Ridin'Ard (The h is silent)

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...