On the Road Again . . .

 

We were in the bus barn at home in Rome for five weeks after returning from a trip to New Mexico.  We’ve now set out on a trip to the northeast which will include bicycling venues in Maryland, Pennsylvania, Cape Cod, and points to the north.  After visiting Cape Cod and Nantucket Island, we plan to scoot around Boston and head for Maine, visiting Booth Bay, the Camden area, and Bar Harbor.  We are traveling with our friends Jim and Hope from Peachtree City with whom we made our first trip to Maine in the late 1980’s.  The connection goes way back – George was 12 when he met Jim.  After Bar Harbor, Jim and Hope are visiting Niagara Falls area while we spend some time in the Portland, ME, area.  We will meet up again at the Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania where we will do more Rails-to-Trails biking. 

We left home on Tues. following I-81 through the Shenandoah Valley, continually climbing and descending the supporting ridges of the Appalachian chain.  It really was a beautiful drive with beautiful weather.  We overnighted at Wal-mart near Roanoke, VA, where we met fellow RV’ers, one of whom was returning home to Knoxville, TN, in their Prevost bus while another was headed to Maine. 

Yesterday we rendezvoused with Jim and Hope at Ft. Frederick State Park about 15 miles west of Hagerstown, MD.  We are dry camped in a peaceful, wooded campground in a site along the Potomac River.  As an added bonus, CSX trains are running on both sides of the river.

After early arrival at the campground around lunch time, we went on a ten mile bike ride from the campground, partly on the C & O tow path, and partly on the Western Maryland Rail Trail (WMRT). 

The C & O Canal was built west out of Washington, D.C. in 1831 primarily to haul coal from the Alleghany  Mountains.  It operated until 1924.  The canal is fairly narrow, and mules pulled the barges from the

tow path.  Amazingly, in places the canal crossed large ravines and streams by means of arched aqueducts.  The canal was eventually superseded by the railroad.  The railroad, too, eventually met the same fate and has been turned into a rail trail.  However, there are still active rail lines in the area. 

Today we drove west to a bicycle shop in the town of Hancock where we got a bike shuttle west to the end of the WMRT.  We biked 10 miles back to Hancock where we had lunch.  Along the way we had good opportunities to view the remains of the C & O Canal locks.  The trail went through rock cuts and woods with some early fall color making a pleasant ride.  After lunch rain set in so we returned the coach.  And it’s still raining.