8/18-A Day With Sarah!

We left our lovely glamping yurt at about 7:45ish. 

Ready to roll!

We went back out the biking entrance to the park. Even though it had rained overnight, there was definitely less standing water. Sarah hadn’t done the sly dog from the trail coming in yesterday, so I lead the way. Coming down the walkway to the pedestrian bridge, she slipped and went down (it was slippery from the water and dirt that had been flowing down), but she was okay. We popped back out onto the North Bend Trail. As we were riding, Sarah spotted this turtle. 

We let him stay on the trail since there weren’t any other people.

We still had a couple of tunnels to do. The first one was pretty good. 

Okay, a little muddy at the entrance.

We came into the town of Salem. We saw a sign that said it was founded in 1742. 

The trailhead depot

Not far out of Salem, we came to a flagger named Tom. They were doing construction on the highway bridge that went over the trail, and the trail was closed. Tom made a phone call and a pickup showed up and escorted us through. 

The final tunnel was not far after the construction. Sarah decided to go through without turning on her headlight. There was a lot of water, and it was a bit nerve wracking, but I just followed her, and we made it through. 

Almost through!

We came to the end of our time on the North Bend Trail. Now it was back to the road, and with the road comes the hills. Up and down, up and down.

we stopped at a 7-11 just a couple of miles from Clarksburg. We got a snack, and took a break. Coming into Clarksburg, the road was pretty busy. The route seemed to have us going in circles, but what it was doing was getting us to the next trail. We had another closed section of road, but we just walked our bikes on the sidewalk. At one point, we could look across and see how Clarksburg is really built on all these hills. 

Dana had told us about this Italian bakery. Of course, because I have bad bakery karma, even though it’s Tuesday, it was closed. 

We tried…

We arrived at the Harrison Trail start. It was a nice trail. They had recently done some grading, so it was a little soft in places. Then there was a giant tree down, and they were working to clear it. Since we had just crossed a road, we went back and took the road to where the trail crossed again. Obstacle avoided!

Deer sighting

We pulled off at a drive-in movie theater. Sarah had never seen a drive-in before! She also discovered her rear tire was low. Since it was a good spot off the busy road, she went ahead and changed the tube. 

It was less than a mile, but one steep climb, to get to where I was staying tonight in Shinnston. Since I hadn’t gone as far as I had planned yesterday, Morgantown was farther than I wanted to go today. The place is called the Bunkhouse Lodge. Really it’s just a motel, but to its credit, it’s the cheapest motel I’ve stayed at so far at just $50! There’s a lot crammed into the room…nearly full sized fridge, full sized coffee maker, microwave, and even a toaster! Plus there’s an overstuffed chair, a small table, and two other chairs. Wanda fits, though, so we’re all good.

Sarah decided to get a few more miles in. First she needed to go to the library to do some stuff on a computer. She texted me when she was done, and I rode over to meet her at a famous hot dog restaurant. 

Late lunch

I may see Sarah again, we’ll keep in touch, but she’ll be ahead now. It was really fun riding with her today. Also, for the first time in a few days, it was sunny the whole day! Tomorrow looks to be good too, but then the rain will be back (uhggg).

T-minus 8 days to DC and Nolan!