Day 3 of our Great American Rail Trail expedition began at Williamsport.
This is where Stonewall Jackson came through on his way to Gettysburg. And…well, you know what happened there, right? Maybe he should have stayed in Williamsport.
Which is neither here nor there. I’m just saying that we started in Williamsport and so did Stonewall Jackson. And I’m hoping against hope that the similarities end there.
But one never knows. Do one?
By the way, you will be happy to know that the eels are coming back to the Potomac. Personally, I didn’t even know they had gone away, but apparently they had.
And this development, I am reliably informed, is a good thing for both the eels and the Potomac.
But that is also neither here nor there. Nor especially pertinent to our D3 journey.
But I do have to say this.
Listen, I’ve got nothing personally against the C&O Canal Trail. It’s fabulous. It’s beautiful. It’s steeped in history. It’s rustic and all that jazz.
But…but…but…
How best to say this?
The problem with riding too many miles over too many hours and too many days on the C&O is that – sooner or later – you begin to despair.
And you start to fear that perhaps you’ve somehow slipped into a parallel timeline. One in which nobody ever bothered to invent asphalt.
And then, after the first 50 or 60 or 100 miles of dirt and mud and muck under your wheels, you start to wonder if you’ve actually slipped into an alternative timeline in which the damned wheel hadn’t even been invented.
Which is why our band of hardy two-wheeled warriors positively rejoiced when, at the 16 mile mark, we were able to get off of the dirt encrusted C&O and onto the gloriously blacktopped Western Maryland Rail Trail.
And stay on that trail for a delirious 23 miles!
Almost heaven is all I’m sayin’.
We felt like kids again in our exuberant velocity.
I’m not kidding. Bruce was even moved to stop and gape, in childlike awe, at the discovery that there are actual cows in Maryland.
I mean who knew?
Oh, by the way, we kept seeing “Falling rocks” signs on the trail but didn’t think too much of it.
Until we came to a place where an actual rock had actually fallen onto the actual trail.
Fortunately, we hadn’t gotten there in time for the rock’s actual, um, surrender to gravity.
Oh yeah, we also came upon this canoe/chicken farm. But enough of that.
Then we had to get back on the C&O. Oh, did I mention that it’s drop dead gorgeous?
Bottom line: We are overnighting in Cumberland.
Depending on which way you are headed, it’s either the Gateway To The C&O Canal Trail, or the Gateway to The Great Allegheny Passage.
We’re headed north, which means we’ve finally left the muddy but drop dead gorgeous C&O behind us. I’m already feeling nostalgic about our divorce.
The bad news is that GAP is also not paved.
The good news is that it is a gravel path that is easier to navigate than the C&O.
Oh, did I mention that they are having unseasonably cold weather in these parts (it apparently snowed in neighboring West Virginia) and that we Floridians may be heading out on the GAP tomorrow in 38 degree weather with a 40 percent chance of rain?
The hits just keep on happening, friends and neighbors. More later.
FreeGNV 