I'm not making our plan clear enough.

I plan to meet up with my riding partner in Cumberland; I'm driving from Pittsburgh and he's driving from NOVA. Cumberland is about 2 hours away from home for both of us, just in different directions. We load our bikes onto a shuttle service in the morning to take us to Duquesne / McKeesport / Boston (I'm starting to rethink that whole thing). We commence our ride in the West and head East. First night in Connellsville (about 40 miles), second night in Rockwood (47 miles), and then the last day to Cumberland (44 miles). I figure this is an easy pace, allowing for summer heat, time to stop at interesting places to eat and see things and to just take in the beauty of the ride. When we get back to our cars in Cumberland, we load up and head back to our wives, kids and jobs. Hopefully, the better for the experience.

I'm definitely planning to reconnoiter the area before we start (we drive through that area to get to Triple B Farms to pick strawberries in the early Summer). For now, I'm just trying to feed my excitement for the ride. For me, almost always the planning of any trip - be it on a bike, car or plane - is half the fun (heh, sometimes it's the only fun!).

I'm still keeping the Amtrak option open. With the oil price volatility linked to the unrest in the Middle East and North Africa, who knows what a gallon of gasoline will cost by July? I think we've seen a 10% jump in the last five days.