Day 73 – Aug, 24 – 2015 – Pittsburgh PA – to Union City KOA (GAP Trail) – 60 miles

Day 73 – Aug, 24, 2015 – Pittsburgh PA – to Union City KOA (GAP Trail) – 60 miles

We left the big city and our two stadiums behind to hit the famous Greater Allegheny Passage, a converted rail line that will take us to Cumberland MD and the C&O canal path. It was a sad moment for me. We crossed the 6th Ave bridge and got to “The Point” and fountain, an area were old forts once stood. We looked and looked for the O mile marker but couldn’t find it. My smartphone had to help. As I stood there and looked at Pittsburgh in the morning sun, I knew that this journey would be over in a few short days. Yes, we still had about 350 miles to Washington, but a trail, no roads, and no real hills to contend with, this was literally a walk in the park for us. We were on the downhill and close to the end.

As much as I dreamed for this to be over many times along the way, it has become me in a way. My existence has become this journey. I lived and dreamed this journey every waking hour of the 74 days that we have been on the road. We have become road warriors, conquering hills, and valleys, and so many unbelievable different conditions. The roads have become our friends and welcome companions even when they were cracked and weather beaten. I guess we are a little cracked and weather beaten ourselves. I know my face, my skin, my hair are pretty far gone. But soon we will be back in a world where that can be taken care of and fixed, for a certain price.

I have so much more to write about some of these reflections that I will really have to sit down at home and try to find better words. The physical exhaustion of a days ride is not conducive to great writing. My mission was to keep all of you informed, and to make sure my Mom knew where I was and how I was doing everyday.

The ride out of the city is always long. We crossed the river again, found a trail that was the Three Rivers Historic trail that would take us to the GAP. We passed nicely laid out paths with historical markers with old pictures of steel mills. We passed and area called Homestead which was made famous by the early steel worker strikes. This area had a mile that was almost 9 miles long. Nothing is left. I am wrong, as we road along the so called “steel valley” part of our ride, we passed Braddock. I have been there. I did a story there about the “gem” of the valley that is now in ruins. A young mayor has been trying for years to put it back on the map. There stands the Edgar Thomson Mill – Carnegie’s first mill, and strangely enough US Steel Corp is still using it. It supplies tubing steel – that forms pipes for the pipelines and gas/oil industry. We passed it along the other side of the river, a tiny reminder of what this place used to be like.

After leaving “steel valley” we entering into the long stretches of tree tunnels and very few towns. The towns that we did see were what remained of coal company towns, rows of tiny houses nestle in small valleys or hollows along the coal rich hills. Coke was an important part of the steel making industry. I guess without these brave people who lived in these areas and risked their lives every day, we wouldn’t have the Golden Gate Bridge, right? But there is something eerie about it, once marker we passed designated the site where many decades ago one of the worst mine disasters killed some of those brave man. The forest was so thick and dark, I thought I heard the ghosts of those miners screaming for help. It was eerie.
But the day was easy. The unfortunate part of it was that there were no cute destination towns to stop in. They were empty of cafes. Early on we did stop for a burger and chicken sandwiches in one of the only places open. We got a cultural lesson there, the place was a “smoking” bar. Everyone including the bartender was puffing away. Wow it was like Paris in the 1980s!! It was either tolerate it or don’t eat, so we ate. The burgers were not bad.

After 60 miles we called it a day. Found a campsite with some fellow bike tourists. This GAP/C&O trail between Pittsburgh and DC is a popular one. Everyone stopped us and asked, are you going the WHOLE way? Looks like you are packed for it! We smiled and sometimes replied this is just the very tiny end of WHOLE trip – Across America. They looked shocked and then said something like “God Bless You”. By the way, we got that a lot. Again, we felt like Royalty.

So today we will see how far we get. There are not many choices – 30 – 50 or 75 miles. Let’s see.