The forecast looked good, showers a few days down the road. My sister would be in town and could pick me up at Point of Rocks and shuttle me to her home. White’s Ferry was out of commission, so bicycling to her place in Leesburg would have been a very high mileage day. Tom and his wife could accommodate me the second day.

     The night before departure, I packed and repacked my gear, trying to shed weight. When I checked my Amtrak ticket, I saw that the ticket supplement was for a pet, not a bicycle. I hate Amtrak. I attempted to call Amtrak and after the usual “45 minute later” call back message, I was put on hold with garbled music and an unintelligible message. After 30 minutes of torture, I gave up. It was late. I was tired. I was so frustrated, I suggested just tossing the whole trip. My wife insisted that I go because if I didn’t go, she didn’t want to hear me complain about not going all winter.