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Tuesday, 5-19: Stayed the night camping at North Bend State Park, and man was it humid for the early evening. We crashed in the van (Judy is claustrophobic and will rip my tents to shreds, so the van is our abode!) and had to keep the rear doors open for the breeze. Well that worked well until later at night when the squeeters came out. We both had multiple bites and ended up having to close the doors and open the rear vent windows - BUT the damage was done: we’d let in God knows how many of the little varmints and they plagued us the rest of the night. In the morning we were comparing the number and placement of bites. 


Got rolling at 7:45 AM out of the park, and right back out to the trail where I finished yesterday. Today I wanted to get to the Ohio River by noon so we could drive back home. Luckily, the rest of the trail, from North Bend State Park, all the way to Happy Valley, is on cinder. No more of the grassy dbl track that’s soft and tough to maintain speed on. So I could really motor. And today, man the legs are actually starting to feel strong again. On the uphill sections leading into a tunnel, and some of these were a good 2-3 miles long, I was able to just punch out a nice tempo pace. The tweaked left knee was decent, not great, but decent in that bigger tempo gear.  The humidity was still high today, and once inside a couple of the longer tunnels, there is this fog from all the air droplets just hanging suspended inside the cool rock walls. Even with a headlamp, it’s like driving a car through a heavy fog - you can only see about 2-4 feet in front of you. Pretty cool, but kind of dangerous if there’s some fallen rock or big chuckhole deep inside the tunnel. 


My first 10 miles was pretty tough cuz nearly half of that was a long, gradual climb up to the day’s first tunnel, then it was a great low angle descent down for several miles. X’ed this one creek on small wooden bridges like 9x - Goose Creek. Remember the name. Seemed to be an end to the oil and gas goings ons out here, from North Bend State Park west. Pretty darned mellow the rest of the way. This section, North Bend State Park west looks MUCH more ridden than the prior 45 miles of the eastern section. But still, over the course of 2 days I saw exactly 3 riders - 2 thru riders and one solo, what looked to be day rider. That’s it. This trail is just heaven! If you crave solitude, North Bend is the ticket! And this western section I did today, not too much mudder stuff. Just a little bit of mud around the entrance/exits of the tunnels and that’s about it. 


Past one cool little town stuck in a timewarp - Cairo. They have this distinctive charm, like you just rode into the 30s, 40s or 50s. Then you ride out and you’re right back in the middle of the Wva wilds. About 3-4 miles from the western terminus of the trail you’re riding along the Little Kanawha River. This is your signal that the end is near. But for me, my end was the Ohio River. Met up with Judy at the western terminus trailhead about 30 min ahead of schedule. Slammed some great lukewarm coffee that I had left over from this morning (this Sumatra stuff that Judy brewed at camp), and ate half an orange, then just had to get this last 5 mile section out of the way so we could leave by noon. 


Now this section is a grunt, (this one’s for you Marsita:) a crapfest, and a bit of an illegality. So the actual RR track is still intact as if you continue to ride west past the trail’s terminus. Looks like the ATC crowd uses this on occasion. So it continues as dbl track along the old RR tracks, and then it peters out into single track, kind of like a tunnel of foliage that you have to ride through. Then it just ends and there’s nothing but the RR track with all this plant and tree growth in the middle. So I rode this for another mile until it went behind some recently built commercial businesses. So I berminated it around them and got back on the old RR right in back of this business, where this chick was out back having a smoke, I waved and jumped back into the woods on the old  RR and kept riding. She did this dbl take watching me disappear into the woods. Well, finally had to dismount and just push the bike down the RR to clear all the brush out in front of me. I was kind of like bulldozing it. Then came to Rt 47, where it has this beauteous cinder berm. Got on that and paralleled the RR track, which were like 40 feet away to my left, but nearly hidden by the jungle of overgrowth. So I knew I was good until 47 veered to the right and the old RR would actually start up again and go into downtown Parkersburg on the left (this from prior recon).


And did just that, got on the RR line as it emerged  from the jungle and then just rode down the middle into the city. But within spitting distance of the outskirts of Parkersburg I get this wake up call - some CSX guys doing track repair up ahead of me about 400 yrds, and I’m riding down the middle of the tracks on a freaking bright orange 29er! Ok, plan B: get off near this little park, ride in the grass around the CSX guys and then get back on to their rear. It worked and they never knew me. And really I only needed to be on these things for such a short tine. Just enough to gain river access. Then I went to my left and bushwhacked down along the Little Kanawha. This was a your typical meat grinder of a hike-a-bike. Well, actually in my case it was a drag-a-bike. Down here along the creek were these abandoned “hobo” cities. I mean shredded tents and shantyvile box shelters and campgrounds. Hell, this one even had like a prayer alter and such. It was pretty intense. There is a feeble trail down there along the river, but really it’s just a complete debacle of a hike. More of a game trail really. Had to drag, push, carry, ferry, and do everything but RIDE the bike through about 1.5 miles of this crap. Just go down the the Cuyahoga River with your bike and hike along the banks of the river out in a wooded area. It’s marshy, muddy, choked with garbage and flood refuse. And I’m doing this in my Sidi mt biking shoes dragging a 25 lb bike behind me. My poor shoes look like they belong alongside all the other shit down there stuck in trees and imbedded in the mud. 


But I made it past all the commercial factory stuff up above the river that literally forms a blockade for getting down to the point along the Ohio, and I followed this hobo path back up to the RR right about where the Little Kanawha empties into the Ohio River. Rode down the middle of the RR tracks to the entrance to Parkersburg’s Point park, which is right on the Ohio, across from Belpre, Oh and the Rt 50 bridge. Did it: all off asphalt and concrete right through the middle of downtown Parkersburg! And so I made the Ohio line from Lewes, DE all off road. Freaking really happy, and that last 2-mile grunt made it all that sweeter.


Judy wasn’t there, as I got a call from her about 10 min after I arrived on the point. She’d driven across the bridge to Belpre, so she drove back. Met her there about 15 min later and we were done for this first leg of American Dirt.  This one week rest is definitely needed for both of us: for Judy to destress from all the crazy negotiating of my F’ed up routes, and dirt and gravel roads, and waiting for me to arrive, and no cell service, and getting stuck, and worrying, and the utter frustration at times. Man, I owe her big-time. She’s awesome and I love her like nobody’s business! For me, man I’m wipped out physically and mentally right now. My left knee was pretty good today…until that ass backwards freaking bushwhack in cycling shoes with a duel suspension 29er mt bike that I pretty much drug through the bush for what seemed like an eternity. 


So we’re shutting down the blog from May 20 thru May 27. I’ll fire the blog back up on May 28 when we start back on the Ohio River at Point Park in downtown Parkersburg for my canoe across the Ohio to Belpre, Oh to begin the 2-month journey to Coos Bay, Oregon. Thanks to everyone for your emails and phone calls of encouragement. Thanks also to those of you who have given us support through the donations etc on the American Dirt website and otherwise. You’ve all been so good to us. All the best to each and every one of you, and talk to you soon……Pete