Thursday - The Finish Line

This morning was much warmer than the others, and Debbie had been up most of the night not feeling well. I biked down to Great Falls, figured out how to attach Michelle's bike holder, and drove to the campground with the bike in tow. Much to my surprise, our tent and sleeping bags were in a pile ready for loading at the edge of the parking lot. We loaded the camping equipment and our panniers into the car and had nuts and breakfast bars at a nearby picnic table. The 8:30 a.m. start time was our latest.

By the time we arrived at Fletcher's Boat House, it was hot. We had hot dogs and drinks at a shaded picnic table. Not having confidence in how to connect from the paved Capitol Crescent trail to the Key Bridge, we biked our final two miles of the bumpy canal trail down to the bridge, crossed over the canal and walked our bikes through a small park up to the bridge - suddenly faced with a crowded urban environment. Having biked this portion of the route, Michelle was now our guide. We followed her across the bridge, across the intersection, and past the Mariott.

I would modify Michelle's description of the Custis Trail from paved, hilly, and shaded to paved, uphill, and mostly open. As tired as we were at this point, it was a difficult climb. We rested briefly at shady spots along the trail, but it was too warm to really be able to cool off. It seemed like a long way to the relatively flat Washington & Old Dominion trail. After a few miles on the "Wad", we pulled off for a much needed break at a place Michelle had previously scoped out in anticipation of our frail state. Here we had smoothies with some kind of "boost" (I chose the vitamin boost). This was enough to get us going again - a few more miles on the Wad and then onto a maze of hilly and apparently endless residential roads through Fairfax to the townhouse Michelle lives in. Debbie and I walked our bikes up several of these hills. It was good that Michelle had biked this way several times to get it down.

It was on to Frostburg in Michelle's car after a very short rest. Despite departing at 2:30 p.m. prior to the heaviest part of rush hour, traffic was slow at several locations on the beltway. One of the bank building signs showed 95 degrees. Good thing we didn't make it back any later than we did. Frostburg has a different climate than D.C. because it is elevated - it was breezy and probably in the 70's when we arrived there to retrieve the Honda. I drove back with Heather to pick up her car at Swains Lock (we abandoned I-270 at a traffic jam and navigated back roads), and when we returned to Fairfax at 9:00 p.m. it was as warm and muggy as the previous Saturday evening when we assembled at the start of our journey.