Day 16: Ever have one of those nights when your mind is racing with thoughts and you just can’t sleep? That happened to me around 5:00 am this morning, so I reluctantly climbed out of my warm sleeping bag and sat in the cold, dark screened-in bunkhouse typing thoughts into my laptop until my fingers got too cold to cooperate. My mind satisfied, I climbed back into the bag for some more sleep.
Once the sun was up, rolled down the road to a diner to carb-load up with breakfast, then back to the bike hostel to pack up. A big thanks to Liz & Johathan at C&O Bicycles for your friendly hospitality. It’s especially appreciated when you’re a solo traveler. I don’t mind admitting that it can get lonely out here sometimes, so I appreciated the company.
If you’re curious how fast the rocket trike can roll on a straight away, check out this video: “Rocket Trike Speed Demonstration.” It’s one of the reasons why I call it a rocket trike. Without all the gear loading it down, I could take it faster still.
Here’s a video providing a unique perspective of the rocket trike negotiating one of the narrow lanes of the C&O Canal Towpath: “Bugs Eye View of Approaching Rocket Trike.”
This afternoon, I rolled past the Lock House where I actually stayed for a couple of nights in 2010, waiting out the rain. Good to see my old haunt at Four Locks again.
This is a cool shot of one of the small aqueducts you will find along the C&O Canal.
Here’s a shot of the nose cone of the rocket trike about to cross mile marker 100. Almost there…
Hope you enjoy this video of the rocket trike being negotiated over one of the aqueducts along the C&O Canal: “Rocket Triking Across C&O Aqueduct.” Signs caution cyclists to walk bikes across, due to the 8’ drop-off, but it’s easy if you watch where you’re going.
34 miles closer to the White House, decided to call it an early day and get my blogging done during the daylight hours to enjoy the evening for a change. Built a nice fire to eat dinner by (do you see the “burning man” in the fire?). Some of these trailside campgrounds are really trail side. My site at Opequon Junction is just 20 feet from the trail, with the Potomac (pictured in background) flowing slowly by not much further away in the other direction. What a beautiful, peaceful evening away from the noisy world.