Hitting the Eastern Divide!

October 5, 2019

Well, now, that was an interesting night! I’m not sure how cold it was, but I’m pretty sure it was at least 0 Celsius. We both wore layers to bed and I ended up putting on my puffy jacket with the hood up after getting up to hit the bathroom at 4:30 am. However, we survived, so yay! In the morning, we decided to head over to the café for breakfast before packing up, thinking that it would give us a chance to digest a bit before heading up the steep hill to get back on the trail. The others were planning to head over as well, so we hoped we would find a table for us all when we got there. However, it was Sunday morning and this is a popular little place. Jim and I found a table for two was the only thing available. We ordered our breakfast and before it arrived, Rob and Carolyn came in. We managed to squeeze a couple more chairs around the tiny table and it was pretty comical when the food arrived, as we rearranged things so that we could all eat. Tom and Linda showed up, thankfully as a few of us were done, and we again added more chairs to our table and did a little more rearranging of food and plates. It was another lively discussion of pretty much everything, which meant that even though we were up at 8:00, we didn’t actually leave the campground until 11:30! However, it was cold and we only had a few miles to go to the top, so we weren’t too concerned. We all said our goodbyes, the others heading in the other direction, and climbed our way back up the hill. It was a pretty brutal way to start the day, but it sure warmed us up quickly!

This house is part of the fair grounds, so only open once a year I think for tours - too bad! It would make a great biker rest stop!

Ok, Bill, I have some sad news. My new app, Seek, is just awesome for identifying growing things we see, so it will be the rare plant I don't know anymore. This is American Pokeweed. It is native to this area but very toxic. Pretty though, don't you think?

Tom and Linda, all bundled up for their ride downhill

Rob and Carolyn, what an adventurous couple!

We knew we had only about 8 miles to the Eastern Continental Divide and were pretty pumped about getting there, so the cycling went quickly. We stopped briefly to chat with a couple of older cyclists just before the top, making the mistake of asking how far it was and ending up hearing about just about everything else – oh well, at least they were nice! When we finally arrived, it was a thrill! We don’t do a lot of summits, so it meant a lot to us that we did this. We took our time, taking lots of pics, but it was pretty cold, so eventually, we had to bundle up and head down. Frostburg was about halfway down so we thought we could stop in there for coffee before going on to Cumberland. However, first there were some fun things to get through. First up was the Big Savage Tunnel, all 3300 feet of it! Thankfully it is well lit and it was fun riding through such a long tunnel.

We sure are here! And looking forward to that big downhill!

That's one looong tunnel! Actually, it wasn't bad.

Next up was the Mason Dixon Line, which looms large in American history. While we stopped there to take pictures, we saw a group of Amish kids playing nearby. The girls pretty much ignored us, but the boys laughingly engaged in conversation with Jim. They were pretty cute and we would have taken a pic but thought it might be frowned on.

Our encounter with the Amish and Mason Dixon done, we headed down to Frostburg. It was such a rush, after these days of slowly grinding up the hill, to get into our top gears and fly down the mountain – what fun!!! When we pulled into the station at Frostburg, though, we saw that in order to get into the town, we would have to cycle up a pretty steep switchback. Hmmmm… what a choice. Continue flying downhill for another few miles or climb up? Ha! Not much of a choice there! We took off, again in our top gears, enjoying the ride, but also wondering how we would feel about climbing back up this hill in a few days.

Some colour in those tress, but not much

When we finally arrived in town, we didn’t immediately see where the visitor’s centre was. We were most concerned with finding coffee and so headed into the downtown area where we found a little restaurant where we could park the bikes just outside so we could keep an eye on them. As we munched on sandwiches and enjoyed some hot soup, we discussed our options. First off, what to do about this night. Rain is in the forecast, but not until tomorrow, so a hotel was not essential, but as tired as we both were and after that cold night last night, we really wanted to just get a room. Unfortunately, the whole town was booked!!! Not a room anywhere!!! We asked our waiter if he knew of a campground nearby and he found one for us by asking his workmates – so helpful. While we were discussing options, a woman stopped by to ask if those were our bikes outside. At first we thought, “oh no!” But a quick look reassured us they were ok. It turns out that she and her husband have done some touring as well and she wondered if we were headed to DC. When we said that eventually we would be, she offered us a place to stay with them while there – wow! The kindness of strangers is truly truly amazing! The biking community, I think, is one of the most welcoming there is. We thanked her for her kind offer, taking her card so we could let her know when we would be in town and then went back to planning for the next few days. We decided on a different camp spot just outside of town and along the trail for this night, but made a reservation for the following night at the Ramada in Cumberland. It will be nice to just chill out for a night (or two) after these days on the road.

Meal done, we thanked our very helpful waiter and headed out, passing the tourist information on our way out of town to add another 4 kms to our day. On our way out, we spotted some little critters that looked kind of like beavers but weren’t, of course. Jim recognized them as badgers! Well, another animal we’ve never seen! Of course, they were pretty quick on the move, so we didn’t get any pics, but it was fun to spot them. After this, we rode down a bit further along the C&O, noticing that it was getting to look more like a track than a trail. It made our decision to head back up the GAP seem much more like the right one for us. The camp spot was a decent grassy area just off the trail, but after we got the tent set up and had a late snack, we realized that we were right next to the switching station for the train – yikes! Might be a loooooong night!

Well, we are in Cumberland, but no tourist info here!

Not a bad camp spot - until the trains showed up!

Our evening snack, eaten in the tent because the bugs were just too much!

Today's ride: 57 km (35 miles)
Total: 567 km (352 miles)

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