We started in Hancock, Maryland. We first went to the C&O Bike Shop to get a few last minute supplies, including the 'mandatory' bell! We left our Chevy Tracker in the Park Service Parking Lot. The trail was much more primitive than what we were used to biking on, but still in good shape. The trail follows the Potomac River, which was beautiful.

Our reach exceeds our grasp:
Or whatever that saying is. At any rate, we thought we would get to Sheperdstown by 3:00 PM. But around 6pm.we were still biking the trail when.a storm hit us and we were soaked. We kept biking but it was getting darker by the minute. Our pace slowed as the visibility dwindled.

We were down to a snails pace (but thought it would still be faster than walking the bikes). We bungee-corded our flashlights on the front of the bikes, and eeked out another coupla miles. After Pat hit a log on the trail and took a tumble, we conceeded to the night and got off of the bikes. After walking the bikes about 2 miles in the still pouring rain, when we finally saw the lights of Shepardstown, W.VA. across the river. We had to walk across the huge bridge crossing the Potomac, but on the other side was this beautiful Bavarian Inn. Our room had a fire place, four poster bed, soft white terry cloth bathrobes! Wonderful!

It was still raining when we dragged ourselves out of bed, but the weather soon cleared and clear skyes remained for the rest of our trip. We biked to Harpers Ferry for breakfast. Along the way there were occasional campsites and access points to the river that.looked like great fishing spots! As we biked closer to Harper's Ferry, we saw the many large rock formations and river falls that start around this part of the Potomac. Leaving our bikes under the rail road bridge, we walked over the train tracks to Harpers Ferry.

Harpers Ferry is one of our favorite places to visit. It's the place of John Brown's Raid in 1859 that brought the states that much closer to war. B/C of it's stratigic location, HF was continually fought over during the Civil Was and changed hands 8 times.

After a carb-load of bagels & cream cheese we continued down the trail. There is a detour of 6 miles that wanders through the Maryland countryside of large horse farms. There were many steep hills and a couple of them were so steep we had to walk our bikes to get over them..

Then back on the trail and down to White's Ferry. The Gen Jubal A. Early took us to the Virgina side, and we biked about 5 miles into Leesburg. We took the Highway 15 Business into town, but took the Bypass the next morning, which was quicker.

The next day (Saturday) we got up and biked to Great Falls. In contrast to the rest of the trail, which was pretty un-populated, as we got closer to the falls, the trail was filled with bikers and families so it felt very conjested. We took a short lunch break at a Landing just outside Georgetown. At that landing they rent kayeks, canoes and other floating devices.

And then into Georgetown! Was wonderful getting 'to town' We biked over the bridge and stayed at a motel in Arlington.

Sunday morning we got up and biked around the Capital Building, the monuments (Jefferson, Washington, Lincoln) and went out to Haines Point Park.

We stayed at a great hotel off of Dupont Circle. It has a full kitchen with marble top counters with bar stool chairs, big fluffy bedspreads, and two flat screen TVs. We had told the manager at the desk what we had just done, and he said he would give us a discount. it was suppose to be 289.00, but he gave it to us for 119.00. Which makes even better!

We biked out to Ronald Reagan Airport to get our rental van. A bike trail to Alexandria, Va. goes right past the airport, which was convienent for us. So we loaded up our bikes, drove back to Hancock, picked-up our Tracker, then drove both vehicles to Haggerstown where we could drop off the rental.

We had no injuries, and our bikes did great. I figured out how to fill my camelback with 1/2 water and 1/2 ice cubes, which kept the water cold. We were very achy each night, but seemed to recover well by the next morning. For the most part(other than the storm) the weather was about 77 degrees.

End of the Trip:
It was a wonderful bike trip!