Been out of service for

Been out of service for a couple days along and C & O and all around historic hagerstown. Updates to come.

A guilty pleasure.

At greg's childhood home I got to indulge one of my guilty pleasures. Here are my top three, can you guess which is the one?
* eat an entire box of cookies or doughnuts (bike touring is good pretext for needing the calories)
* drink a cold beer while taking a hot shower (in general I'm opposed to refrigeration and boilers)
* watch Michael J Fox shine, howl, and do hand stands on moving vehicles (um, everyone knows that a movie called "Teen Wolf" has to be terrible).

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Battle fought in the dark

After a slow paced day of touring the gettysburg battle fields I retire to my tent... Only to find I've been beat by a large bumble bee (the kind everyone say doesn't sting, but I can say first hand they do). Possibilities that crossed my mind:
running from the tent waving my arms wildly and screeming explicatives
recruiting help from the neighboring boy scouts and feigning a severe allergy
abandoning the tent for the night, week, my life, whatever necessary
requesting to borrow the friendly canadians' car to steam roll the tent and its fearsome contents

ultimately, he decided he didn't like me either... But how can i be sure he was alone?

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I love people

Before I set out, my grandma Bobby expressed some concern, "you don't know who you will meet out there!" But in my mind I started picturing all the chance encounters and all the new, interesting, caring people I'd meet. I'm heeding her warning, but for now I'll reflect on some of these people I've already met.

My roommates in Philly: natalia, kelly, erin, jayme (and nike even though she was away) made a jac is departing dinner banquet full of so many delicious treats. Best living situation EVER.
Josh and Tara in york, Abundant hospitality and kindness with good old fashioned american meat loaf and mac and cheese on top!
The men in Litiz who gave me some great directions, yogi beara wisdom and a fiver when I wasn't looking.
Jay who kept my mind in the present and stuffed me full of marshmallows.
The two bikers that offered me a hand, one with the flat the other with the fender.

I'm sure they'll be many more everyday, but that's about as many as can fit in a single msg.

CUsoon
-jac

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Mileages (and disclaimer)

While it's true I have an odometer on the bike, tis also a fact that I installed it. Therefore the readings I'm getting right now are slightly suspect. I will sort it out soon, but for now take these numbers with a grain of salt:

Day 2- 28miles (near french creek state park to clay)
Day 3- 44miles (clay to york via litiz and lancaster)
Day 4- 33miles (york to gettysburg)

There's a lot to see in Gettysburg and even though I'm feelin' great, some of my pieces are asking for a day to recoup, so I'm spending to nights here.

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8/3/2009 Clay PA and York

Second day went very smoothly, except for the thunderstorms and flooded roadways. I was able to ride the bike through water 6inches deep, but all traffic had to stop for me to do. My bags really are waterproof! My boots however, lose the impenetrableness when the are submerged. While trying to dry them at a campfire last night I managed to melt them slightly... So today boots were soggy and misshappen. The weather on the other hand is perfect. Sunny and breezy, I took a local route from Clay to Litiz and it was beautiful, rolling hills with more downs than up. I feel like I'm starting to get into some kind of groove. I though I'd get away without walking the bike yesterday, but with a quarter mile left, I hidding behind a bend was the steepest climb I've yet seen. I didn't even attempt it and spent 10min pushing. Today, I managed my goal and made it to Tom's friend's(Josh's) house all
on the bike inspite of a surprise last hill. Hooray for Tom and his extremely welcoming friends! York!

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44.8 miles done

At the campsite lastnight, got my tent up and a soggy bowl of rice cooked just before it started pouring. Ate my rice in the tent and promptly fell asleep. Awoke about an hour later as the rain was letting up and joined my neighbor Jay and son Avery for smores. For his living Jay invents stuff. One of his inventions is the spin-pop, how cool. Went to sleep around 10 and woke to more rain. I'm all loaded up now, and just waiting some of the rain out. It,s pretty darn heavy. Let's see how it goes.

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Going that way- 8/1/2009

1st day went well. The cumberland crew all lined up to say farwell and I was on the road around 11. The schukyll river bike path was an awesome easy way to start out. 15 miles in and I had to do my first repair! just a small puncture. Patched, snacked and back on the bike in a flash. After getting to Phoenixville I was on 23 for maybe 15 miles. It was my first real taste of what I think the trip will be like, and it was challenging. Not sure of the exact weight of all me gear, btwn 40 & 60lbs, but getting up those hills was a darn challenge. Just getting the bike rolling takes some serious pushing power, the rolling hills pushed me toward exhaustion pretty quick.
Right after another break I saw the sign for a campground, and pulled in. At warwick woods (couple miles south of french creek) I was welcomed with a biker's discount and pleanty of useful info.

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