having lunch at Table 9 in Morgantown

view of the Monongahela River WV


 
concert pavilion in Morgantown

DAY 15 Decker Creek Trail WV

 We are finally home after 15 days on the road, 501 bike miles and 2378 car miles.  It was a lot of driving for Dennis.  He could have let me drive but I fell asleep periodically in the car and I don't think he trusted me to be fully awake.  

Neither of us expected much from this last trail even though it's listed as a hall of fame trail in "Rails to Trails".  First of all it's downhill for almost 13 miles and I mean a 3% grade.  We flew down to Morgantown at about 15 mph.  Of course that means it's uphill most of the way back.  We are so grateful for the e-bikes.  We pretty much kept to 14 mph on the way back passing everyone on a regular bike.  It didn't use that much battery either which was a pleasant surprise.  I think because of the grade it wasn't very crowded even though it is very scenic following the Decker creek to the Monongahela River in Morgantown West Virginia.  Once again we had perfect weather, low 70's.  We enjoyed a very nice lunch at Table 9 on the river and arrived back at the car by 2:30.  It took a long 3 1/2 hours to get home.  Dennis finally gave up trying to find a Starbucks so I had to stay awake to keep him awake.  We both had coffee with lunch.

A few final thoughts on the trip:

1.  We both took too much clothing and didn't need the big cooler.

2.  We wouldn't want to do more than 2 weeks, mostly because of the driving.  The biking was great.

3.  Lake Michigan is just spectacular, "great" in every way.

4.  The upper midwest has better summer weather than MD, nights are a lot cooler and days never get terribly hot like they do pretty often here.

5.  We thoroughly enjoyed riding all of the trails but there are so many more trails left to ride that we probably won't be seeing these trails again.  We will, however, go back to Fish Creek and Door County some day.  I would love to stay there longer just to explore the area and see Tony and Renee.

6.  We will never stay at a Super 8 again.

7.  Dennis planned the entire trip, making all the reservations, scouting out places to eat, computing distances, etc.  He enjoyed it but it was a lot of work.  I really appreciated it except for the decision to stay at a Super 8.

8.  Reilly and Sabrina did a great job cat sitting.

9.  It's wonderful to be home.



 

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