In the last 30 hours I have smiled because of the sky, laughed at the jokes of others, quieted my mind, seen clouds like in "The Simpsons" hovering over Pennsylvania, talked with strangers, eaten at the Waffle House twice, recognized that I am not as far along with respect to overcoming racism as I had thought I was, traveled through several beautiful states, and achieved 20 days without smoking, just to name a few of the highlights. Pretty good for 30 hours.
We started in Ohio which I really liked and which reminds me a little of California in some ways. Right from the start the weather was perfect today. Humidity had dropped and the sky had more blue than grey. From there we went to West Virginia which I instantly fell in love with for it's lush green grass and trees, architecture and feel. Then came Pennsylvania. Also beautiful, with little purple flowers in the freeway median and similar vegetation to the other states of today's ride. We spent more time in West Virginia and then Maryland. Most of this day was riding through the Appalachian mountains and so the ride scenery was naturally gorgeous and covered in vegetation. The amount of lush grass everywhere around here is impressive in addition to the number of trees. We stopped in a town called Flintstone, Maryland for a nice dinner on a patio as we worked our way out of the mountains. You can see the Flintstone post office in the picture. We're out of the bigger part of the mountains now and spending the night in Hagerstown, Maryland. And what does this place provide besides a place to sleep, cool clouds, and sunsets? It's very own fireflies. Sweet.