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.