Vindicated and Fingers Crossed

September 29 Meyersdale to Rockwood.  Staying at the Levi Deal Mansion B&B with hosts Michael and Jan was the way to go.  We slept well, notwithstanding the frequent rumble of trains and their whistle blasts throughout the night.  The Mansion was fully booked, mostly with cycling spouses (one of whom is a recently retired USDOJ Assistant Attorney General).  She and Diane had a good time extolling the virtue of retirement.  Breakfast was in two shifts, and since we had a very short day, we took the second shift and had a relaxing morning, including spending quality time at the local Laundromat. 

We then embarked on our quick 12 mile ride to Rockwood, and not caring about the light drizzle.  The ride was scenic with hillsides beginning to boast their autumn colors.  

One of the treats of this short ride was traversing the Salisbury Viaduct  over the Casselman River, a 100 feet high, 1900 foot long bridge.  The original bridge was a Western Maryland Railways trestle, built in 1912 and used until 1975.  In the 1990's, the Allegheny Trail Alliance acquired the bridge, and built a concrete deck in place of the former railroad deck. The bridge opened to trail users as part of the Great Allegheny Passage in 1998.

Two photos on the viaduct

 

Our B&B (The Rockwood Trail House) for the night was easy to find.   You just pull off the trail into the yard.  And it is tranquil.  We have the whole place to ourselves.  Even though we called to say we would be arriving early in the day, the host was welcoming, and told us he wouldn’t be there, but that he would leave the door unlocked for us, and told us which room was ours.  He also provided fresh baked cookies, assorted teas and hot chocolate.  (We’ll see the host come breakfast time.)

The beasts of burden in for the evening.

We walked downtown for a light lunch, stopped at a country store to buy comestibles for dinner, and have settled into our B&B for the evening.  

Many of the small towns have wonderful murals - all reminiscent of works commissioned by the WPA in the 1930s 

It started raining constantly at 2pm today but tomorrow's forecast is just for overcast skies. Fingers Crossed!