We had a planning meeting today, deciding it would be a good idea to talk about the trip logistics pretty far ahead of time since we’ll be traveling over a holiday.  Key items to talk about included specific places we would stay along the way, and how we would get ourselves (and our bikes!) to Pittsburgh and from DC.

We decided that renting a cargo van, piling our bikes and gear into it, and driving from Illinois to Pittsburgh would be the most practical way to get to the trailhead.  We’ll spend a night at a hotel in Pittsburgh and then get up early to hit the trails for our first 50 mile day.

The first few days of the trip, we will be climbing over 1,000 feet, so we decided that these days will also be the days we do the fewest miles.  The last few days are all downhill (wheeee!), but these days will include mileage of up to 85 miles in one day.  (I’m doing the Ride for AIDS Chicago the weekend after we return, so this trip will be good training for me….  in addition to being a huge challenge in and of itself).

Overnight, we’re going to alternate sleeping at campgrounds and sleeping in actual beds at hotels.  The hotels have been pretty easy to book, as most reservations have already been made online.

Making reservations for campgrounds, however, has been trickier.  We have a guidebook with suggested campsites along the trail, and most of these campsites don’t have websites.  So, we have mostly had to do things the old-fashioned way by actually making phone calls and leaving messages to make a reservation.  I am most concerned about our first night, as we are planning to stay at a “first come, first served” no-reservations-taken campsite.   What could go wrong, really?  Anyway, no other campsite options seem available on this first stretch.

Well…..actually, another camping option exists:

The Dravo Cemetery Campground.

It’s near “a graveyard with names of early settlers and Civil War veterans.  It is now a campground constructed by Boy Scouts and contains a picnic pavillion, restroom facilities, water, and overnight camping.”  On all the websites I’ve seen about this particular campsite, the information about it being located right next to a cemetery has been stated very matter-of-factly as though that’s completely normal and not in any way scary.

We will be staying elsewhere that first night (sorry Boy Scouts).

Once we reach DC, we’ll spend the night in a hotel and then pick up our rented SUV to get ourselves and our bikes back to Illinois. In the meantime, between now and the trip, we’re trying to get into good bike shape and think about what other gear we need to bring and buy.