Day 2 was again another beautiful day. The only bad way to start the day was that we had to go down a large hill the night before to get to our hostel, so to start off the day we had to go back up this steep steep hill. Let's just say that the majority of us are not champions like Kevin and we walked our bikes up the hill!
It was definitely hard to get back on the bike but after you got comfortable it actually wasn't so bad.
Today was the day for a lot of bridges and tunnels! That makes it even more fun!
This was literally the highlight of our trip.Up until the continental divide we had been biking all uphill. It wasn't big hills but a constant uphill is harder than you might think. That was also what made our first day so hard. The first 9 miles of day 2 was also uphill.On the elevation map below, we started on the right and were biking to the left. The red arrow is the divide where we are standing. So we have steadily been going uphill but now seeing this map show us that we have some serious downhill to go! We weren't more excited during the ride then right at this point. We decided if we do ever do this again we will go the same way, if we went from DC to Pitt we would have to go uphill in a shorter amount of time and I can't imagine what that would feel like.
ABOUT TO GO DOWNHILL! :)
This was our first big tunnel. They tell you to watch out for snakes in there which is hard because you cant really see anything in there! There are little overhead lights but they don't help much. We had our phones out and little flashlights to light our way.
Coming out the other side of the tunnel was amazing! You could see forever!
I only include this picture on the bottom because I am not embarrassed by the fact that I am smacking my butt. I guess it may only be funny to my family because they can fully feel my pain and at some point on the trip we all did that multiple times. We just had to try to get feeling back and the blood flowing so we would stand up and smack it or do a little dance! Oh man I love my family and that they put up with me:)
What a stud of a brother I have!
Seriously it doesn't get much better than this!
We couldn't go the whole time without at least one crash! Right before this I was showing Kevin how I was learning to ride without my hands and I was so proud because when we started I couldn't even ride one handed. I don't think he fell because he was riding no handed, but according to him later he thinks he was forgetting to breathe (say what?!). Don't worry we haven't made fun of him at all for that (yeah right!). But he spun out on his bike and got some nice scraps on his arms, hand, and leg, but for the most part he was okay, or so we thought! He was standing there cleaning himself off and he started to pass out. Luckily my mom was right there and she knew what was going to happen so she shouted at Nick to come over quick. I think Nick made it just in time so that he didn't fall over. We were able to get a nice break near a beautiful field! The rest of us have at least passed out once in our lives (some more than others), but we were laughing because now Kevin knows what I feel like when I pass out all the time!
The last 20 miles or so we were riding right next to the railroad tracks which was really cool. I thought that they don't use this railroad anymore but it is still in great condition and it is possible that they still do. So I am glad that none came speeding by while we were riding next to it.
We reached the Mason Dixon Line! It was nice to know when we finally crossed into Maryland.
I am just so grateful for my family going with me on this adventure and truly I think we all had a really good time. When we are together we are always laughing and having a good time and this was no different even though we were fighting through pain at some points. We took turns riding by each other and even though we were riding together I got to talk to everyone in my family individually which I really love being able to do when ever I can since I don't live so close anymore.
There were mile markers along the way and being only a mile away I was having very mixed feelings. I slowed down my pace as I reflected back on the last 36 hours, the conversations I had, the nature I had biked through, the pain in my body, the memories we had made. I felt sad that we were so close to the end because it was one of those times spent with your family that you just never want to end, because you are having so much fun and everything seemed perfect. We didn't have to worry about school, or work, or the fact that our plumbing was working at home. We enjoyed being together and that was enough. But in all honesty too I couldn't wait to get my butt off of the bike and be able to just sit in a car for 3 hours going home, what I had just biked.
I don't think they know that I had slowed down but it was perfect because when I did make it to the end, there was everyone I loved standing there waiting for me. Grandma and Pappap were there too and I just wanted to tell Pappap everything that we did and saw in the last 2 days. I know that this was something he had really wanted to do, but was not able. It really was an awesome family vacation!
We finally made it to the end of the GAP trail and maybe someday will go on the towpath all the way to DC! I don't know where mom went but I am sad that the whole time, and hundreds of pictures taken and none of the 5 of us together.
I felt so accomplished making it to the end! I am also proud of my mom and dad who each did about half but they were champions through the whole thing. Also Nick and Kevin for being awesome and doing the whole thing with me. And yes Nick rightly wore the yellow shirt today because apparently he was the one who was ready to be done as he raced to the end!
Loading the bikes into the back of Pappap and Grandma's van to return to the starting point.
At one point we were talking about what we were going to do next year as a family. In my family they always like to hear about the adventures I go on and I didn't realize but the last few years I have been taking them on crazy adventures with me. Growing up we would go to the beach mostly every summer. This year I made them go on the bike trip, last April they all came out to Utah for my graduation, that in itself was an adventure for them, but then we hiked all over southern Utah. The summer before we went kayaking down the Youghiogheny River. It seemed like for some reason my family all decided that next year they want to go back to the beach or something like that :) what, who likes to do the relaxing stuff!! :) They did say they might go para sailing with me though!
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