C&O Day 0

Last month, I made the decision to hold off on my around the world cycling for now. My tooth implant will not be complete until August. By that time, it might be too late for me to cycle up north to Canada. I would be riding in winter, which is something I don't want to do.

However, this year I will cycle the C&O trail with my cycling buddy, Crispin. I met Crispin on my 2018 cycling tour across the US, and last year we cycled the GAP trail from Cumberland, MD, to Pittsburgh, PA. The C&O goes the opposite direction from Cumberland to Washington, DC.

We were planning to cycle both ways on the C&O starting from Cumberland. But there was a last minute request from Crispin to cut the trip short. So yesterday, we drove separately to Cumberland, met at the Hertz rental car place, rented a SUV, and drove to Arlington, VA. We will start the ride from DC to Cumberland today.

It was nice to see Crispin again yesterday. He still has the same energetic attitude since I met him in 2018. After we loaded our bikes in the trunk of the SUV, we went to lunch at El Jinete in Cumberland. As we were eating some tacos Crispin gave me some cycling ideas, such as riding the Southern Tier across the US in the fall or winter time. That might be a possibility.

Crispin and I at El Jinete

After lunch, I was driving the SUV to Arlington with Crispin. The drive was fine until I had to cross a five lane highway from the entrance ramp to the leftmost lane for the exit ramp to Crystal City. I only had about a quarter of a mile to do it. Luckily, we made it safely across, but it was scary.

Our AirBnb place was on 23rd Street in Crystal City. After settling down, Crispin and I had dinner at Rasa, a local Indian chain. The food was great and so was our conversation. We decided to walk a bit north on Crystal Drive and ended up at Boeing Park. There were people playing soccer and many people were enjoying the walk in the park. By the time we got back to our AirBnb it was after sunset.

Sunset at Boeing Park

Crystal City

Boeing Park

I didn't sleep well last night. I think it was the kombucha tea I drank for dinner. Crispin and I plan on grabbing breakfast around 6 and get to the trail soon after.