Last evening we stayed in an absolutely beautiful campsite. We slept OK, but it was quite cold. We brought extra-small sleeping bags on this trip, rated for about 60°. That means they have almost no insulation. I chose to sleep wearing my puffy coat, as I generally sleep cold. We both woke up a few times during the night, and we lazed around in our tent until 8AM, when we finally got out and started moving around.

We only had 45 miles to ride today, and we couldn’t arrive before 3:00, so we took our time in the morning to eat a wonderful breakfast of oatmeal. It’s amazing how good oatmeal can taste. Sometimes we wonder why we bring anything else when we go camping. We also had peaches, oranges, and hot chocolate.

Because we weren’t in any particular hurry, we didn’t hit the trail until just after 10 AM. The trail was beautiful, as was the weather.

Today we rode a beautiful section of the trail, established in 2012, that fixed a section that had eroded into the Potomac River. This area is called Big Slackwater. We had to ride carefully to avoid a thrilling ride into the river. This section was a couple of miles long.

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Throughout our ride, we were anticipating a detour that was particularly difficult going the other direction. It involved three steep sections, one of which had stairs. For that one, we had to unload our bike and carry our panniers to the bottom of the stairs before bringing the bike down.

It was interesting during the time leading up to the detour. We both knew what was coming, and we both dreaded it a little bit. I’m not sure whether it’s better to know in advance when you’re going to have a detour or to deal with it when it shows up. I think this happens in life, too. Sometimes knowing something difficult is ahead lets us prepare, but other times it just makes us worry for no reason. In the end, preparation wasn’t the key to getting past the obstacle; action was.

We rolled into Hancock, Maryland, a little after 3:30. We chose to stop at Buddy Lou’s, one of our favorite restaurants from the ride toward DC, so we had been looking forward to it on the ride back. We ate a lot of food and then went to an absolutely lovely bed-and-breakfast. It is right on the trail. It normally has five rooms, each with two or three people. Tonight we are the only ones in the house, so we have a beautiful upstairs living space overlooking the trail to ourselves. It is quite a contrast to our accommodations last night. Both were/are beautiful in their own way.

This wisdom was posted on the wall of the bike storage area.