An Easy Last Day I Was in No Rush to CompleteFrederick, MD
to
Washington, D.C.
Sunday, July 27, 2003
Back up to Manitowoc to Washington
Westbound: Hancock to Frederick Follow Up and Observations
An Easy Last Day I Was in No Rush to CompleteEstimated remaining distance is 42 miles. Wow!
Even with the latish night, I was on the way by 10:30 or so. My route was a back road but in this area no pavement is without traffic. This Sunday morning, however, wasn’t too bad. I wasn’t pushing hard so progress was steady but not rapid. The ups and downs weren’t very big, and I was curious about the extent and nature of development. I hadn’t realized how big the Frederick area was and riding south, the markings for the bus routes and other signs showed how many folks commuted from this area to D.C.
I stopped for lunch around Clarksburg. It was a wrapped sandwich at a convenience store. Usually I held out for better fare, but I knew my sister-in-law would have good stuff at her house. I had begun the transition from tourist to guest.
From Gaithersburg on in the traffic was much denser but mostly friendly. I certainly worked to stay out of the way and to use shoulder, curbside and occasionally sidewalk to avoid impeding powered traffic. My route was courtesy of the DC area bike club. It had taken quite a while to translate their cue sheet that I found on the internet to my DeLorme maps. For these maps, I didn’t stint and had enough magnification to find all my turns and only miss one, going right instead of left on Fallsmead. That cost me about a mile going the long way around a block. Otherwise, it was steady progress on a hot afternoon.
Eventually, I came to the foot of Seven Locks Road on a high bank above the Potomac and turned downstream on MacArthur Blvd. As I apprached the DC line, I was thirsty and not at all ready emotionally to end my 44 day journey. Still a little more the traveler and not quite fully the guest, I stopped at a gas station and chatted first with two teens working the counter and then with one of the spandex-upright riders that had stopped for a breather. After a good half hour of rest or longer, I got back on the bike and found the desired street in the Northwest part of the city. Just one remaining problem: I could neither remember the street number nor recognize the house. So I called home on the west coast to ask for help. Armed with the right address, I quickly rode into their driveway, opened the gate, and greeted my in-laws as they sat by thei pool reading the Washington Post.
“Hey, you made it. Wanna beer?”
Back up to Manitowoc to Washington
Westbound: Hancock to Frederick Follow Up and Observations