Day 2- To the Highest Elevation

Confluence, PA to Cumberland, MD (65 miles)
We woke up around 7:30 am on Thursday to the smell of breakfast.  Yum!  We had an amazing french toast casserole with yogurt and applesause. (If you couldn't tell, I was REALLY hungry all trip.  And I am not sure if it really was the best food in the world, or I was just calorie starved for so many hours during our rides that I could have eaten bugs.) The morning was uh, "crisp" for lack of a meaner word, but with hopes of getting in the high 50's today.  I was thrilled! We loaded up our packs, and took off around 9:30 am.  (We were waiting for the weather to warm up)
Yesterday we had discussed what day of the trip we were dreading the most.  It was a unanimous decision that "Day 2" was going to suck.  We thought we would be so sore we couldn't move and that our butts were going to be KILLING us.  And it was another uphill day.  For 40 miles. 
   We were all pleasantly surprised when today turned out to be one of my favorite days of the trip.  The night before I begged Bryan to go slower today.  My reasoning was fabulous.  "We don't need to kill ourselves."  "We are supposed to be enjoying this trip and taking in all the sights." "We had 4 more days of riding ahead of us and I really want to be able to complete them!!!" ect. ect.  Lucky for me, he is a nice guy and agreed to slow down.
  Let me tell you, I was extremely nervous about starting today.  We mounted the bike- eek!  There is nothing comfortable about getting on that saddle first thing in the morning after a big ride the previous day.  The coolest thing is, your bum goes numb or something after about 3 miles and you feel just fine!  Its awesome.  Our quads were a little stiff but once we got warmed up life was great!  We paced ourselves at a comfortable 11 miles per hour. 
  We stopped every 10 feet at first to take a picture of something cool.  When we finally got going we realized it was a pretty good incline.  We were so excited about ending our uphill battle.  We pressed on for about 35 miles, went around a mountain, bypassed a really old tunnel, rode by cliffs and rivers, and beautiful spring blooms.  Didn't take a ton of breaks in the morning (minus the 3 second picture stops).  We made it to Meyersdale, PA around 1:00.  It is a very quaint little town that survives off of bike travelers.  Per my begging the previous night, we stopped at a cafe and took a 'real' lunch break.  Again, my cold cut sandwich never tasted better!  The owner of the cafe sat with us for the entire lunch and B.S.ed with us.  He even brought over some raw rhubarb for us to try.  It was wildly entertaining to sit with this guy...

  After an hour of sitting *thank you*  We  hopped back on the bikes and were elated because we only had about 11 more miles until the highest part of our ride.  We reached the "Eastern Continental Divide".  This meant for the next 25 miles of our day, we would cover the elevation drop that took us 1 1/2 days to climb.  Let me tell you about fun.  This was fun.  25 miles of coasting was what I was prepared to do.  It wasn't quite that easy, but close! 

 Before we really started hauling *$$ down the trail, we came to "Big Savage Tunnel" which was 3,294 ft long. This tunnel was sweeeet!  It was well kept and even lit!  (Well, enough to see where I was going, I couldn't sit down and read a book)

  Then out of the tunnel there was another AMAZING view.

  We met another group doing the same trip as us, stopping in the same towns as us at night as well.  They kept asking us to come drinking with them... (Why would you get wasted if you were going to ride your bike for 70 miles the next day?  I can't imagine this would give your body 'optimum' performance...) We rode flew down the next several miles with them.  Trying to chat with them while cruising at about 22 mph with the wind in our face.  We broke apart from them eventually and continued to book it down the hill.  We were so excited to be moving fast.  The trail at this point went along side the railroad tracks. (literally!) And here was another bonus, it was paved in parts.  These 25 miles were definitely a highlight of the journey.

We arrived in high spirits in Cumberland by 4:40pm.  We had officially ridden the entire portion of the 'Great Allegheny Passage'.  From here on out we would be on the 'C &O towpath'.  We found our hotel, 'The Fairfield inn' about 5 feet from the trail.  We immediately hit the hot tub and pool.  It was heaven!  I talked to the kids on the phone for a couple minutes.  I already missed them.  Then we showered and headed 'down town' to find some dinner.  Down  town Cumberland is pretty cool.  It was so strange to be on foot and not on a bike.  We walked about a 3/4 mile and found an Italian Restaurant.  Again, my Chicken Marsala was probably the best Italian dinner I have ever had.  We followed it up with an ice cream stop.  (oh ya, chocolate custard!)

  We tried to talk Tannon out of camping and staying with us.  He didn't listen.  He headed out to find a campsite around dusk with his flashlight strapped to his head.  He ended up finding a site about 10 miles down the trail. Nuts.
  I did a load of laundry at the hotel and checked the weather and trail for the next day.  Then I slept like the dead and loved every second of it. 
  Today was a great day.  It was work, but it had a cool destination and a rewards along the trail.  The weather was slightly nicer and it didn't rain.  I think it was my favorite day, or very close to it.  My body felt surprisingly good after riding today.  It was a ton of fun.