Day 62 - Davisport to Morgantown WV

Wednesday April 24, Biked 51 miles. Total mileage by end of day: 3716.

There was lots of rain, wind, and thunder last night. Started cool then was warm and sunny all day. Fantastic riding day!

Started out on country roads with a bit of traffic that I had to control (traffic not pictured here).

Saw some big smokey stacks.

And a graveyard...

...that is not particularly bike friendly (but probably so bikes are not riding over graves).

Entered Shinnston named after Levi Shin.

Then hopped on the amazing (!) West Fork River Rail Trail.

Interesting communication box -- a Tardis from another era :-)

Had a great talk with Mona and Junior Sims.

And Gary. They all agreed that we need to take good care of our world.

Lots of beautiful trail....

Saw a number of people enjoying this trail.

The trail literally runs through many people's backyards.

There were many historical signs along this trail.

Joe and Mindy live in this house right next to the trail. They like using the trail.

Rode over a bit of trail artwork.

Met Mike (and another biker Greg not pictured).

He and Greg turned around at a bridge that was being rebuilt.

But not me, I carefully walked my bike over the rest of this bridge. I did not take any pictures looking down for fear of dropping my phone and losing it in the river. I also had to step very carefully to avoid falling...

On the other side I encountered more beautiful trail with big boulders.

After the end of this trail there was a crazy steep road with big loose gravel that I could not ride all the way up -- the first hill I had to walk my bike up. It was extremely hard to do even that since it was so steep. Had to pause a few times.

At lunch at Say-Boy Restaurant in Fairmont, I met Martha and Jeff. They were very excited about my trip and the environmental talks I've been giving. They were talk #148.

After lunch I had a bit more road riding but then hopped back on a nice paved trail that went through a long tunnel.

Beautiful on the other side.

With a lovely waterfall.

Met several trail goers who all want to keep our world healthy, safe, and beautiful for our kids. Here are Jodi, Scott, and family

Later met Diana and Laurel who are bird watchers. 

More beautiful trail.

Then a tree that likely fell last night in the thunderstorms.

Pretty flowers all along this trail.

At a dam you could see some natural debris but also tons of plastic.

Another water cascade.

Some bicyclists venture off trail.

Another waterfall.

And another.

And yet another. So many beautiful waterfalls along the Mon River Trail! I skipped taking pictures at many other waterfalls.

Near Morgantown I met Stephanie, Aaron, and their families. Great to see people biking and enjoying trails!

This roller was at work making the trail nice and smooth.

The roller driver's twin brother Kemp was wearing his Rails to Trails shirt and blowing debris off the trail.

Terry was biking along the trail too. We didn't get much time to talk. Hope he will switch from disposables to reusables for his drinks.

A bit of industry over the trail.

The born learning trail was very cool with learning exhibits along it next to the main trail.

 I was finally in Morgantown and looking forward to meeting Brooke and Gerardo, my Warmshowers.org hosts for the evening.

Beautiful flowers in Morgantown.

Brooke helped arrange a great talk for me at an Earth Day Event tomorrow. Check out this awesome poster!