Orthotics

I got my orthotics last week. We've been doing some walking this week and hope progress is steady...

Falmouth Health Care Rangers

We're still hold up in Falmouth MA far from the ADT. I just got orthotic inserts that will hopefully speed my recovery. We're hoping that my feet come around and we can get in shape in July to resume the walk in August.

In the meantime, we're doing some organizing for this summer's big health care reform push. Today we're hosting an informal garden party in Jenny's parents' backyard to drink beer and wine and talk about healthcare reform. We're anticipating about 20 people will attend and we hope we can encourage them to work for authentic health care reform legislation.

Wish us luck.

Foot update

I'll be having a physical therapy session on Monday with gentleman who we've been told is a foot specialist. I hope to have a better idea of when I might be able to hike again after seeing him.

So far, the rehab has been up and down. Discouraging...

More flora no notes

Hiatus

I've developed a problem with my right heel. Looks like plantar fasciitis which results from overstretching the sole of the foot among other factors.

As a result, we're taking a few days off to evaluate it and figure out when we can continue walking. We'll keep you posted.

Paw Paw Tunnel

They say it's the engineering marv el of the canal--a tunnel running two thirds of a mile through Sorrel Ridge. Twelve years in the making, the tunnel was dug by hand before Mr. Nobel invented TNT. The interior is lined with somewhere over 6 million bricks -- Jenny lost count (nice going, honey!).

Being a canal, the tunnel contains a tow path next to a perfectly straight, perfectly level pool of water on which the boats floated through the mountain.

By means of the tunnel the canal avoids over six miles of a very twisty, cliff-lined section of the river.

Today it provides a doubly cool walking adventure.

Finishing the C&O Canal

We're in Cumberland Maryland, the western terminus of the 184.5 mile long Chesapeake & Ohio Canal. As may have been obvious, we loved the C&O.

There is much to recommend the tow path. We had fun tracking the different terrain: mountains, cliffs, open farm fields, and wooded swamps. We've mentioned the stands of ghost trees (sycamores), Eastern Red Buds (thanks for the name Sharon) and of course, the wild flowers. We barely mentioned the Fauna, but this too was great fun. While we only ever heard a splash and saw the tail end of a muskrat or beaver diving under water, we saw lots of gnawed trees. Great Blue Heron were common on the eastern half of the canal and crows, owls, hawks, mallards, geese and many other birds accompanied us all along the way. The turtles were legion and we never stopped getting a kick out of seeing them hanging out on logs singly or in families. Mostly we even enjoyed the many types of beautiful and funny looking bugs. We were shocked and tickled by the number and variety of spiders and at the end of the trail resignedly accepting of the number of gnats and mosquitos.

The weekly pattern of activity was soothingly consistent. During the week we often saw only one other person on the trail -- a solitary jogger, a dog walker, a fellow hiker, an early evening biker. On the weekends, by contrast, the trail erupted into activity with families camping, church bike-outings and people of all ages, shapes and sizes fishing (though no one ever seemd to catch anything). While we saw the trail as one long route, the communities along the C&O take advantage of it as a local resource for outdoor activities of all kinds.

Speaking of which, if you're ever in Hancock, on the wasp waist of Maryland, be sure to rent a bike at C&O Bicycle and say hello to a very sweet tow path local, Dennis-the-bike-guy. He'll tell you where to get the best food in town.

Our favorite curious historical fact about the canal is that it was obsolete before it was finished. Even though it was an early dream of George Washingtons, the canal builders didn't get started until 1828. By 1850, when they reached Cumberland, the new railroad technology had far outstripped the canal's. The Baltimore & Ohio (B&O) railroad, which parallels the canal and started construction on the same day as the the C&O, reached Cumberland four full years earlier. The train then continued on to the Ohio river, a goal the tow path architects had abandoned.

The canal's life as a transportation system spanned roughly 75 years. It has now been a National Historic Park for nearly forty. Let's hope this reincarnation is more successful than it's last.

Devil's Blood Bank

We're camped tonight at a place called "Devil's Alley."

We think it should be named "The Devil's Blood Bank."

Notes on trail flora

One of the joys of the hike so far has been the abundance of wild flowers and flowering trees along route.

This tree has been a particular favorite since it's vibrant flowers seem almost to glow. The bloom has the intensity of the lavender petal, but also a softer pastelly quality. If that makes any sense.

