Day fifty-five. Steubenville, Ohio to Pittsburgh, PA via W. Virginia

Yes, we were in three states today. Most probably only in West Virginia for an hour or two, but was the hardest hour or two of the day. We climbed over 500 feet over less than a 4 mile stretch. But actually that wasn't even the worse part of the day. After that we were on a bike path for 38 miles which was suppose to be hard packed dirt, but turned out to be mostly hard packed dirt with enough areas of loose sand to cause everyone to be on constant alert for a sandy patch. Everyone, but Hannah, agreed to was pretty terrible. She has far tires so it may have been easier for her. Howard,who rode the ride last year said that it was fine last year and thinks that super storm Sandy was the cause. At one point there was a sign saying "Caution - loose gravel. Sorry for any inconvenience". It took Kim and I forever to bike the trail. Also it started to pour half way through, so by the time we got to the synagogue we were tired, sweaty and dirty. We are staying with host families for Shabbat and were told they would pick us up at 4:00. Also our bags were in the back of the synagogue and our hosts were picking us up in front and it's a big building. Mine wasn't so bad, but Kim has a very heavy duffle bag which she lagged to the front of the building. And we waited for our ride to pick us up. At 4:20 a car pulls up for Kim and I plus 6 other riders and all their luggage. Good thing Kim and I are outside waiting with our luggage in the front. This person is there to drop us off at our host family so we have him take us first and come back for the others. Than we get to our host house, bring our bags up 7 steps, ring the door bell and there is no answer. This is not good. Luckily our driver is still there and says he will call on the phone. No answer. I ask him to check the address. He can't find the paper with the address. Wait, it's in his pocket. We are at the wrong house. Only one house over. And yes they are home. Back down 7 steps, back up 7 steps. I am now showered, but still need to get dressed. We are having dinner at the conservative synagogue at 5:30. Whoever decided the time for dinner was not thinking about the riders. And we are staying with an Orthodox family. Not sure how we got them, but we probably will not be seeing too much of them. Usually they put the more religious riders with the religious hosts. Oh well. At least Kim and I are together. Time to walk to synagogue. This is our last Shabbat weekend. Maybe more on thoughts about that tomorrow.