I. Just. Want. a Damn. Cup. of Coffee!! #coffeeneuring

It rained and in rained and it rained.  Until we had gone quite insane.

The puppies awoke and began to chatter.  The hound dog awoke and felt obliged to let me know that the puppies were chattering.

Fine. If I get out early, there will be no one else on the trail.  Except for all the other people who believed, if they got out early, there will be no one else on the trail.

Someone drove off the GW and smashed in to the MVT boardwalk under the TR.  There is pebbles of safety glass everywhere, along with tire tracks carving up the embankment. The MVT is in bad condition (this very spot had just been smashed by a tree) but I dont suppose this will be fixed till after the shutdown.

MVT under TR

I had set up my ride with RidewithGPS and my Garmin.  Still at novice at using this feature.  Enjoyed the ongoing chatter of my GPS:  BLEEP ("Off Course").  TWERL: ("Course Found").  BeeP: (telling me to take a turn that I cannot identify because I left my glasses on the counter at home).

Made it to Misha's in Alexandria.  No seats inside but there was a wet plastic chair outside.  I was already wet.  While I sat there and enjoyed my Mocha and Scone (noooooo, it wasnt a milk shake.... sheeeeeez!), look what some a$$clown tied to my bicycle.  I guess my bicycle looks like a good hitching post.

I love Labradors! (Misha Mocha on my Bike Rack)

Made it through Cameron Run up to Holmes Run, and then lost the course on the Garmin. Not sure what I was suppose to do, but I knew how to get back on course.  Holmes Run looked like it might pose some difficulties.

Holmes Run

Apparently they had opened up a new trail in Holmes Run that connects it to Columbia Pike.  This is a good thing.  But the stream crossings look like this, and that's a bad thing.

I lugged my bike over several stream crossings until I got to one that looked like this.  The jogger I was next to and I agreed that water gushing down the trail, instead of being in the stream, is generally not a good thing.

The jogger turned around, but home for me was forward.  I soldiered on and discovered the source of the water - a fountain of youth it was not.

Tell me now; does that not somehow remind you of a Dalek.  When I got upstream of this park feature, I, um, took an impromptu bath in cleaner stream water, washing off whatever that was.

Made it home and took a nice shower.  A really, really nice shower. 26 Miles total.