We talked with Jake and his son Jake Jr. in the morning. It’s Juniors first bike packing trip. We continued onto the next trail called the Panhandle Trail and got breakfast at Walden’s family restaurant in Burgettesville. We had a … Read the rest
Day 8: Bicycle Heaven
We left the comfort of the Holiday Inn and got a nice breakfast at O’Leary’s on Carson Street on the south side.I noticed a bolt was missing from my pannier so we got that fixed at Golden Triangle bike shop … Read the rest
Day 7: To Pittsburgh
Darlene at Valley Dairy in Connellsville gave us a hearty breakfast to fuel our ride. We rode through several small towns on our way to Pittsburgh. Lots of signs told the history of coal, coke, and steel.
We stopped at … Read the rest
Day 6: The soggy situation and Dynamic Doug
Packing up soggy camping gear after a night of rain makes me cringe but it’s part of the gig. We didn’t see any breakfast places so we just kept pedaling until lunch at the River’s Edge cafe and B&B in … Read the rest
Day 5: Rains and Trains
Cafe Mark in downtown Cumberland was our breakfast spot. The Save-a-lot was our grocery store. Talkative Tommy rode up on his e-bike with his big white beard. He told us several stories about his days as a missionary helping the … Read the rest
Day 4: End of the C&O
We were warned about the detour at Paw Paw tunnel and for good reason. It was a 15% steep grade up a dirt and gravel road. We had to push Steve’s bike up but we made it!
Our search for … Read the rest
Day 3: Our Simple Sunday
Wayne from West Virginia suggested Desert Rose cafe for breakfast in Williamsport. Unfortunately it was closed so we went down the street to Lotus Moon Cafe (groovy name we think). As we rode out of town the church bells played … Read the rest
Our satellite tracking link
I forgot to mention…You can see our progress on a map that gets updated every ~30 minutes by my Garmin inReach. It also has an SOS button that can alert rescue crew in event of an emergency when we don’t … Read the rest
Day 2: getting into the groove
We traded stories with Paul and Dale at our campsite and headed up to Brunswick, Maryland for breakfast. While waiting for the train to move, we talked with Mary from San Bernardino. Meandering Mary was such a traveler she didn’t … Read the rest
Day 1: our ride across America
Steve Botts and I are riding 3,800 miles along the Great American Rail Trail from Washington D.C. to Seattle Washington. We are starting at the Washington Monument. (See our route on the map below).
A middle school history teacher at … Read the rest
Americana
We finished the trip! 1,180 miles and 64,400 ft of climbing. More important than these numbers are the renewed views of America that we saw. Liberal and conservative, prairies and forests, cities and country, rich and poor. We heard lots … Read the rest
Soggy!
It was fun to see the exact spot of the hot springs at Belknap resort. A non-descript notch in the rock just across the bridge over the McKenzie river. It would not be affordable/justifiable to heat the water in such … Read the rest
Winding Down
“Are your portions larger than Cottonwood Cafe?” These are the kind of practical questions a bike rider asks about a breakfast restaurant. So we decided to eat at the trucker-type bar named “Gallery” in Sisters.
The main objective of our … Read the rest
Into the foot of the Cascade Range
We said goodbye to the comfort of the Comfort Inn and rode south to Terrebonne. I wondered which was scarier – riding on highway 97 or the bungee jumping we saw on the bridge over Crooked River gorge.
We picked … Read the rest
Thanks Frank!
No, we fortunately didn’t get arrested for “stealth camping” – that would be embarrassing! At 7:00am an old man arrived at the campground and walked towards us carrying two gas cans. He asked “what’s for breakfast?”. In my sometimes smart … Read the rest