American Discovery Trail, Segment 5: Finally, on to West Virginia

This picture, I believe, is of the private toll bridge across the Potomac between Oldtown, Maryland and West Virginia. The end of the fifth segment of the trail, and the last stop in Maryland, Oldtown is a census-designated place, and judging from the images available, it is not a big place. This bridge appears to be Oldtown's foremost claim to fame.

 The segment, 167 miles across the western part of Maryland, has taken several months to complete. I walked part of August, then went on vacation for more than three weeks, walked a couple of weeks in September, went on vacation again until Thanksgiving, lost my phone on vacation, took a few days to get a phone, then took a couple of days to load a walking app. I finally made it through the 167 miles on December 5, more than four months after I started.

West Virginia is not the biggest state - tenth smallest in fact - but by this trail it is 290 miles across, split into four segments. I expect to complete each portion in about two weeks, so that should get me to Ohio by early February.

As of today, I am 320 miles along. We have no vacations in the works, so the plan is to walk 150 miles per month, more or less - usually more - for the foreseeable future. Already, the map shows that I have separated myself from the Atlantic Ocean by a respectable distance, and every 150 miles is far enough to observe some clear progress.