Day 3: The Road So Far…. 42 miles from Ohiopyle to Meyersdale

(a gratuitous reference to #Supernatural)

So the third day. When we started out this morning, I distinctly heard my body say, “whoa! What are we doing? We just did 2 long rides in a row and that’s the most we ever did all summer long. Who told you we could do 3?!”  All the stretching I did last night hadn’t placated it.  

Today was all uphill. Well, except a couple steep downhills to cross a road or go into a town, which were, you guessed it, always followed by an equally steep uphill to get back on the trail.  By lunch, 28 miles in, we had climbed 600 feet in altitude.   We had 300 more to climb in the last 17 miles.   I really didn’t notice that the extra 25 pounds of weight I’m carrying on my bike was the issue, though I’m sure it was having some effect, because, physics.  

To back up to this morning, we stayed at an ok B&B last night.  It was all Brian could find in Ohiopyle, but it had several things we’ve been trying to avoid,  the biggest being a shared bathroom.   Not. A. Fan.  Also,  the amenities were bare bones.   It was a “serve yourself” continental breakfast, which consisted of coffee or tea and one of two different kinds of sweet breads in Tupperware in the fridge – homemade, but how long had it been in there? We’ve been in that kind of place before and it was done really well.   The place were at tonight is the same kind of set up, but there is a really nice selection. At a minimum, if you’re catering to the “outdoorsy” crowd, provide bananas!

Fortunately, Brian already had a plan for this morning, just like he does for the whole trip.  This quaint little bakery and sandwich shop that got great reviews.   We headed down there bright and early.   Except they had a sign on the door that apologized, but they were at a food show.   That made me want to eat there even more!  Ah well, back to a place we had seen by the trail, Falls Market Restaurant and General Store.   Not exactly a “from scratch” kind of place, but the food was hot and hearty. 

We got on the trail by 9:30.  The scenery is so amazing! For the first 20 miles or so, that made the climbing  totally worth it!  The biggest news today is that I actually stopped to take pictures on not one, but 3 large bridges!  I keep working on keeping my rational self in charge and it’s getting better.   The last  bridge right before we got into Meyersdale where we’re staying tonight is not just a bridge, though.   It’s called the Salisbury Viaduct. It crosses a river, the valley and an interstate. I didn’t panic, but there was no scenery to entice me into taking any more time on it than necessary!

On the first bridge this morning, we actually caught sight of a large deer in the woods. That’s the largest animal we’ve seen so far. Actually, we probably don’t want to see anything bigger, because that would be a bear. But to be honest, I keep looking into the rocky woods to the right of the trail half hoping to see one. I don’t want to get up close and personal, but a glimpse would be cool. We’ve also been on the lookout for eagles. We’ve seen signs about them being in the area, but so far no luck. I read a sign today about the river otters that were reintroduced in the 90s after the toxic waste in the water had been cleaned up, so I keep watching  in hopes of seeing one,  but the sign also says they are pretty reclusive.

Our lunch stop was the Rockwood Mill Shoppes & Opera House.  It was positively quaint.  The food was good, though I suspect anything would taste good at that point!  We each had a toasted sandwich and also got some hand pies to go.   Added bonus: they had bananas!  It was really hard to get my legs working back on the bike after the long relaxing lunch, but we did it and finished out the day.

So today is behind us. It wasn’t easy, but it wasn’t terrible. It was the only day we’ll be  climbing the whole day, so, yay for that! We did it and I proved I can find beauty even from the dizzying heights of a bridge. And yes, I totally get the irony of being afraid of bridges when that’s my name!