the Roam

I woke at 5 am this morning confused as to why the inside of the tent was damp. It should be waterproof… I opened the tiny flap that serves as the only door and found myself in a thick fog. It had condensed on everything in the tent and I was incredibly cold. I packed up as quick as I could and got on my way.

Once the fog started to pass it was actually a beautiful and comfortable morning.

I pass tons of churches advertising their upcoming vacation bible school, but this was the best one I’ve seen.

What are you going to do with the theme of weird animals? All I could think of was this Monty Python song parody.

Soon after I ran into the first difficulty of the day… a closed road. The detour led me into a wooded hillside and finally turned back towards the direction I wanted to go where I was met with a bridge closed ahead sign. Well this seems like the worst detour ever. I continued walking though and came to the bridge, which was barricaded up, but still standing.

I decided to ignore the signs and go ahead because otherwise I’d lose a day of travel getting around it. It creaked a bit and I hustled across, but the line for closing a bridge is really at car weight.. not person weight as my brother later pointed out on the phone so I was probably safe.

After 14 miles I finally got to the start of the Appalachians. I was optimistic initially. I thought I would just wind through some river valleys and never have to rise to terribly high. I did wind through some valleys, rising in elevation quickly but hoping it would turn downward soon and it did! Briefly. One corner swept down and my legs cried for joy and then suddenly it angled back up and I faced a 10% grade straightaway incline with no switch backs. I would be walking on a crumbling shoulder over a rocky steep slope pressed up against a guardrail. Wonderful.

Here I am almost at the top. I kept having to stop and drink more water and eventually just let the cart handle bars fall back against my waist and I trudged uphill without pushing the cart with my arms any longer. I had been doing so for a couple hours on winding steep roads through the valleys and this long steep straight was just the horrible icing on the cake.

I made it to the top though and then got to enjoy the struggle of lowering a … somewhere between 70-90 lb cart down a very steep hill. This requires tiny careful steps and constant hard braking. I can see the wear on the front tire where it would catch and skid going down the hill even at slow speed. Hopefully she survives Appalachia. I have faith.

At least in the valley I came into I found a tiny little ice cream and sandwich drive in called “The Double Dip”.

For the first time in days I got my milk shake fix! Along with some bbq and a jumbo dog with a slice of cheese all for 11 bucks.

Tonight I camp next to the fire company building in Fannettsburg and tomorrow I hope to get to Breezewood!