After a 93 mile day and a near death experience it was nice to have an easy 20 mile day touring the nation’s capital and an easy ride to Bethesda, Maryland. We’re staying at the Bethesda Fire and Rescue Station. The men and women stationed here have been very kind to us.
This morning we delayed our start so we could explore Alexandria and Washington. We enjoyed a slow ride down the Mt. Vernon Trail to the Arlington Bridge and our entrance to the National Mall. As always I stop at the Vietnam Memorial and payed my respects to Terry Booth, a friend and band mate from my hometown of Clairton. Back in high school I belonged to a rock band known as the Piranhas. Terry was our rhythm guitarist and I was the base player. We weren’t very good and we usually finished last in most battle of the band contests but the girls loved us because of Terry’s good looks. He had rock star written all over his face. Just a year after graduation he was killed in Nam. It was such a shock to all of us. How could this happen to such a great guy. For many of us it made the war real. It was now not just something we watched on the nightly news.Terry was dead. The war was real and friends died.
On a brighter note as we rode through Georgetown we stopped at the Georgetown Cupcake shop and feasted on their delicious treats. I’ve already lost 12 lbs so I can pretty much eat anything I want. One of the perks of biking over 60 miles a day.
Tomorrow we continue north through Maryland to Pennsylvania. We’ll enter York County on Thursday.
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