I had a nice breakfast at the Colonial Inn, then got ready for the last leg of the trip. While getting the bike ready, I said hello to an elderly gentleman who was working in the back. The Inn keeper Christie said he was a homeless person the owner "adopted", who does odd jobs and has a place to live. Pretty nice.
I left the Inn at about 8:20 AM and arrived at the bike return, Bike and Roll in Washington DC, at about 1:20. I then took the Metro (with help from a nice young lady, Allysa) to Silver Springs. We also met a nice older black guy who teaches at the American University. They both got me onto the right road and I walked to Karen and Mark's house, getting there about 3:15. Karen had offered to pick me up, but I really wanted to show up at their doorstep like this.
Mark and Karen lavished me with hospitality the rest of the day and the next, including a trip to the B&O RR Museum in Baltimore, a fantastic place housed in an old roundhouse. It has a number of wonderful RR locomotives, equipment, and a couple of model railroads to see. Even if someone is not a RR buff, the history associated with the railroads is fascinating. They even have a boxcar provided as a gift from France to commemorate America's Friendship Train in WW II, which carried donated items to France after the war. You can read about the Merci Train Merci Train here. This image is from http://msummerfieldimages.com/merci-train/.
Getting back to the bike ride, it was a hot and humid day. Though there were some short grades, the route was generally flat, and it was a nice ride on a paved path that was the Western & Old Dominion RR track line in the good old days. This segment is crowded with pedestrians, skaters, and other cyclists, so it was a very different ride than the rest of the trip. Here is the start of the path; as can be seen, the path is paved and marked and very easy to ride on...
On the way I saw another Black Snake crossing the trail, and two deer that were grazing only a few feet from the path. I also wanted to stop at a brewery along the path, but they weren't open yet. I was disappointed - see if you can figure out why from the photo...
There was also a W&OD caboose on display, with a little girl whose mom said to wave to me...
The W&OD path went for a while, then a T-intersection took me onto the Custis trail that went toward the capital, and finally the Mount Vernon Trail, where I got my first glimpse of the monuments across the river...
I crossed the river to get to the Jefferson Memorial...
and from there, made my way to the bike return location in L'Enfant Plaza...
Would I do this trip again? Well, actually, maybe. There are other bike trails I'm interested trying, but doing the GAP again would be fun, especially now that I have some experience under my belt about how to prepare.
Hard to believe it's over. It was a wonderful experience. I saw so many interesting things, met so many swell people, and there was a lot of excitement along the way. As they say, "Wow - What a ride!"
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