Last day!

It's been a very long week, filled with many obstacles that I've had to overcome. I began this tour with little hope that it would be enjoyable. I looked at it more as a way to get in shape for the summer and spending some time with my dad was just an added bonus. But I experienced exactly the opposite. I got to spend quality time with my dad that I haven't been able to in a long time. I saw how strong of a person he was -the encouragement he gave to keep me going when times were tough, when I felt I couldn't make it (and there were a few), when I was tired and hungry, when I complained and whined, when I complained and whined and again when I complained and whined :) I saw how he could walk into any rough backwoods bar (wearing spandex I might add) and leave with more friends than when he came. I was amazed at how even the most abbrasive person could be touched by his kindness and unassuming spirit. I was proud of the way he did whatever it took to get the job done. And I can't forget to mention how he let me feel like I really was "roughing it," while we stayed in hotels with comfy beds and warm showers. I think he knows that although I try and rough it with the big boys, I will probably always be a pampered princess at heart. In fact, my new nickname is Princess of the Trail.

As far as my own experiences, I have surprised myself by camping (yes, 1 night is still considered "camping"), I have become more at peace with bugs (although spiders and hairy things STILL completely gross me out) and I have pushed myself far beyond what I thought I was capable of. But more importantly, I feel I have come away with more than just making friends with bugs or biking through dark tunnels at night. The life lessons and the memories my dad and I shared in the last five days were what turned out to be the most meaningful. I have watched him and learned from him and been encouraged by him and mostly I realized just how proud I was of my dad. Spending time with him was by far the best part of the journey. In the end, the scenery and getting in shape were what really turned out to be the added bonus.

Monday

After eating the most wonderful breakfast at Grandma's House, we headed down the road, back to the trail. After riding 1/2 mile we came to The Paw Paw Tunnel, which unfortunately did not have any lights. This was a big deal for me - the dark, damp tunnel certainly meant bugs, worse - spiders and if not them, then it meant bats. With no lights for about a mile, it would be highly possible, no better, it was bound to happen that some sort of creepy crawler would fall right at the exact moment I was passing under it. I was unable to find an umbrella hat in time for this trip(to protect me from any bug bodies that might drop from the ceiling unexpectedly), although luckily I did bring a regular umbrella. Oh yes, I quickly remembered the umbrella that would have been perfect for this exact moment in time had been forgotten in dad's car. Great! So I held my breath and made dad go first. I eventually followed him and man, was it dark! The canal was to our left was about 10 feet wide, while we were left with a dinky four foot path to ride on. There was only a little wood fence separating us and the deep, dark canal. I cannot stress how dark it was in there! - and then at different points you would feel the trickle of water on you from above. I screamed at one point from feeling something slimy fall on me, which echoed through the whole tunnel and of course, made dad scream. We pedaled like madmen to get the hoo hoo out of there. Word to the wise - don't forget your umbrella hat.


-------> me faking a smile after going thru the canal


The rest of the day was pretty low key - more beautiful scenery and just peaceful to be surrounded by nature. I'm not sure the temperature, but I would guess it was around 80-ish degrees. Since we are both pretty badly sunburned, we decided to eat a later lunch and sit indoors until about 4, when it cools down. We ate a place called Bill's Place, which is a biker's bar located pretty much in the middle of nowhere. That and a house across from it basically made up the whole town, so we really were in the boonies - somewhere in West Virginia. Fortunately for us, there were no bikers (since dad was in spandex) and we had the whole place to ourselves, except for two other people. The ceiling was just covered in 1 dollar bills that had each been signed by its donor and then stapled where you could see it. There were literally thousands of them everywhere you looked.



Probably would have been helpful to us when we went to pay our bill and found out this place only accepts cash. We only had credit cards. The closest ATM was 15 miles away! So, I sent dad back to wash dishes while I chatted with the owner. Just kidding! You know dad - he always makes friends with people and luckily had befriended the guy even before we placed our food order. So, dad struck a deal and the guy allowed us to send him a check once we reached home. Good ole' dad - saved the day again! We made it to our hotel -Super 8 for $49.99/nite - can't beat that price! We celebrated our week of cycling over some pizza at Pizza Hut.

Sunday

I have been trying to keep up with the blogs - but honestly, most of the towns don't even have cell coverage, let alone internet. So, I have to squish them all in when I can.
On Sunday, we woke up pretty late (and by we, I mean me :) so we didn't get biking until about 11-ish (again). However, the first 15 miles of the journey were all down hill (yesss!). It was pretty nice, we made GREAT time. Those 15 miles took us into the big town of Cumberland - much bigger than we had been in yet. We stopped at a local bike shop and then ate at The Crabby Pig - great food!
Cumberland is actually the end of the Great Allegheny Passage. After Cumberland starts the C & O Canal, which unlike the GAP, is a pretty straight trail. So, relatively easy - or so we thought. Dad's bike did great - but the trail was just not made for the Trike (three wheeled bike). This trail is a bit rougher than the other one - it has more debris laying in the way and small potholes. So, it was pretty easy for Dad's bike to manuever around whatever was laying in the road, but for mine it was difficult and slowed us down. However, the trail is AMAZING!!! We saw so much wildlife it was crazy! There is a river to the right of the trail and the canal to the left. It was really like biking through a fairyland - beautiful Bluebell flowers lined each side of the trail and went as far as the eye could see. The canal was lined with trees that seemed to reach the sky and much of the time the only thing that could be heard, was the low hum of tree frogs. It seemed like you were in another world - we were so far from any civilization. We saw hundreds of turtles sunning on logs in the water, we got about 8 feet from a beaver and took a bunch of pictures of deer.



