First and foremost, I fell asleep at the wheel posting last nights blog so posting Day 4 and Day 5 tonight. I literally woke up at 3am…laptop open, fingers on the keyboard and fast asleep. I have decided riding continuously makes us all twisted and very tired.

We left Cumberland for our first look at the C&O Towpath. We had heard rumors that the path was covered in debris, mud and wash-outs. To our surprise, it was nice riding. Turn up the audio:

The C&O did eventually get muddy and we had a few mishaps with Phil crashing off the trail and most us getting mud debris on our shirts (my bike is equipped with mud flaps so no issue here).

One of the highlights or non-highlights of Day 4 is Paw Paw Tunnel. This tunnel is in the West Virginia part of the trail and is always a little tenuous to make it through:

PawPaw Tunnel – Unedited / No Audio

After PawPaw, the trail narrowed out: (Audio)

Our second flat of the trip was my bike. I stopped to change the tire and realized this new bike has no quick release, disc brakes and the flat is on the back tire so I have to deal with the Shimano chainset. As I am grabbing my tools, 200 mosquitos decide to feast on the latest morsel to stop on the trail. I have never seen mosquitos that bite thru clothing so I made haste with changing the tire. After getting it changed, I filled it with air and realized the mosquitoes got me flustered and I put the original tube back on after I changed it. I had to do everything over again. In my quest to never change a tire again on this trip, I had the C&O Bike shop put Kevlar double thick, guaranteed not to puncture, tires on the bike when I reached Hancock.

Bill’s Place is a must stop on the C&O Canal towpath. Good food, good cheer and exocentric company is the rule of the day. Sad to report that Bill passed last January (2013). We met Bill on our last trip down the towpath when he was wheeling around his oxygen tank but working at the store. Great guy! His son Jack and his wife have taken over operations and have no plans to change anything. This infamous watering hole along the towpath has served up meals and libations to countless travelers since Bill bought the old Callahan’s Country Store in 1969.

After Bills, we made it into Hancock. Here are some more pictures from the day:

Along both trails, we would see bench’s dedicated to those that had passed:

We met a single rider that tagged with us for a while – Danny. He had a unique way he had designed his saddle bags:

Xmas Tree at Amandas where we stopped for lunch. “Bizarro”:

In case anyone was wondering, it is 1060 miles to Key West:

Our Bed and Breakfast in Hancock:

Benefit for Wayne:

C & O:

Jerry with the IPhone in Mirror mode:

Sunset:

View from the Trail: