GREAT ALLEGHENY PASSAGE Day #6 & 7

We left and made it to Meyersdale where that had an incredible visitor center that Neil never wanted to leave due to all of the model and toy trains.  We stopped for lunch and for a very needed laundry break!

Trains and Trails

Trains at the visitor center

After lunch we climbed the last uphill section of the trail and made it to the Eastern Continental Divide.  We all coasted to Forestburg--it's all downhill from here!

More downhill to Cumberland where we will stay for the evening.  We crossed the Mason - Dixon Line.  A spoke broke on Laura's bike and needs repairs at a shop here.

We are staying at a B&B that was funded by a community loan from the G.A.P. group.  Really amazing how much of an economic driver this trail is.  We are at the end of the GAP and tommorow will start the C&O Trail.

Cumberland is historic but with some grit and an obvious drug problem--still it was a nice stay here.

Forestburg Sculptures!

Bike friendly B&B

Cumberland Gap

GREAT ALLEGHENY PASSAGE Day #4 & 5

The air was think with fog and the chill of fall was for sure present this morning…brrr.  We made it out by 10:30am!  Paul and I had stayed up late watching the debate last night.  

It was nice to have a short ride today.  The trail is beautiful and just seeing the leaves fall catching the light as the spun down from the tree—filled us with peace.

Lot’s of singing nursery rhymes and a lunch by the overlook of the river. 

Watched people kayaking and got dinner in Ohiophyle were we are spending the evening in a B&B.  

Got a nice evenings rest and then we got up to get smoothies for breakfast and to see the falls.  Then back to the outfitters for coffee and to the trail!  

Pedaling as the trains roll by across the river.  We stayed at a campground just out of Rockwood.  The leaves are getting more yellow.  We stopped for lunch in Confluence and a sweet older gentleman bought our family lunch.  

Camped at Husky Inn Campground and made a huge bonfire and enjoyed a pasta dinner before a restless night—ahhh camping.

Typical trail view!

Picnic Lunch--Trailside

Favorite--Butterfly landed on Paul

Shadow dancing!

Our bikes and gear!

GREAT ALLEGHENY PASSAGE Day #2 & 3

We left Little Boston—no more rain and pedaled to Cedar Creek Park.

Good morning from along the trail!

We had lunch in West Newton, PA and hiked along the creek before having oatmeal for dinner and calling it a night.

Met lots of great people on the trail but no little kids.

Mine runoff

Typical PA trailside town

Happy Campers

We camped at the park—our new sleeping pad/bag system seems to work much better.  Still can’t keep Neil contained though.  

An orange kitty came and hung around us all evening.  

The camp kitty

Lot’s of trains—the track is across the river.  Trains run all the time.  

We still are not too fast at getting going.  This morning we got a 11am start.  Pedaled alongside the Youghhiogeny River in the brilliant blue sky of a cool fall day.  The kids did great and were so excited when we stopped for the evening at a KOA early in the afternoon so that they could play.  They played and played in the sand box doing “struction” as Neil calls playing with sand or construction.

Tonight is marshmallows over the campfire!

GREAT ALLEGHENY PASSAGE Day #1

packing....

Mandatory family pic before departure

We packed our bags (everything fits!), got on our bikes and said goodbye to Frank.  

We pedaled across the bridge, past the incredible skyline of Pittsburgh, found the fountain at the trail end and set off on the GAP trail.

Mile 0

We are on the trail

Pittsburgh--you had so much more to offer.  We want to see more!

What is the GAP trail?  This is a former railroad that was converted to a bike trail.  It runs 150 miles from Pittsburgh to Cumberland, MD. It is a traffic free—bike and pedestrian only trail.

We were excited to finally be on the trail.  Packing for the first day is always stressful.  The kids fell asleep.  We stopped at a trailside Costco for lunch and the pedaled by and over coke plants, steel yards and industry of an earlier era. 

Typical scenery for day 1

Unfortunately did not get a picture of the slot machine
or the pig in pearls that were in the room.

The clouds started to gather and we decided that we should instead of camping our first night in the rain—try to find a place to stay.  After a scheduling snafu we ended up in the quirkiest B&B in the “Elvis” room at the Youghshore Inn.  HILARIOUS.  The owner lent us her car and we went to dinner at a local italian spot were we met a group with a 4 year old who had “TRUMP” razored into the back of his hair.  

Pittsburgh to Little Boston around 26 miles. 

Roadside America

Seems like a good morning to visit the largest frying pan in Iowa--a 14 footer!  Thanks Roadside America for this quirky tip--wonder what is next...

2016 Honey Harvest Happy, sweet, sticky fall.

https://www.facebook.com/kotelman/videos/10153829091921767/

The 2016 honey harvest is complete. Thanks to a wonderful neighbor family who traded utilization of their honey extraction facility for some labor.  We harvested 220 lbs of honey from the property and learned a lot about bees and honey!

Hot Air Balloons and a Picnic in the Park

What an evening.  The kids loved watching the balloons at the park as we had a picnic.  What a fun event to watch--the balloon take off for a balloon race.

A Room Filled with 1,000 Balloons

This is what a room filled with 1,00 balloons looks like!  The kids were so excited to play and play in them and so disappointed when Sheri popped them a few days later to get her room back.

Coeur d’Alene Trail #2

We set off from our campsite near Caltado and hit the trail early!  As the kids did not sleep well, it was easy to get up at 5am. It is a beautiful day--with a chance of shower's later so we wanted to be where we could be sheltered in the afternoon.

Lily pads--feel like we are in a Monet painting.

As we got closer to Harrison, the wind picked up and the rain started.  We arrived just in time.  Kept stopping to get more pictures of the lily pads.  We found the vehicle and the bike shop.  Not sure yet about how we were going to shuttle to Plummer to finish this trail.  We were famished and decided to figure it out after breakfast.  We arrived just as the restaurant in town stopped serving breakfast and was switching to lunch--it was a bit traumatic for this breakfast loving crowd.    

After breakfast the rain had stopped and I took the kids to the park while Paul went to the bike shop to determine the best plan to complete the trail as we were advised to not leave the vehicle in Plummer.  Paul came back and said if we can leave in 5 minutes they can shuttle us across the lake and then we can bike back to Harrison.  We decided that even though that meant we would not bike all of the entire trail we would have biked all of the most scenic parts and we would be getting to take a BOAT shuttle--very exciting.

Arrival at Chatcolet

This is a fun ride--with all of the dips going down!
The kids screamed like it was a roller coaster and Nolan rode again!

Our tour of the Coeur d’Alene Trail is completed.  It was a great trip--we biked around 80 miles in all.  The kids did well and so did we!