Although this trail is much harder than the last, it is by far the more beautiful. Unfortunately, because of the terrain, there is just no way that we will make it to DC (sniff....). That was my goal when we first began, but after being on the C & O, we decided to take our time since there are so many beautiful things we don't want to miss.
That night we ended up reaching Paw Paw - yes, a town, where we stayed at Grandma's House - actual name (again, we had to use our headlamps, we got stuck in the dark). This was a very small town, but a cute little house where we rested our heads for the night.

Saturday

Well, I can say without a doubt, that I definitely take after my Aunt Linda when it comes to camping. I like having a hot shower, waking up indoors in a warm, comfy bed rather than being outside, in the dirt with man eating spiders, completely drenched in dew. So, that concludes my camping experience. I'm not ashamed to be called the pampered princess when it comes to camping. :)
Dad and I went and ate breakfast and finished around 11:00am - which means we got a pretty late start on the trail. It must have been those 3 eggs, 2 bacon, 4 pieces of toast, home fries and waffle that kept me going the whole day, because we really made good time , considering the temperature. We biked sometimes for a mile with no shade and our already sunburned bodies were continually pelted in the 80 degree heat. We paced ourselves with our water and food supplies and aimed to make it to Cumberland - the last part of the Allegheny Passage. We had 60 miles to go, and I was determined to make it there - I heard they had wonderful hotels!
We pushed ourselves all day and we were making good time. We enjoyed the beautiful scenery - the waterfalls, the kayakers in the river, the bridges we went over.



We were told that out of the 60 miles to go, 40 were uphill and the last 20 were downhill. So, we really only had to make it the 40 miles and then we could practically coast to Cumberland. As we approached Meyersdale, the only town until the next 15 miles, the sun began to set. But thoughts of a hotel were all that I was thinking about, and so we rode on. We stopped quickly 5 miles down to quickly cook a small meal, since the last one we had eaten was breakfast. But, after our stove caught on fire, along with some small brush around it, we realized the urgency of reaching any town at this point, to get food into our bodies.
As the sun started to set in the woods where we were traveling, I started to panick - it's pretty scary being in creepy looking woods with no one around (or so dad thought). I was convinced someone at any time would jump out and leave us for dead. It didn't help that we still had to go 12 miles.
As night approached we got our headlamps on and pushed onwards towards the big tunnel. We finally reached The Big Savage Tunnel- why do they call it Savage? I don't know, and at that point, I didn't want to know either. At this point, it is pitch black dark out except for the tunnel which has rows and rows of lights - a little comforting. We get into the tunnel and are about halfway through (the whole tunnel is about 3/4 a mile long) when all of a sudden the lights go out. I pretty much freaked out and started pedalling frantically. I knew for sure that someone must have cut the line and that they were waiting for us on the other side. Oh, if only I could see Drew one more time before I met my demise, waiting for me on the other side.


*****Actual video of tunnel - with the lights still on****


Well, obviously I made it. After that tunnel we made it through one more and made our descent to the town of Frostburg, where we camped the night in a wonderful hotel. So, we didn't make it to Cumberland, but we had a heck of a night. And we got to stay in a hotel anyway. I was a happy traveler.

End of the second day

I am having to write this the next day because the place that we camped did not have wireless. In fact, it didn't even have cell phone coverage - no one in town had cell phones! But anyway, the turned out to be a scorcher - it was mid 70's and an uphill climb the whole way. We had made our breakfast and headed out. We stopped about 3 miles down the road to refill our water and make a last bathroom break since there were nothing for the next 17 miles. I thought we'd be fine, but with the sun beating down on us, we ended up running out of water within the first 7 miles. By the time we rolled up to Ohiopyle, we were wiped out.



We got there about 4:00 and decided that we should probably stay the nite in the nearby campsite. We ended up meeting some friends, all of which who rode recumbents, and they told us about an even greater town 10 miles up - Confluence (with a better campsite, and warm showers). So we followed one lady in the bunch and made it in record time.
We set up our tents (I've never been much of a camper in the past, but I decided to give it a try) and got everything ready. I bought my tent at Cabellas and had never used it, but was excited to be "roughing it."
We found out that there were no showers (too early in the season), which was a little discouraging since we hadn't taken one in almost 2 days (gross, I know). We were hoping the other "campers" in their big Winnebagos would have pity on us and invite us to use theirs, but unfortunately it didn't happen. Oh well, at least the camping part would be better. We made our food and got into our warm sleeping bags (it was supposed to be pretty cold that night) and fell quickly to sleep.

