Day 16: 7/23 - They call that hospitality?!

Today was going to be a long day, so we woke up at 5 am and hit the road. It was misty and wet from the storm the night before, so the roads were a little slippery. Rolling hills and farmland gave way to mountainous terrain with some beastly hills (read: not fun) which finally gave way to an incredibly fun and windy downhill to the Susquehanna River. Well, it was fun for me at least. The roads were a little wet still, so this windy descent was a little hairy, but I managed to make it out unscathed. But upon reaching the bottom, Esmith never showed up as well. I gave it a few minutes, then assumed the worst. Luckily, a couple was out working on their yard just around the bend, so I asked if one of them would mind driving me up the hill because I was afraid my friend had been hurt. He obliged with little hesitation (apparently cars, trucks, and motorcycles crash all the time on the hills around their house, so this was old news). We evenutally found Esmith sitting in a grassy area up the hill by his bike, crading his left hand. Long story short, wet road, rear wheel locked up, Esmith and bike collided with rode sign, possibly braking thumb (found out later it was just a sprain luckily). The man drove us back to his house, where he let me call my Uncle Bob and arrange to be picked up, and he and his wife began the most undeserving hosting of smelly, injured cycling guys I will ever witness. They fed us food and iced tea, gave Esmith a bed to rest in, showed me around the house and the property, let us watch the Tour and the Simpson's Movie on their TV and pretty much just left us in the house while they went about their daily business. If we had more people like them in the world, it would be a much better place (I will insert their names when I get their info off the papers at left at home). And their house was gorgeously decorated (he was an architect and a big fan of Frank Lloyd Wright...every room had a different theme: the kitchen and sitting room was Southwestern, the dining room was Egyptian, and the living room was Greek/Modern...just great stuff).

Uncle Bob picked us up at about 3:45 pm (thank god Esmith hurt himself, because the hills we would have had to ride on the way to my Uncle's house were out of control) and we returned to his home in Forest Hill, MD for a relaxing evening. It must be noted that I'd never met this Aunt and Uncle before, but I'm glad I have now. They were great!! Uncle Bob works for Gore, INC which sounds like an awesome company from everything he said and Aunt Kathy works as a the Director of Nursing Practioners (or something along those lines) for MS at the University of MD in Baltimore. We watched the Tour, hit up the hot tub (great for those aching quads), showered up, and had heaping steaks with other acoutrements for dinner. Then giant bowls of ice cream and comfortable beds. What more could you ask for?