Wilmington, DE to Glyndon, MD

>>>Hey All! Don't forget to guess the length of Brett's Trip!

Here is a link to some photos taken of Brett by Barry, who Brett met while he was biking. http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennyleaf/

A day of many large gains and many losses, this was a tough one. The first loss I noticed was a small physical one, but an emotional one: Django is gone! I guess I should have secured him better. I dedicated the rest of this stage to his memory. He still helped me in times of uphill and adversity.

7/10/07 Note from Brett's mom...for those not in the know like myself, Django was a little green monkey, a travel companion bestowed on Brett by Dan B. I hope someone deserving of a little luck picked him up.

One large gain for this stage was meeting a fellow touring bicyclist! Barry is riding south from New York City until July 9th. When he gets back, he'll update his website with many photos, including some cool ones of me.

From Wilmington, I headed NW into PA, and then SW over the Susquehanna River (on a scary bridge due to fast traffic and my own very fast speed on a big downhill even on the long bridge). From there, I headed due south having met up with the route. I caught up with Barry on an uphill in PA, soon after I'd rejoined the printed route from Adventure Cycling Association that I'm generally following. We pedalled along together for a while, then I had to stop to eat my lunch previously purchased. I was afraid that we'd not meet up again, but I pushed really hard, and found Barry once again in a while.

This time we talked more as we rode on smaller, shadier, and prettier roads. He's a student of speech pathology, I believe, at Columbia University in New York City. He was much fun to bike with, and riding with him kept me in very high spirits, though I'd already ridden many miles. We stopped in a town at one point, and he was disappointed that the 7-11 didn't carry beer, his drink of choice on rides. He drinks plenty of regular fluids, too. He had some neat gear on his bike, including a mirror that I might invest in for my next trek, and he even let me switch bikes with him for a bit to try it out! When I get Barry's website, I'll let you all know!

At mile 84, after I'd parted ways with Barry (he was headed into Baltimore, while I was headed around it), I was in a tired euphoria. I had been euphoric when I left Barry, and I really do mean euphoria. I was so excited I had trouble calming down and I was really really excited to keep biking. Then I did manage to calm down a bit and the reality of 80 miles set in, but I was still on a high. Then came the worst thing of the trip so far.

In a very small town, I was riding in the breakdown lane in front of a school. I had my head down, and was only moving at about 10 or 12 miles per hour. Then I wasn't moving forward: I hit the bumper of a parked car! This was so embarrassing, but it's true. I was surprised, but unhurt. The bike however, was not so healthy. The shifting in the back was clearly not correct and it appears the derailleur is bent. I manhandled it back into working order, but shifting was no longer smooth.

As I was fiddling with things, I noticed that my tool kit that I carry with my bike was missing. I remembered that I'd left it in West Chester. When I took it off my bike so he could put it on the stand without complications, I never put it back on.

So, no longer euphoric to say the least, I was still feeling good physically, and set off, hoping that I wouldn't either break down without my tools or that my bike would somehow disintegrate. About four miles up the road, feeling decent again, I realized with anger and frustration that I had left my flag back at the crash site! Oh man!

I considered going back for it, but it just didn't seem worth it. I thought of asking someone to drive me back, but it seemed so complicated to leave my bike. I meandered on to the top of the hill, and then a car drove along, and I figured, "Why not try?" I stopped and waved my hands, flagging the car down.

It took a moment of convincing, but as soon as she understood the situation, she and her daughter took me in and drove me all the way back to the crash site. On the way, we talked, and they were pretty impressed with my trip. I didn't find the flag I was 90% sure I'd left at the site. Still, I was so thankful and said I'd find a way back to my bike with someone else, but they wouldn't hear of it, and drove me back again themselves! Thank you so much, Marta and Ann!

Just after I had biked across the Susquehanna River, I stopped to look at the impressive view from the bridge. I hadn't dared look up more than once from my bike as I went across, but I checked it out on foot. This was still scary, as the bridge would shake a few inches every time a big truck went over it, and the breeze was awfully strong from the traffic. But, it was a pretty view of the river bed, with trickles of water flowing over and around huge rocks, since there was a dam just upstream. Anyway, I saw a small American flag on the far side of the guardrail between the bridge and my bike. I picked it up and stowed it. Now that my yellow safety flag was gone, I put up the American flag instead, and it seemed fitting for the July 4th holiday.

Later that evening, I did indeed top 100 miles, an awesome feeling. I biked a few more miles in the encroaching darkness and then found a place under the high-tension power lines to sleep.

Total Stage VIII Distance: 104 miles

Stage Time On Bike: 8 hours, 28 miles

Total Stage time: 13 hours

Total Trip Distance: 555 miles

Net Elevation Change: +???

On to Stage X

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