Second day!

Ok, so I woke up and my legs feel like I got hit with a baseball bat - they hurt!!! I'd like to stay in bed all day, but my dad insists that I'll live and to get back on the bike. It's cold this morning and it started raining and thundering - what happened to the nice 72 degree weather? We just ate breakfast and are packing up our things. What adventures will lie ahead of us today? I know today will be one of the hardest days, because the trail (for the next 60 miles) is pretty much uphill. Yes, the grade is 1.5 but still, it's a little daunting. The rain just stopped and we are getting ready to go.

**Melissa, Brett - make sure you eat some Mesa to celebrate and motivate me to continue this uphill climb! :) I'll be thinking about you!

First day out!

We found the trail at around 9:30 and by 9:45 we were on the road. I can honestly say, the first five minutes (my legs were already hurting) I was calculating how far Drew might have gone in the car and whether or not he could pick me up. But I thought it was too early to be a quitter, so I trudged on.
The trail was so beautiful, we saw small waterfalls and any flower you could imagine growing on the rocks. The whole trail follows a body of water, so we had beautiful sights everywhere we looked.

The biking got a lot easier for me, the trail was pretty flat and we met a couple of people along the way. We stopped for a small snack, my favorite - ice cream!!!!


We ate lunch at a little diner that had a recumbent bike shop below it, where we got our bikes tuned up. It turned out to be a nice day, the sun was shining and it was just beautiful weather. We decided to camp at a little town called Layton - which would put us at 40 miles for the day - a new record for me. But as we counted the mile markers, we soon realized that we somehow missed the campsite. We had no choice but to continue on to the next campsite - Roundbottom (my dad and I joked about the name for the longest time:). As we pulled up to this site, weary and hungry, we looked around and noticed that it was completed deserted. I wasn't too sure of this place that had graffiti on some signs and didn't want to risk my life staying there. Dad wanted to stay until he found out there was no toilet paper. So, we trudged on.
At this point, the sun was beginning to set and we no longer saw any other forms of life. I certainly didn't want to get caught in the woods at night - it would be pretty scary. So, we were racing against the oncoming darkness.
Dawson, the next town 5 miles away did not have a campsite, however the map indicated it had lodging, which I was totally fine with. We compromised and decided that one time, the hardest day, we could stay in a motel. My legs felt like they were going to fall off at this point, but we FINALLY made it! Frank, a guy we met right outside of Dawson said, "Nah, there isn't any lodging in this town. But if you ride another 3 miles to Adelaide, Denise will let you guys stay at her campsite, even though it's too early in the season to be open."
I was never happier to be in the small town of Adelaide. Instead of camping we rented a small cabin where bunked for the nite. So, we rode a total of 55 miles and I can definitely say, my legs are aching. We had a great day of biking overall and I was excited to get up the next morning and do it again.

Heading Out!

So we woke up about an hour ago and it's close to 39 degrees!!! Hoping that my spandex will keep me warm. Drew and my dad are packing up the car and we are heading out!!! See you guys tonight!!!

~Liz

PS - Prayers are requested :)

A FATHER/DAUGHTER BIKING ADVENTURE

This blog records the adventures of a father (Thomas Hall) and a daughter (Liz Hall-Constanzer), who after twenty years have decided to team up to bicycle 318 miles from Pittsburgh to DC over abandoned railroad trails and long-forgotten canal paths.

LIZ--between 19 and 54 years of age, roller blades, excels in text-messaging, works for the Vanguard Group in Malvern, PA and is married to Drew--an avid soccer, volleyball, bowling ball, and poker player--who thought it was a rather good idea for his wife to bicycle 318 miles rather than him. They have two children-- 1 year and 2 years old; the first weighs in at 180 pounds and the second at 4 pounds: Sampson the Great Dane and Delilah the Chihuahua.


The Great Allegheny Passage and the C & O Canal are history-travel at its best. The GAP trail was once a circuitous rail system that transported goods and food through eastern rural America to cities at a time when our country began the transition from isolated villages and towns into a connected, industrial nation. But go even further back in history: enter onto the C & O Canal which starts near Cumberland, WV. The canals, of course, were scooped-out earth that formed empty semi-circles. These long earthed-out "roads" were 12 to 15 feet wide and 6-10 feet deep. By the ingenious use of dams, diverting of water, and use of gravity through a water lock system, long canal boats soon transported goods and food from farms and villages hundreds of miles away. The boats' energy source was as green as they get--they were propelled down the canal by a team of horses or mules walking the canal path next to the boats.

So this father/daughter team--Liz and Tom--will narrate their journey through this interesting mix of natural beauty and history by bicycle. We hope you'll enjoy our journey and especially the pictures that we'll send along the way.