4 States, 2 Feet, Part Duex

Pasta, rich in energy-filled carbohydrates, is a tradition among endurance athletes.
But ravioli, eaten on the eve of an all day, four-state road trek, should not be crunchy.
I was trying out an Italian place in Berkeley Springs, West Virginia, along a 20-mile stretch of road I was about to walk connecting that state with Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania. I was not impressed.
I mean, c’mon. Pasta’s pretty easy. It was one of few foods I was sure my college cafeteria couldn’t screw up too badly, so I gravitated towards it. That’s part of how I became a quasi-vegetarian.
Anyway, I’d spent the day driving up through Virginia’s mountains, taking a side trip to the national D-Day memorial, to a campsite on the Potomac in Maryland. The next morning I took another look at my route.
Since I didn’t want to cover the whole stretch twice on foot, I figured I’d drive to one end, drop my bicycle, drive to the other end, and start walking. Or something like that.
I actually wound up splitting the trek into two main sections. For the first jaunt I parked at a trout hatchery near the Virginia border and rode to Berkeley Springs, where I locked up my bike at a spa.
Then I walked back to the car.
You know it’s getting bad when the goal you’re fixated on is reaching an unincorporated municipality (I don’t think there was even a crossroads. Just a BP station) called Omps.
I actually saved a Chihuahua in Omps. I was walking along the road, as folks are prone to do in Bob Dylan songs, wondering how I could fit the word “flamingo” in this column to keep up my streak, when I heard a young girl screaming, as young girls are prone to do.
Or is that just around me?
But she kept it up rather persistently so I started paying attention. A Chihuahua was running across her yard towards me. So I started running towards it, to try and get my ankle bit as far from traffic as possible.
When I’m out on my little adventures and a dog comes at me, I’m not so worried for myself. If the dog wants to tangle a tooth in my bike tire it’ll be his problem. I just don’t want the pooch to get out in the road and under a car.
Anyway, I intercepted the beast and the Chihuahua was saved.
I expect a statue. Maybe a parade.
So I finished the first section and drove north to Pennsylvania to walk south and complete the second. Check out the blog, www.shelbystar.com/blogs.asp, for some pictures.
After finishing that final major foot stretch I rode my bike from Berkeley Springs back up to my car near the PA border, crossing the border on foot and completing a day of very hard trudging on hilly asphalt.
I certainly gained a new appreciation for the wheel – a day worth of pain on foot was just a quick, breezy jaunt on a bike.
Back in my car, on the was back to North Carolina I stayed at a motel so cheap there wasn’t even a Gideon’s Bible and drove the entire Shenandoah National Park. For a $10 entrance fee.
I also stopped at Natural Bridge. My grandparents visited it years back, so I figured it was worth a try.
A young George Washington (yeah, THAT George Washington) originally surveyed the large stone arch with a creek flowing under it and a highway currently going across it. Later on, Thomas Jefferson bought the site preserve it for public viewing. For a $10 entrance fee.
I’m not sure which president was responsible for the adjoining wax museum, put-put golf course and monster house.