from Ocean City to DC, the quest begins

Well everybody, its day 4 of our quest across the states, and we’re posting this first blog via the wireless network provided courtesy of the Casa Del Hincewicz here in Washington DC. So far we’ve braved one ocean, a few bridges, two hitchhiking attempts, off the road camping, days without showers, Dagen’s cooking, and swarms of mosquitoes to make this post possible, so we hope you enjoy it.

Lets back up a bit to day one when we woke up in a cheap ocean city hotel room after a precious few hours sleep since arriving at the Americana hotel following a meeting with Dagen’s uncle Gordy. He and the rest of the Dagen clan cooked us a bounty of hamburgers and hotdogs just before sending us on our way with fond wishes and full bellies. The home cooked mac and cheese along with fresh burgers and cake were a wonderful gift at the time, but now having spent a few days on the road we have come to appreciate their hospitality that much more.

Anyhow, we left the hotel and finally got all our gear put together around noon, when we awkwardly pushed the bikes that have somehow evolved into our homes down to the adjacent beach. A few dramatic photos and a manly goodbye to our friend Damian Sebold (who was generous enough to drive our truck back to the burgh) later, we had officially made it to rt 50 and our quest had begun.

We are humbled to report that like so many things, bike riding cross country is far different in theory than in practice. While each member of this team has done their fair share of training to prepare for this not-so-little adventure of ours, now that we’ve strapped some one hundred or so pounds of gear to the frames of our trek 520’s things have changed somewhat. No more than an hour into the trip we discovered that our legs had developed a burning sensation slightly unfamiliar to the stationary bikes and small training hills of Oakland PA.

The first stop was Salisbury MD, and after a short break we pressed on to our first campsite on the edge of a small lake just outside Cambridge. This was Anthony and Zach’s first experience camping in quite some time, and please allow us to relate some of the more surprising pieces of this charming little experience.

First of all, a 3 man tent fits, well, three men. Unfortunately on this trip we are traveling with about 3.45 men, which makes the sleeping arrangements more, shall we say, interesting. Each member of the team has since become much more comfortable with close quarters male contact. We feel this has some advantages, for example, that uneasiness most of you guys feel when you sit on a couch and some other dude’s leg accidentally rubs up against yours? No longer a problem. Also no longer a problem is a distain for snoring, body odor, 7 AM wakeup calls, and talking in one’s sleep. Adaptation is a beautiful thing… we guess.

The next day we put in a solid sixty miles, and stopped about six clicks from the bay bridge for our second night off the road in the tent. This one was much the same as the first, except it involved an epic battle with a swarm of mosquitoes that, judging from the some 100 collective mosquito bites we seem to have lost. However, the body count on their side was somewhere around seventy five, while we three remain standing and itchy. We’ll leave the final judgments to you.

The next morning we once again packed up our gear, much more efficiently we might add, and started back on our way. In no time we had reached the bay bridge. Now, it was no sooner than we saw this monstrosity of a land connection that we found out that cyclers were not permitted across its threshold. Therefore we were forced to hitchhike our way across.

Now hitchhiking used to be a respectable way to travel when one was down on his or her luck. However, thanks to cheap Hollywood movies and bad campfire horror stories the lure of hitching has been replaced by a ghastly fear of being abducted and tortured. However, due to the size of Zach Hall and the black belts held by Anthony combined with the fact that it was broad daylight we cast our inhibitions aside and stuck out our thumbs. Surprisingly in about 5 minutes we were blessed with not one, but two angels in the form of burly men driving pick up trucks. We loaded our bikes on the two trucks and Doug and Brandon (the drivers) took us across the bridge.

Now once on the other side we were still in no biker territory but we decided to ride until someone with a badge stopped us. It soon became quite clear to us why no bicycles were allowed on this section of route 50 as the shoulder disappeared at the traffic picked up. We later reflected on this moment saying, “If our mothers would have seen us they may have killed us!” Although we escaped harm we did not escape Maryland’s finest and we were soon forced by a police officer to once again lay down bikes and give the highway a hardy thumbs up. This time it took about 10 minutes and it was just one truck but it worked all the same and he took us to the nearest metro station.

Once on the metro we took a one hour ride across the city towards Erica’s house in which we are now staying. Mr. Hincewicz made us a meal we will not soon forget and followed it up with a much needed shower! It is amazing how little luxuries can be appreciated once they are subtracted from your life for several days.

Today was our much needed day off and we spent it in downtown Washington DC. In the morning we went sight seeing and in the afternoon we met ALS patients and advocates at the ALS Association’s Advocacy Day. After a nice relaxing visit to the city we once again returned to the Hincewicz where the “King Like” treatment continued with more food and more showers.

We do believe that this is about all for now. Tomorrow we will be back on the road beginning what we expect to be one of the most difficult parts of the trip...the Appalachian Mountains. We promise to update you on our journey as soon as we are able! Take a look at the pics under the media link and thank you for following along with us.