Days and Weeks

C&M asked in comments whether we could outline what a typical day and/or week looks like.

The short answer is no. Each day and every week bring their own challenges. On top of that our fly-by-the-seat-of-our-pants approach means we're still in the process of figuring out how best to do the basics, like provisioning, day and distance planning, etc.

Having said that, here are some things we are finding typical:

• We're hiking about 10 miles a day. The C & O canal makes this very easy by providing campsites every 5-7 miles from mile 16 to the western terminus.
  
  
• We had anticipated access to towns would be more regular and easier than it has proved to be making provisioning more challenging than we had anticipated. We learned that the first week. Last week in Harpers Ferry we did some shopping, pulled out what we needed for the week and then mailed the rest on to future us here in Hancock. This allows us to buy a box of oatmeal, for example, but only carry 1 week's worth at a time. Based on this one cycle, it seems to be a good technique. Thanks past selves!
  
  
• In addition, we left all of our extra gear with Deborah and Jason and we've been mailing back and forth with them as our needs change. They were able to send us Jenny's trusty old boots, for example, when the new ones failed.
  
  
• While the canal has been easy hiking, we will soon be heading into West Virginia and hitting our first mountain hiking, both on roads and trails. The hikes will be more demanding and the provisioning, even perhaps post offices, more sporadic -- at least that's what we've heard. The last third of West Virginia is on a rail trail so that should be similar to the C&O experience.
  
  
• Jenny says our days go like this: hike until she is exhausted, then somehow manage to get to the target campsite -- usually around the next bend in the trail.
  
  
• Jenny says our weeks go like this: hike until she collapses (or falls on her face) then call a cab and go to a hotel. That's probably an exaggeration though we have been staying in hotels 2 or 3 nights a week so far. Our plan is to stay one night a week in a hotel once we get into shape. We now anticipate we will be in shape for the hike sometime in October.
  
  
• At this point, the likelihood of our making it to California this year is remote, at best. Nevertheless, consistent with our plan, we remain focused on enjoying ourselves. A goal that remains well within our grasp.

We'll update as things change or start to stay the same.

America's Best Value Inn

It's a bold claim but this time they just may be right. The America's Best Value Inn in Hancock, Maryland is very inexpensive, clean and offers a pleasant trip along Nostalgia Highway for any fan of American films of the 40s and 50s. Indeed, I keep expecting Ida Lupino and Edmund O'Brien* to pull up in a Plymouth convertible.

From the motel court outside to the floor-to-ceiling real wood paneling and art deco bathroom inside, the place feels like it is visiting from a distant black and white century.

*This is definitely a B-movie place.

Turtles

Today we went on a three hour bike ride on a rail trail that parallels part of the tow path. Shortly into the ride we stopped to save a turtle from being squashed by all the bike traffic.

As we took it's picture Rick kept telling the turtle to relax, everything was cool. It stared at us and hissed (side note: turns out when you ask three year olds what goes hiss they should say snakes - of course - AND geese AND turtles!). Any how, it hissed "You crazy upright monkey, everything is decidedly not cool".

Keep the comments coming

We're able to post to the blog from Jenny's phancy fone but we can only post comments when we can access a regular computer.

That means we cannot always respond in a timely manner to your comments. So we just want to say that we read all the comments, we enjoy them immensely and will respond whenever the opportunity presents itself.

Keep 'em coming!

Ghost trees

All along the tow path we've seen these ghostly white sycamores amongst the lush greenry. Their alabaster fingers reaching into the sky seem misplaced and uncanny.

The other night I was awoken by what sounded like gun shots. Natch, I assumed a crazed killer was on a campsite death spree. I rolled over and fell back to sleep.

In the morning we saw a ghost tree had fallen across the tow path close by our campsite. I guess that's what I heard--no c.k. on a c.d.s. Phew.

Deluxe accommodations

To get to tonight's campsite descend past vivid blue wild flowers to the old stone retaining wall then down the rustic stone steps and onto a lush green lawn fronting the rain-swollen Potomac. An as yet unknown aromatic plant fills the site with a sweet, herby scent.

The sun is shining. Our feet are not hurting. Hard to beat.

River of trees

After three days of light but steady rain the Potomac was very high. As this picture shows, many small islands were flooded. I was surprised to see how a seemingly small amount of rain could make such a difference. I guess it shows how many, many tiny streams can add up to quite a river. Rick calls a network effect.

