June 22nd, 2019 / (98km/61mi, 860hm)
We get up early at 5:30am and pack our stuff to get out of Washington before traffic and the heat kick in. The hotel is only a few blocks away from the Atlantic Coast trail route which follows the Capital Crescent Trail, an at least 30-40km long biking and walking trail all thru Washington. We already followed it coming into Washington and now it gets us winding thru the city without ever touching traffic. It’s absolutely amazing. Only downside: there’s tons of bikers and runners out there already in the morning, so one has to be careful when passing and it’s a lot of stop and go. But rather this on a bike trail than stop and go with traffic lights on heavy traffic roads.
After about 2-3 hours we hit the end of the bike trail and move on on rural roads which lead thru beautiful scenery: fields, forests, an picturesque little houses left and right sprinkled along the road.
Today reminds of Kentucky and Misouri again: lots of hills to climb up and roll down. Each single one not being a massive challenge, but the repetition puts its own stamp on the trip today.
Nevertheless, we arrive early at our today’s motel in Owings-Mills. A very nice ride today that actually came as a surprise: I had expected to drop from one 4-lane highway to the next and be stopped by red traffic lights every 500 meters. It all came very different. Luckily. Now let’s see how things turn out tomorrow when we go into Lancaster, PA and then into Philadelphia the day after…