Day 1 - May 4 - Bethesda to Brunswick - Two Old Guys Take On A Continent

May 4, 2023

Day 1 - May 4 - Bethesda to Brunswick

Meet the C&O Trail

Ed’s Story

After a peaceful night at Henry and Jessica’s house woke up to a great bowl of oatmeal and coffee. We packed up the bikes and prepared to leave.

I’m frustrated….I had made a great entry but it seems to have disappeared so I will try again, and before you asked yes I saved it.

I read John’s entry and he pretty much has all the pictures. We did get one with Henry and Jessica, though.

Ed (left), John (right), Henry and Jessica (in background)

Well we rode the trail…for the most part flat, requiring constant pedaling s(well I am on a bike).

And maybe it’s just me but once you’ve seen one lock, you’ve seen them all. 🤣

The Brunswick Family Campground is nice but it does have a major drawback….6 sets of train tracks within about a football field of our camp site and yes, they run all the time.

After the brewery visit we went to the Potomac Street Grill for dinner…great pita/falafel sandwiches, salads and soup.

Tomorrow we’ll breakfast at Beans in the Belfry with only a 43 mile ride planned…don’t want to work too hard too early.

My two sons have told me not to shave this trip and have challenged me to look like Forrest Gump after he runs across America 3 times.

Until then, happy biking.

John’s Story

Jessica led us the first 17 miles from her home to the C&O Canal tow path and a number of miles along it. The first stop at the path is the most important.

Don’t know what the heck that is, but I don’t want to go to jail around here.

Mark and his dad and a friend (?). From Oregon (and they confirmed I was pronouncing it correctly. Mark biked west to east across the U.S. when he was 21 about ¥>{£%$# years ago. He did it in 24 days.

The Great Falls. Not the image that comes to mind when I think Potomac River.

The stupendous view cleaved Ed’s personality into two parts. One of him was enough.

It was somewhere near here that Jessica bid us adieu. And so the intrepid travelers disappeared into the sunset, or at least into the trees. Jessica turned around to go back home. Thanks again to Jessica and Henry for hosting us at their home last night.

We ran into a number of folks out on the path today. Three nurses who thought we should have at least our heads examined. A number of individuals and couples taking short trips. Here we see Kelly and Don on the way from Pittsburgh to Washington DC. One woman offered to take a picture of Ed with his camera, but her dog wouldn’t let her give it back. I thought he might be eaten.

Canal lock during the last Ice Age when water levels were lower.

Aqueducts carried the canal OVER rivers coming into the Potomac.

Someone please send this picture to my niece Mary Ann (or some other shoomster). Are these oyster mushrooms? They were 6 to 10 inches across.

Finally arrived at the Brunswick Family Campground. Upsides: hot showers, a place to hide our food from the raccoons. Downsides: sample of rough gravel road to get to town, VERY loud trains passing just a few feet away with great regularity. It rained a little on us today in the last hour or so, but we count ourselves lucky. Some of the bikers we encountered traveling in the other direction told us it had been raining pretty much constantly since last Saturday.

The Smokehouse Brewery. I had a couple most excellent 1748 bourbon barrel aged American strong ales.

New friends at the brewery. Dan and Charles biked to Brunswick today from Harpers Ferry to have a couple beers. Had a very entertaining conversation.

We managed to make it back to the camp, get a shower, and work on the journal. I think it’s supposed to be in the low 40s in the morning. Good sleeping weather in a tent.

Today's ride: 51 miles (82 km)
Total: 3,996 miles (6,431 km)

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Comment on this entry	Comment	2

Kelly IniguezThat sounds like a good first day on the road. Congratulations!

As far as losing your journal entry - I think that has happened to all of us and it is a sad moment. It was suggested to me to be sure you are only logged into the journal on one device at a time. I do photos from my phone, but enter the text on my computer. Sometimes when the photos are loading slowly, I will go ahead and save the text. That might have been my problem area. Now, I just have one device open to the journal at a time.

Happy trails tomorrow!
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1 year ago

Steve Miller/GrampiesKelly is correct. The problem with having more than one device open is that the first one to save effectively overrides the other and cancels it out. It is so hard to reproduce that first effort, it just never seems as effortless and is so much work. So sorry that it happened to you.
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1 year ago