62: osvaldo and muhamad, mark does the AT, in the name of adventure, alex I'd like to buy an apostrophe, brown information, merging rivers, boric acid toilet powder, see how much I love you, dave, hotel bitterness, mosquito report

June 13, 2025

Brunswick to Shepherdstown

As I was eating my breakfast which, I'll have you know, didn't include a milkshake, I saw a couple of people seated at the next table. When I noted they were wearing cycling shorts and jerseys and were talking about the necessary caloric intake for a long ride, I concluded that they were probably riding the C&O like me and not at a mattress convention, so I asked them where they're headed.

We started chatting and I eventually ended up horning into their booth as we continued talking.

Muhamad and Osvaldo are taking their first overnighter. They started in Georgetown and rode to Harpers Ferry, a metric century, and are heading back today. They're brothers-in-law, and both of their wives are in the late stages of pregnancy, so they realized that if they ever wanted to complete a ride like this, now is the time to do it. They were laughing at themselves because both of them own road bikes, not gravel bikes, and have never even pedaled on gravel. Neither has gone more than fifty miles in a day, nor carried gear. So, when the idea of riding to Harpers Ferry came up, both of them jumped at the opportunity, rented gravel bikes, and took off. I think they're going to fit into the CycleBlaze community very nicely.

Both have interesting careers. Osvaldo, who was raised in Cuba and had a career there as a veterinarian, now works for a large and well known company who rushes in when a business has been hacked, then starts battling back and repairing the damage. The job fair he attended upon graduation, and I'm serious, was called a "hackfest," in which people are given scenarios in which they have to battle a virus, and each other. Apparently, after 72 hours of pounding the keyboard (that's the image I have, anyway) he was so stellar that he was offered a great job. Of course, in his modesty, Muhamad was the one to tell me about his genius.

And, apparently, Muhamad is just as smart. He's also an engineer who works with computers, but with AI, which is now embedded in our world's future in ways we haven't yet conceived. As I think of these two relatives who have also become fast friends, I picture a not-too-distant future in which they're saving the world: back to back in a dark, circular room with seventeen monitors on the walls, crushed cans of Red Bull littering the floor and sweat trickling into their eyes with an occasional, but brief and costly swipe to wipe it off. "Channel 14! Incoming! No you don't, you bastards!" "On it! This ought to take a byte out of this asswipe! Suck on this!" And a finger comes down like a hammer on the Enter key as fingers fly to ward off the attacking AI.

I suspect that their work is nothing like that (they don't drink Red Bull, I asked, and I never heard a swear word), but they're still my present and future heroes.

I heartily scoffed when they tried to invalidate what they're doing because it's not riding from Florida. Every first tour is a big deal. I honestly hope that they take more trips in the future, but even if they never climb on a bike again they'll be able to look back in twenty years and say "We did that!!" No one can take that from them. And, of course, "What were we thinking?!?"

Harpers Ferry was just 7 miles away, and the first mile of that dropped 250 feet, so I was there in no time.

The last 3.1 of that 7 miles overlaps the Appalachian Trail which, with more than three million day and section hikers annually and 3,000-4,000 thru-hikers every year, is the second-most popular long-distance hiking trail in the world (behind Camino de Santiago). That means I can now say I did a section of the AT.

When I arrived at the bridge to cross over to Harpers Ferry, I found no accompanying ramp - just stairs. I wondered how much tourist business they lose because of them and realized probably not much. Nor were they going to lose mine, because I really want to see Harpers Ferry. I can lock the bike, but not the panniers, which means I'd have to lug 80 pounds of bags around. Not really an option. Staring at my latest obstacle for a long half minute, I finally sighed with the realization that nothing was going to get me up those steps but a Herculean effort.

I rolled my bike over and lightly bumped the first step with my front wheel, ready to herniate myself in the name of Adventure. Or stupidity.

There was a group of five or six men in their early twenties at the base of the stairs, and one of them spoke up. "Would you like some help with that?" My eyes widened, and without any hesitation I said, "Absolutely."

I grabbed the handlebars and he grabbed the rear rack and we lifted, but nothing happened. Under his breath I heard a whispered, "wow. that's heavy." Two other guys immediately jumped in, one grasping the right handlebar while I took the left, and the other guy helping lift the rear.

When we arrived at the top I thanked them 138 times and offered to buy each one of them a small island in the Bahamas. I really wish I had taken a picture of them to document their kindness but I was so busy with my fawning thanks that I forgot. In retrospect, I suspect they were lingering at the bottom of the stairs waiting to see if I needed help.

the second third, and there's more after that (another half, I think)

Harpers Ferry is a nice town, but it really needs an apostrophe.

Harpers Ferry has no apostrophe. Harpers Ferry has no apostrophe. Why? I had to know, and now you have to read about it.

There's an organization, the Board of Geographic Names (BGN), which was established in 1890 to standardize names across federal maps and publications. One of its first decisions was to discourage apostrophes that imply private ownership, the idea being that place names belong to the public, not to individuals or families.

Completely ignoring the emotional distress that would result for those of us who use punctuation properly, they also believed removing apostrophes would prevent confusion in signage and mapping, especially in the days before GPS and digital mapping. Only five places in the U.S. have officially approved apostrophes because they were allowed exceptions (Martha’s Vineyard is one, and I didn't recognize the others).

This is pretty much the whole town... there's not much more to it.

This marker shows the original location of the Federal Armory's fire-engine house where John Brown and his raiders were captured in 1859. On the left you can see where, after several moves, it ended up.

