July 2, 2024 – Steers and Queers

    Today, I departed at 6:30am from the Turtle Run campground. I was kindly given an emergency blanket and a dehydrated bag of chili mac from Mr. Steve; the leader of the scout troop. I said farewell to Andrew and Sam; most the rest of the troop was still sleeping. We prayed for each other, and onward we went...me going west towards Harper's Ferry and the scout troop going east towards Washington D.C.

    I don't know why they are combining both girls and boys in scouts...definitely makes for some interesting, bad scenarios. I would highly recommend that boy scouts be boy scouts and girl scouts be girl scouts. But, this world is nuttier than nutty nut soup. Having said that, I ran into another bicyclist named Richard on a short 7-day tour on the C&O Tow Path and the Great Allegheny Passage. He was strange to say the least. He kept touching his privates as he was talking with me. In the span of about 15 minutes, he touched his family jewels at least 20 times. This is the land of queers. What has happened to America? These are strange times, indeed. I fear things are only going to get worse. But, I have faith in Jesus, and no matter what happens, my soul and salvation is secure in the Lord. God help us and be with us all.

    Besides those random acts of societal degradation, today was a great day. I am still traveling along the C&O Tow Path, passing several 1800s canal locks, canal lock houses, huge aqueducts made to transport canal boats across the rivers and creeks, and mystical, lush, evergreen, sycamore, and oak tree forests. The old canal is no longer in use, but it has a cool swampy look to it now. In many places a green layer of sludge covered the surface of the waters...dead trees jutting out of the waters gave an eerie, and uninviting, yet appealing allure. I am still riding alongside the Potomac River as well. Every once in a while, I'll get a peak of this mighty river of grandeur and heavenly blessing. I kept riding and got to Harper's Ferry. A man helped me get my bicycle up on the bridge, I locked it up, shot some photos, and met my parents for lunch. We ate at the Cannonball Deli. I had a lamb gyro, my dad had a Philly cheese steak, and my mom had a juicy, thick hamburger. We ate every morsel...all three of us did. Go to Cannonball Deli! It could be on Guy's Triple D for sure. 

    After we ate, the three of us toured two historically relevant museums. The 1^st museum, believe it or not, was a museum about the Lewis and Clark expedition. Great, little, quaint museum that had some factoids about the significance of Harper's Ferry to the Lewis and Clark expedition. Harper's Ferry is where Lewis gathered many necessary supplies for the journey. He also had a blacksmith make an unassembled steel boat frame to be used on the return voyage of the expedition. As the history books say, unfortunately, when the Corp of Discovery tried to use the boat it started leakng, so they were forced to sink in the Missouri River. Then, they came up with another solution to travel back east down the Missouri River.

    Second, we went to a museum about John Brown's attack and capture of Harper's Ferry armory. Look it up to learn more, since it is off topic with my voyage. Last, we went to a general store to buy bread, but the gentleman running the store didn't have any. He told me that there is a store in Shepherd's Town that has the best rye bread he has ever tasted. He said it was so good that he was willing to go back 3 miles to pick it up. It fell off his bicycle when he was riding the C&O Tow Path and GAP in 2001. My dad bought me a Powerade from the man, I filled up my water bottles, and then my dad helped me transport my bike and gear across the bridge to get back on the C&O Tow Path. I should have just left it on the other side of the bridge instead of carrying it back and forth. I didn't think that one through. 

    I said farewell to Pop and then traveled down the path heading northeast to the Antietam Creek campground. Camp is set up, my headache is almost gone, and I am going to go to sleep. Before sleep, I'll make plans for tomorrow. 

    Jesus, thank you for this wonderful day of exploration...in Jesus' name, amen.