That Hurt!

Day Three: Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2009

The guys and I made our way down the towpath. Meanwhile Rosy had exhausted all of the possibilities at General Dollar and had made her way back to the trailhead at Little Orleans. But first she made a stop at Bill's to pick up some snacks for the bikers. We thought this was the grocery store.




We were wrong. The grocery store was in the bar. Really when you think about it why not? It surely makes it a lot easier for Bill. Rosy went in and found one lone patron at the bar. Bill was nowhere to be found. But she did find the grocery store.




Bill conveniently keeps the mouse traps next to the salad dressing.

If you look closely you can see dollar bills pinned to the ceiling. There are over 6000 bills signed by donors from forty-two states and fifteen countries. We meant to pin a dollar bill on the ceiling later that night and forgot. Next time.

Rosy made her choices and went up to the bar. What to do? Bill is nowhere to be found. No worries. The bar patron took her money, went behind the bar and put it in the cash register.

While Rosy was busy shopping at Bill's we were continuing to make our way down the towpath.




Parts of it was very rough and rutty. The towpath was living up to its reputation. Riders in front would frequently call out, "Rock!, Tree Root!, Rut!" It was helpful but one still had to be careful. It was slow going by most biker's standards. Jack was leading, followed by Dave with Chris and I taking up the rear. We had become somewhat spread out and for a bit Chris and I couldn't see Dave and Jack.

That's when we came upon this scene.




Chris and I looked at each other. Why was Dave sitting on the side of the towpath? That seems strange. Maybe Jack decided to take a swim in the Potomac. Jack would do that. But the banks were steep and it was a somewhat cool and cloudy day. Why would Jack be swimming? Ah, maybe Dave is just waiting for us since we had fallen behind.

We came closer and things were beginning to become a little clearer.



"Where's Jack?"

"Somewhere up ahead."

"Why are you sitting here?"

"I just flipped over the handle bars of my bike."

What! You did what?! As soon as we determined that he was really okay and nothing was broken, the sound of laughter erupted.




Well, one person was laughing. There is no proof that I joined in. None at all.

It seems this was the cause of Dave's accident. Jack must not have yelled, "Rock!", loud enough.




Dave composed himself and we continued on. I see Brother is still smiling. There is no proof that I was smiling. None at all.




Lucky for us there are campsites with water and portable toilets every five miles. The water came in handy for the scrapes on Dave's arm.




Just to be accurate this photo was an reenactment. I made them do redo this scene for me because I was in the porta potty when they did it the first time. Thanks, guys!

Dave composed himself again, Chris and I tried to stop laughing and we continued on our way to Little Orleans. I think Dave was looking forward to that beer that was awaiting him at Bill's Place.

That night we found the bruises and scrapes. Poor Dave not only was his arm banged up but his back had a nice large scrape on it. His one hip was so bruised that he couldn't lie on it that night. The next day we discovered that his helmet had a large crack in it. He hadn't even realized that he had hit his head when he had flipped off his bike that afternoon. He was a very lucky guy. It could have been much worse than it was.

Our adventures weren't over. Steve and Bill were waiting for us in Little Orleans.

to be continued.....