10 Apr Another Detour and making it to D.C..
Since we wake up in the middle of town, we quickly pack up before all the shops open up, to get back on the road. After Howard and several other people warned us not to continue on our planned route–actually, somebody asked us whether we have a death wish– we decide to follow their suggestions on taking a detour to make it to our next destination…And a detour it is!
What was to be originally a 24 mile ride turns out to be a 40 mile ride to include a steep climb over the mountain ridge. Fortunately the road is quiet and very scenic. However, our legs are tired from riding so many days in a row and the sun is beating down on us, so the 40 miles up and down the twisty road really wear us down.
We take several breaks today. Once we stop to put our feet in the river we ride along to cool down.
At our lunch stop, we meet another lady, who just decided to leave her job as well, to travel across country. It seems weird, how we meet all these people who are following their dreams. We sit for a while and listen to her plans of traveling by car and playing music during her travels to make a little extra cash. Her stories of planning and saving for her adventure remind us of our planning time. We hope we helped inspire her to continue to follow her dream.
After riding for a while longer–which really seems like an eternity today–we finally make it to Front Royal, our next stop for the night.
The next day, we wake up fresh and happy, to continue our ride to Rockville near D.C., where we are going to stay with friends until our departure to Spain.
Our route is easy going again–without any climbs and a lot more coasting. The drivers seem to get a little more impatient the closer we get to the city, but overall they give us our space.
At Leesburg we visit a German Bistro to eat a well deserved Currywurst accompanied by a cold Radler.
Eventually we make it to our first ferry ride with the bikes– the Whites Ferry–to cross into Maryland. Once across we get on the O & C bike path to our destination, where we wait for our friends to get picked up.
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