Ridin'Ard (The h is silent)

Thursday Miles today: 0 Hours in the saddle: 0 Theme music: rain and thunder It rained almost all day, so we stayed in today. Started out with some ambitious post-breakfast reading and naps. (I finished Recursion and moved on to my next victim.) We had a nutritious combination of leftover chocolate cake and frozen pizza for lunch. We were rebels and did not wait the requisite 30 min after eating before getting in the hot tub. It was on the screened-in porch so we got to watch the lightening and hear thunder from the hot tub while it stormed outside. That was pretty cool.  We had dinner at the hotel restaurant and both got the venison dish. Neither of us had had venison in a while. Apparently, deer eat rosemary and the venison backstrap was garnished with rosemary. We had the same server for dinner as we’d had for breakfast, just a really sweet older woman. She took care of us for breakfast on Friday as well. So that was a nice touch of hospitality.  Back to the cabin after din...

Tuesday Miles: 222 Hours in the saddle: 7:07 Theme music: Apocalyptica, Fast & Furious, Sarah Brightman Tuesday began with a vacation foul when Jaron’s work alarm went off for the second time this week. I mean, the first day is understandable, but... Had a chance for a quick line of internet this morning while picking up bkst from the lodge. There are 2 books I’ve been eagerly awaiting which were released today and I brought my kindle up with me for the purpose of downloading them while I could. And I read 16% of one of them before we even left today. (Note: I’ve noticed that books are always released on Tuesdays.) Totally gorgeous day today. High in the lower 70’s. So chilly at speed that I changed my gloves from the perforated leather ones to my rain gloves and zipped my vents closed. Not a cloud in the sky.  Our destination was highway 666 which Jaron thought looked like a good road from the map, and it suuuure was. Lots of windy turns and pretty scenery. We ended up eating ...

Monday Miles: 64 Hours in the saddle: unknown After massages we headed out for lunch. With all of this aromatherapy this will definitely be the nicest our gear will smell all week. The massage oil in my hair has also been making it easier than normal to take my helmet off.  We went to the Opera House cafe in Brookville, PA to scope it out for our anniversary dinner. After that we hit up a grocery store for an in-cabin caffiene source. (Someday I really am going to track how much we spend on gas vs beverages on these trips.) The person in front of us was getting 3 chicken pot pies. Since it’s been supposed to rain all day, I said that sounded good. But then there were people behind us in line so we didn’t go get any.  We were feeling a bit spirited and did some noodling around for a couple of hours before going back to the cabin. At a gas stop a PA forest ranger was there getting a cold drink and said hi on his way out. Well, we saw him not too much later...apparently 68 in a 2...

Sunday Miles: 255 Hours in the saddle: 5:40 So....next week is our 15th anniversary (crystal). 😱 I said to Jaron: “I’m concerned that this relationship is becoming serious.” I haven’t written in a while. Looking thru past posts, there sure were a lot of typos because I was in such a hurry. We had a trip last Labor Day to WV that was quite eventful, and I never wrote it up. We ended up in fog and bailing on our original plans, almost could not find a place to stay, went to my dad’s the next day and had quite a time getting there. Really put those knobby tires on the ADV bikes to the test.  But other than that, we haven’t really gone anywhere overnight on our bikes in the last year. AND we have never taken the BMWs on a trip. But that’s about to change. This week we will head to the Pennsylvania Wilds and try out the whole “stay in one place” thing I talk about after every trip. We are going to stay in one place for an entire 5 nights.  I looked long and hard for a good place t...

We clocked 361 miles this weekend and got home at 6:30 (left at 1:00). Today it was in the mid-90's for most of the day, so we took a lot of breaks. We just had snacks for lunch because neither of us felt like eating a meal and riding in that goddamn heat. I did not feel the wind through my mesh suit most of the day because it was so hot. I can't believe I used to wear jeans and a rain jacket with vents in that shit.  Speaking of food, we ended up having chocolate for dinner last night and skipping dinner. Then this morning for breakfast we had Thai noodles with beef, because our breakfast was not a backpacker meal after all. It was a skillet meal in a foil pouch, the bastards.  One of our breaks was at Black Hill Regional Park. We thought it would just be something off the road where we could stretch our legs, but the entrance was like a mile long and there were several nature centers. It was quite a park, especially for being off some random non-major road.  Jaron go...

Since we are staying two nights, we did not have to make or break camp today. We chilled this morning while the campsite cleared out and then went to check out Paw Paw tunnel. The path to it was closed, so we went around the barrier to go anyway. The tunnel itself had a more substantial fence around it, so we let it be but did climb the forbidden stairs to go above the tunnel entrance.  We went to Berkeley Springs for lunch and then did some googling for ideas of other things to do or see. Jaron got a gigantic plate of meat. It was ridiculous. Like 8 oz each of brisket and pulled pork. Then we split a slice of lemon meringue pie. Anyway, a Roman bath is in Berkeley Springs and is kind of a big deal. They say George Washington himself came there. It was built in 1815. So I think hey, there's no shower at our campsite, maybe a hot spring bath is just the ticket. So that's what we did. They clean the room out with bleach spray in between guests and then fill up a 750 gallon...tub?...

Uploading pictures while I have cell service.  My suit in my chair.  From the top of Paw Paw tunnel. We weren't allowed up there.  Bicycles in the site next to ours.  The Bivy sack that we store gear in. 

States: 3 Miles: 165.4 We rolled out today at 1:30, a record. We wanted to beat DC Friday traffic and were stressing about that. As it was, there was enough traffic to justify taking the ICC (tollroad) to get out across town.  Navigation is an issue because we want to go off-highway, and Google will re-route you even after you have set the route the way you want it. Jaron was using walking directions on Google Maps at first a while back, until it became problematic with directions going the wrong way on a 1-way street and such. Then Google Maps added a bicycle option which worked alright but got confused when we would not get on bike trails. Now we are trying "avoid highways", but this resulted in us not going thru any towns, which resulted in some serious hangriness by midafternoon. After several turnarounds and stops on the shoulder, we ended up stopping at a McDonald's. This was my one visit for this decade. I gotta say, they've come a long way since I last set fo...