Day 45 White Ferry, Md to Parole, Md (Clarksville, Md) (64 bike miles; 2966 cumulative miles)

From Leesburg, we took the ferry across the Potomac to Whites Ferry, MD. There we met up with our old friend, the C & D Canal, at milepost 35.

Once in Maryland, we were able to follow the Maryland bike route map that took us through Poolesville, Rockville, Silver Spring, College Park, Bowie and Parole (about 6 miles from Annapolis).

Earlier I had contacted John and Kathy Clay about possibly parking in their driveway, since I thought they lived in Bowie. But they actually live in Clarksville, about 35 miles from Bowie. John urged us to still come, promising to cook us dinner and also tempting us with the use of their HOT TUB!!

We didn't need much convincing. Once we got near Parole, we loaded our bikes onto Tiggy with the intention of resuming our trip tomorrow where we stopped today.

Needless to say we had a great time visiting with the Clays. John filled us with beer, wine and a great chicken curry dinner. Kathy joined us around 8 pm since it was her late night to work. Also joining us were my son Jeremy, who lives in DC, and his girlfriend Kacee, who had just arrived back home from Kosovo a few hours earlier. Kacee literally got home, took a shower, and then jumped into their ZIP car for the drive to Clarksville. A few hours later, another UUMAC friend, Danny Paoletti, joined us. The Clays' son, Nick, 15, was around for a short while, before going off to a baseball party. Daughter, Alexa, who would be graduating from HS the next day, also stopped by for a short period before going out again.

Eventually we got into the hot tub. It was a very enjoyable evening and we are most grateful to John and Kathy for their wonderful hospitality!!