We had a great walk today. It was Mark Twaine weather: sunshine, wind, rain and even hail.

O, the humanity!!

One would not be at fault given the relative surfeit of discussion of Jenny's trials and tribulations as against the paucity of such discussion regarding my own suffering in concluding that my journey has thus far been, as it were, a walk in the park. Nevertheless, such is not the case. In order to rectify this unhealthy imbalance I will now list the myriad corporeal woes attending my experience thus far.

1. I have a painful callous on the right side of my left big toe. It is a 3 on a 10-point scale making it mildly annoying to say the least.
2. I have a small outbreak of poison ivy on my right hand between my pinky and ring fingers. It was quite itchy a few days ago but since applying some hydrocortizone it is now merely an unsightly blemish on my otherwise perfect form.

Such are the slings and arrows I have been suffering. I hope this report lets you revise your heretofore rosy assessment of my journey to a mildly arduous walk in the park.

O, the humanity!!

Preliminary equipment test results

In response to the request made by Raised By Wolves in the comments section, we have a few thoughts about our equipment.

Bad:

• Rick's cheap light rain jacket was cheap and light, but not at all rain resistant. He is now using his old reliable, but heavier REI rain jacket.
• The alcohol stove was a bust for us. It took too long to heat water up and therefore used too much fuel. We are now happily back to our old faithful MSR Pocket Rocket, which we love.
• My shoes - sigh

Good:

• We studied ultra-light options. We got to light. Carrying less weight feels great.
• Big thumbs up for the light-weight, easy to put together Big Agnes Seedhouse 3 tent. We got the three person to have a little extra space and we're happy with that decision.
• We like our Go Lite Pinnacle packs so far. The torso of my pack may be a little short, but we're working on adjusting it. It may also be that I just need to build my back muscles. Every day the packs feel lighter (except when they are actually heavier, like when we've just filled up on food)
• We got rain covers for the packs which have worked very well for us so far. We heard that they do little good in a drenching downpour, but in regular rain they've been fantastic.
• We highly recommend Body Glide for frictiony body parts. I used this between my toes when recovering from the blisters, but it's very versatile for anywhere you get chafing. Hat tip to our friend Dave who is a long distance runner and recommended this to us.
• Also re: blisters Rick found some Dr. Scholl's toe tubes that are meant for corns but were the final solution for me and my blisters.
• Rick has long wanted to try a method for soaking long cooking soups and beans that we've found really works. We put the soakables in a zip lock bag with water, then stuff the bag in a Nalgene bottle. By the end of a day and half, or even a day, we just heat and serve.
• I love my kindle

bump up the volume

The camp sites along the tow path have these old-time pumps for water. Here's Rick getting a work out at one of the ones that takes 30-40 pumps before any water comes up. Most people give up after three, but Rick is stubborn. We hypothesize that the higher we get from the water table the harder it is to get the water up the pipe.

We met a lot of wonderful people yesterday. First we met a real gentleman named Nacho. He stopped and chatted with us for about half an hour. Rick told him about the camp sites along the toe tow path and Nacho decided on the spot to take his four kids and two friends ("basically also my kids") on a camping trip.

Eventually some of the Brunswick Volunteer Ambulance Corp showed up. Nacho introduced us to them then went on his way. Paula and Stacy, the two volunteers had been friends since they were four. Grown apart, refound each other, grown apart and now shared shifts in the ambulance. Stacy's first husband wasn't supportive of her volunteer efforts so only in the last year, with the support of her new husband was she able to fullfill a long held dream of being a volunteer EMT. Paula's grown daughter has twins, a boy and a girl, so she proudly told us, her house is never quiet. Jackie, a garrulous local, filled us in on all the local history of Brunswick (nee Berlin).

Oh, yes, by this time we were at the Brunswick Volunteer Ambulance Company, where they had graciously driven us after my boot lashes tangled and I'd fallen flat on my face. Black eye blooming this morning. Once they realized I wasn't going the way of Natasha Richardson, both my father, my friend Helen and Rick got good belly laughs out of what a klutz I am.

We'll be staying in lovely Harpers Ferry for the next several days, taking day hikes and nursing my various wounds.

Viaduct?

Because sometimes the canal has to cross an obstacle. In this case the obstacle is the Monocacy River.

The Monocacy Aquaduct carries the canal over the river. Pretty cool; a canal over a river.

We're camped tonight about a quarter mile from here.