The information below is likely more than you care to read, so feel free to skim or skip it. My research was a nice refresher, and I found some interesting information about the events and the man that I never learned in high school.

In 1859, John Brown, father of 20 children (2 of whom were killed in Harpers Ferry), led a raid on the federal armory here with the intent to spark a massive slave uprising. He failed, but the event did intensify national tensions and moved us closer to a civil war. During my reading, I learned that Brown believed he was divinely ordained to end slavery, and saw himself as an instrument of God’s will, like a biblical prophet, and spoke in Old Testament-style language using “thee” and “thou,” and “shalt” in what he believed was a holy war.

Three years earlier he led a violent raid in Kansas when he and his followers murdered five pro-slavery settlers (the Pottawatomie Massacre) in retaliation for the sacking of the abolitionist town of Lawrence, Kansas. The massacre shocked both sides of the slavery debate (Frederick Douglass described it as "a terrible remedy for a terrible malady").

After his capture, his trial was a media sensation, not unlike O. J. Simpson’s, and Brown was sentenced to death for treason against Virginia (but not the murders he committed Kansas - I researched why he was never tried for that, but don’t want to go down that rabbit hole in a cycling blog.) He used the trial as a platform for abolition, delivering powerful speeches that were widely reprinted in Northern newspapers and turning him into a martyr. One of his quotes: “I am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land will never be purged away but with blood.”

His execution was a national event, attended by John Wilkes Booth (Lincoln’s assassin), which further galvanized both abolitionists and slaveholders. The song “John Brown’s Body” became a popular Union marching song and was later adapted into “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.” Even today, John Brown is a heroic freedom fighter to some and a fanatic terrorist to others.

The Federal Armory's Fire Engine House, also called John Brown's Fort, has been moved four times: from Arsenal Square where the monument stands to the 1891 Chicago World’s Fair, then to a private farm near here, then to the Storer College campus, and, finally, back to this location in Harpers Ferry.

Because of the different colors, you can easily see where the Shenandoah river merges with the Potomac river. If you follow the ridge in the background to the left it goes down to the Potomac and ends up at Tripoint... where Virginia, Maryland, and West Virginia intersect.

This guy was on the rail as I looked over the rivers.

Heading back from Harpers Ferry to the trail you can see a square on the mountain which was an advertisement from the late 1800s. The words "Mennen’s Borated Talcum Toilet Powder" are still faintly visible. For the record, "borated" means it's mixed with boric acid, so now I wonder what this "toilet powder" is used for and, more specifically, where it's placed.

Instead of placing locks on the fencing, couples place them onto the structure itself. Although you can't tell from the picture, unless your arms are five feet long you have to climb over the fence to get to this. "I love you so much that I'm going to stupidly risk falling to my death to place this $7.39 lock in a location which will endanger anyone who tries to remove it. See how much I love you?"

As I rolled up to the stairs, ready to bounce my bike down to the trail, a young man with his wife and baby offered to help. Between the two of us we successfully managed to make it to the bottom, although the baby wasn't much help.

I don't know how old you are, but if you think you can't take a tour, think again. That's her loaded touring bike behind her, and it's not even an e-bike.

As I was riding someone came up and started chatting. We rode together the rest of the way to Shepherdstown, my endpoint for the day. Dave was a great riding partner, a retired circuit judge after 25 years who lives locally. He had a friendly word for every single person we passed: “Good afternoon!” to a couple heading the opposite direction and, while we were stopped for pictures, “What a beautiful dog!” to a woman walking her dog, a mixed breed of poodle and ugly. Like Heather and me, he and his girlfriend love to travel, and he's been all over the world... even Tanzania.

This is the Antietem Auqueduct, which is only four miles from Sharpsburg where the Battle of Antietam was fought in 1862. It resulted in nearly 23,000 soldiers killed, wounded, or missing within 12 hours. That's more casualties in half a day than D-Day, Pearl Harbor, and 9/11 combined.

Although you can't tell from this angle, if I roll my bike forward by about 12 inches down it goes... there's a 5-foot dropoff. Dave's girlfriend can testify that it's a long fall, evidenced by her fractured collarbone.

a view from the wiggly path to the bridge above

In Shepherdstown's historic downtown district I stopped at a deli for lunch, then saw a creamery shortly thereafter where I spent some quality time.

I'm feeling somewhat bitter about my hotel. Yesterday, when I was looking at booking something for tonight, I noticed that last night it cost $96.00. Tomorrow night, the cost is $97.00. Tonight, however, I'm being charged $197.00, and there isn't a cheaper option anywhere in town. There isn't a festival, and although this is a college town all of the students are gone for the summer. What's up?

Consequently, I'm nitpicking every small issue with the room and the hotel: What?!? Just a hard, uncomfortable desk chair to sit in? That flushing toilet sounds like Niagra Falls! I can't take my bike into the room??? This is the first time in two and a half months that I haven't been able to. I can wash my bike off outside? Well, it sure would've been nice if you'd told me that you need a special wrench to be able to turn the water on before I got out there so I wouldn't need to hunt down an employee. My key card doesn't work, and this is the second one.

It hasn't rained on me at all today, so I'm going to start saying "There's a 60% chance it won't rain" instead of "There's a 40% chance of rain." Tomorrow? We'll see. A Mosquito Report would be more beneficial (and probably more accurate) than a Weather Report. They're getting worse every day.

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Today's ride: 23 miles (37 km)
Total: 1,630 miles (2,623 km)

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