This is an easy and scenic bicycle ride

This is an easy and scenic bicycle ride, the ride out to the Gen. Jubal Early is on the old Washington and Old Dominion train rail bed that is now a flat and strait trail that isn't entirely obstructed with bikers, roller-bladers, joggers, and dog walkers once one gets a few miles out. I carry a six-pack of beer, a walkman with Jean-Luc Ponty playing electric glass violin (very good bicycling music,) and a sweat shirt; I get about three miles per beer, but there are plenty of pit stops along the way to grab another six. The first stop is Reston, Virginia, a planned community where I surveyed for several years, so I know it well. I forget who started this project, but Gulf Oil bought it out and finished it. Right next to the bike path, there's a quick stop store, and a nice bit of grass for a ten-minute stretch.

The next stop is Leesburg, Virginia, where there is a bike shop right on the path, also, where I get off to go to the Gen. Jubal Early, and cross the Potomac River into Maryland. The Gen. Jubal Early is the last surviving ferry boat on the Potomac River. It's at White's Ferry. A bit further up the Potomac, there's Harper's Ferry, where the gonzo abolitionist, John Brown, did battle with the Federales. There are several other river towns with "ferry" in their names, but White's Ferry is the only place that still has a ferry crossing, the other crossings are bridges now. As ferry boats go, the Gen. Jubal Early is nothing like the Larkspur Ferry, the Isle of Skye Ferry, the Cape May Ferry, or the Nanaimo Ferry. In fact, it's just a damned flat-deck barge with a donkey-motor and secured to a wire cable with a pulley, not much better than the Glenelg Ferry. When the barge gets to one side of the river, the Capt. of the Gen. Jubal Early turns the engine around 180-degrees, then he's ready for the return trip. The Potomac River is about a quarter-mile wide at White's Ferry, but at Great Falls farther down, it is narrow. Great Falls is where George Washington threw a silver dollar across the Potomac, it's not hard to do there, even I have done it.In the dry part of the Summer, it is possible to hop from rock to rock at Great Falls, and cross the river, but at normal flow, not even the craziest kyakers mess with those falls. When the river is flooding, it's spectacular, although it keeps the Gen. Jubal Early from crossing.

Crossing on the Gen. Jubal Early takes under ten minutes at the rate of 3 mph. On the Maryland side I pick up the Chesapeake&Ohio Canal. The canal used to carry mule-drawn barges up and down with freight headed out and farm produce headed in. So, actually I'm riding on the tow-path along the canal, very flat. Sometimes, there are still barges and mules to contend with, the National Park Service runs mule-drawn barges in the summer, and the bargemen and some of the passengers dress c. 1820. The mules wear straw-hats with their ears sticking through. Every so often along the canal, there are locks where the barges can change levels, which takes no time at all. There are lock houses where the lock guys used to live, but now, the Park guys have music and refreshments. I get more beer at Point of Rocks, Maryland, that's enough to get me to Washington. I get off the canal in Georgetown, and head up Wisconsin Avenue to a restaurant called "Au Pied de Cochon," where one can get a cold, jellied pig's foot and Alsace beer, but you got to be in the mood for that. But my favorite is bread, wine, onion soup. If I eat too much, I'll fall off my bicycle.

Three of the canal locks are right by Georgetown, Lock #1 is level with the Potomac. Each lock is about ten feet of lift, so, up past Point of Rocks near White's Ferry is Lock #12, I believe, so, that's about 120 ft. of elevation change over 36 miles, so gradual on the canal tow path that it's not noticeable. There is talk of another bridge crossing, but there has sprung-up a committee to "Save The Gen. Jubal Early!" I hope that the last ferry crossing does survive, it's my favorite way to cross the Potomac River.