Tuesday, 5 June, we started our official adventure after all the family visiting, wedding festivities, and moving obligations were completed.  Our destination was Pittsburg, and we meandered that direction from Bethesda.  We stopped at Hancock MD for a bike ride along the Chesapeake and Ohio canal.  It was chilly, which explains why Roger has his jacket on in the picture.  The canal has both dry and wet places, and no longer can be traversed all the way along the Potomac River, due to the cost it would take to fix it.  Let me take a moment to tell some history of the C & O canal.  George Washington had the vision that if there was a water roadway from the Chesapeake (the end of the Potomac) to the Ohio River, then the frontier could be opened up.  Unfortunately, Washington never saw his vision implemented and the C & O never reached the Ohio River    The C & O Canal is 130 miles long, starting in Cumberland MD and ends in Georgetown DC.  Construction started in 1828 and ended in 1850.    The advent of the railroad and construction costs made the idea of the canal obsolete, especially since barges could only travel as fast as mule teams could pull them, which on average was 4 mph.  In 1971 the C & O canal was established as a National Historical Park as “a refuge, a place of retreat, a long stretch of quiet and peace.”  On our bike ride we saw 3 beavers out for a stroll, several large red headed woodpeckers, and of course squirrels and white tail deer.  We arrived in Pittsburg around 4, and had an extremely enjoyable visit with Jenny and Mark Jones, old Navy friends that we hadn’t seen in over 20 years.  In fact we got reconnected with the Jones via Facebook, which demonstrates the power of Internet.  We’re headed to Lansing MI and Delphi Glass Shop.  When I can’t find a glass tool in San Antonio, I generally order from Delphi, so I’m expecting to be a kid in a candy shop.  Roger has his Kindle so he’ll survive this stop.  Don’t know where we’ll be spending the night, but that’s OK because we have our micro-hotel room on wheels.  More later…