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Saturday, September 27, 2008, St. John's Episcopal School, Olney, Maryland
Well, we finally decided to leave no matter what the weather. Yesterday on TV they called for a 50% chance of showers. This morning Mona made us another delicious breakfast. They have been such friendly hosts. I hope we can see them again some time. After saying our goodbyes, Fuad led us in his car to where we could pick up the trail toward Maryland, only a few miles away. It was a beautiful 14 mile ride through a wooded area. The ground was very soggy and the bike path slick. Johnny fell first and skinned his knee. Later Adriana and I slipped down but didn't get hurt. In places, the path was covered with a mixture of mud, algae, and water, which made an oil-like surface. When we fell, it was on such a surface, on a very slight curve at slow speeds. After that, we went very slowly and carefully. After a few miles, Paul told me I had a low back tire. Sure enough, it couldn't hold air for more than about 10 minutes. That's when the rain started coming down harder and began to dump buckets on us. We found temporary shelter at the Oakley Cabin, a historic cabin built around 1820. Two nice ladies gave us a tour even though it was already 4:00, closing time. After the tour, the rain died down and we pedaled toward Brookville. I asked the manager at a fancy restaurant about a place to stay in the area but he didn't know of one but told me where some churches in town were. He also said we could keep our bikes at a sheltered place out of the rain on the restaurant grounds, so we did (since I had a flat tire anyway) and drove off to investigate the church possibilities. It was still raining when we saw a lot of cars in one of the church parking lots. I went to where the crowd was and asked for the pastor. He wasn't there, but the principal of the school, John Zurn, was. He was very helpful and friendly, giving us permission to sleep in the gym for two nights and use the bathrooms. He even let us use the school library. This was very helpful since I hadn't updated the blog for a week. While we were in the library, he came in and asked for volunteers to help him get some pizza and food. He came back with four pizzas, two salads, a big bowl of fruit, a case of coke, two boxes of ice-creams and a video for after dinner. Everyone was so hungry and appreciative. What a blessing! He had done some bicycle touring himself in England and some sailing in Europe when he was younger and had some interesting stories. After that, we played basketball and watched Star Wars III. We ended up going to bed late, and it was a real treat to sleep on soft exercise mats. 21 miles.