miles away.

Diana on her way to tonight's internet cafe

Are they cute or what? Steph and Jim rock out at camp

Tonite, we are camped at the Whispering Pines Family Campground which doesn’t have much for facilities but its another pretty site. It does have power so we can recharge our cell phones and hook up our laptops.

Not looking forward to tomorrow’s ride… Sharon has written “prepare to climb and descend” on our whiteboard!