West Virginia makes 28

Slept OK. I peeked out curtain after daylight and observed a police car out on the street apparently watching for speeders. I passed the police roust test. I seemed to have picked the city stadium overflow parking lot.

Started up the gps & punched in McDonalds for a clean restroom for morning growler. Darn thing put me right in the restroom.

Headed West along Northern edge of MD. Stopped in Cumberland for diesel and quick look at Chesapeake & Ohio canal historical site. Just a piece of original canal has h2o in it. No locks. Cumberland also was a civil war site. So much history never learned and not enough time taken to learn it.

Pushed on up into mountains. Up to Coopers Rock State Forest. Drove in looking for a trail map. None of the bulletin boards had any. Drove back X interstate to unsigned park headquarters. @ oafs were working in a ditch: big bellies and smelling of cigarettes. I asked for a map and the 1 in charge complied. The map was a poor photocopy for the trails. All the roads showed well. Both men said that the trails would be a hard ride as if they knew what a bike was about.

It seems that the public sector documents trails that they want the public to use and sometimes the maps aren’t ground accurate. Today I wandered around again to poorly marked trails. I punched in the TH location just in case.

Trails are loose rocky with these green briers along trail’s edge. Good thorns. I learned that the woods are full of these vines and the only safe riding track is down the center.

Rode to Clay Furnace, another old iron furnace.

Ride started with a flat front tire. I found 1 of those thorns from Fair Hill had worked it’s way thru the tire and into the tube where it broke off. Such a small hole emptied all the air. I patched it. The tire lost air during the ride today and I think there is another broken off thorn. I spoke with somebody somewhere else where there were goat heads who said he ran slime and when the season was finished he threw away his tires as they were full of broken off thorns.

Loose rock, green brier thorns, and archery deer hunters.

Nice day: warm, wore long sleeve bright orange jersey for protection.

Looking for shower. XG has them for $21 and a legal place to stay. Mel, I’m cheap and I whine when $ slip between my fingers. yes, $5.00 for a shower is steep when I really don’t need one. After 3 days of riding, it averages out, plus I had a quiet place to sleep. Darn place prohibits alcohol. What is drunk from a glass remains a secret.

10.55 miles and 1400′. Camped back at elevation of 2150′ like Spokane. Nose bleed.

Still sort of warm. 9:30 and enduring an open van door. But I just shut it.

Election day. May my absentee ballot be counted correctly.

Made an involved 2 burner dinner, a benefit of a legal camping place. Left overs for tomorrow.

Scheduled my fork rebuild with PUSH Industries for right after Thanksgiving. Goodness, spend more than a week in Ohio waiting for the fork’s return.

Off to Seneca Rocks, WVA tomorrow.