August 26. ER for Bicycles


We forgot to mention in yesterday's blog that, not including the miles from our family bike ride, we passed 4000 miles on this trip yesterday morning!    
This morning, we got up at our usual time but between eating and talking with Kerry it was almost 9 before we left.  She shared with us her daughter's story about competing in Olympic cycling and then coming down with a never- diagnosed disease that caused a lot of tissue swelling, issues with her heart and made her extremely ill, and how they were consulting with all kinds of doctors. Kerry was stuck in Australia because of Covid, but eventually was able to join her.  After a period of time, her daugher spontaneously started feeling better and has been racing again. 
      Kayaks on the Yough in Ohiopyle State Park

Our ride continued on through the large Ohiopyle Park for quite a while. We got lunch in Confluence which is where the Youghiogeny and Casselman Rivers and Laurel Hill Creek all come together. It had also been known as "Turkeyfoot" in the past, including by George Washington, due to the shape of the rivers coming together and the area is still refered to as the Turkeyfoot Valley.  We were impressed by a bike shop in town that cares enough to have a phone number on the door for after-hours bicycling emergencies!
At this point we began to travel along the Casselman River which continued to be a very beautiful ride. In the early afternoon we got news that if we were going to be in Meyersdale tonight, Katie & Eric and our grandsons could possibly meet us there for dinner on their way home from the DC area.  That was exciting as that was where we were planning to stay! 
Near Meyersdale, we rode across a huge trestle 1908 ft long and 101 ft high over the Casselman valley, crossing the river, an expressway and a two-lane road.  
In town we set up our tent on the town's Maple Festival grounds where they allow camping seasonally (This is a big maple syrup producing area). When our family members were getting close, we headed over to a restaurant a few hundred feet away and met them for a brief, fun time together.
Jim took the boys over to our campsite while we were waiting for our food and even got to prove that Grandpa did fit in the tent!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sep 21. Heading Home, Part 3

Image
  As predicted, we didn't get any rain last night and because of a little bit longer day, we got started a little sooner.                    Packing Up at Fort Custer  We had beautiful roads lined with hickory, maple, oak and walnut trees especially during the first part of our ride, which sometimes led to a challenge dodging all the nuts and acorns on the side of the road.  We had a bit more traffic today than many other days even though we tried to choose quieter roads.  We also had a moderate head wind so that slowed us down a bit.   Wouldn't you know it--we had a flat tire less than 10 miles from home!  We still arrived well before sunset. 
Read more

Dreams and preparation

Image
Traverse City July 2021.  Ride around northern half of  Lake Michigan. We  have dreamed about crossing the  country on bikes for many years.   Work, parenting and other things has prevented us from this  adventure.  This  year we are  working toward making it a  reality.  We have  gotten work figured out that we can be away for  a  number of months.   We now have our tickets purchased for the train ride to Seattle, some new gadgets purchased and multiple hours spent looking at routes.  
Read more

June 6, Monday Newport WA to Clark's Fork, ID

Image
https://ridewithgps.com/trips/92483960 Got a good start about 7:30, started with a busy road with a hill.  Day of beautiful scenery, with mountains (a few with snow) and many views of water.  We again paralleled the Pend Oreille River upstream, then the Pend Oreille Lake, then the Clark Fork River, which is what it is called upstream from the lake. Who would have guessed there is a 2 mile bridge over water in Idaho? One part is like a roadway but is just for bikes and pedestrians, the other section for vehicles.   We asked some locals about it and they said that the old bridge couldn't handle the traffic load any more, so they built a new bridge for vehicular traffic next to it.   Staying with a couple that have lived in Clark's Fork area for about 2 years and are loving it.  They have two friendly dogs and are also raising a couple of hogs.  They live about a mile from the Montana border, so we started about 2 blocks west of the Idaho border and ended up almost at
Read more