OK, ladies, it's a new year and that means it's time for me to start planning vacations. (This may seem a bit anal, but I do love planning vacations and I love working out all the details.)

I've been thinking a bit more about this C&O trip, and looking again at the lodging options, and I think the itinerary I laid out in the first post seems like a reasonable one:

Day 0 Drive to Cumberland, stay at the Holiday Inn
Day 1 Cumberland to Little Orleans 43.7 miles, stay at the Little Orleans Lodge
Day 2 Little Orleans to Williamsport 41.4 miles, stay at the Red Roof Inn
Day 3 Williamsport to Harpers Ferry 38.7 miles, stay at the Comfort Inn
Day 4 Harpers Ferry to Georgetown 60.7 miles, metro home and stay our own beds

(Day 4 is a long one, but the only option between Harpers Ferry and DC is Leesburg, which would make Day 4 25 miles and Day 5 35 miles. I'm open to that if 60 miles is too long a day. Or any other suggestions anyone has.)

Logistically, I think the best way might be to enlist a couple of shuttle drivers who will bring our cars back after taking us to Cumberland. That way, we don't face that long drive or train ride to retrieve cars at the end.

I can fit 3-4 riders and bikes in my car, plus the shuttle driver (my neighbor has volunteered for this duty.) I have racks for 3 bikes, 4 if I use my old trunk rack instead of my nice hitch rack. If DebW comes, she could leave her bike in the suitcase until we get to Cumberland so it would easily fit in the back of my car (a station wagon.)

If we have more than 4 people who want to do this, we'd have to round up a second shuttle driver (Regina, would Tom be willing?)

I think we could gather several folks at my place or Regina's, then head up 270 and pick up Tam (maybe Zen could be there also), then head up to Cumberland and get this party started. At the end of the trip, we could metro to my house and I could drive people back to their starting points.

Whew.

As far as timing, I think the consensus was that fall was better than spring, allergy- and weather-wise. So I'd say we should shoot for a Friday-Tuesday:

September 19-23
September 26-30
October 3-7
October 10-14 (this would take advantage of a holiday, for us working folks)
October 17-21

(The last day, we'd have to get an early start so we could be on the Metro before 4, since bikes aren't allowed during rush hour. Alternatively, we could plan the trip for Wednesday-Sunday, since there's no restriction on the metro on weekends.)

The later into the fall we get, the harder it will be to get reservations, due to the fall foliage crowd. Also, I'm seriously considering doing a bike tour in Hawaii in November with Womantours, so earlier would be better for me, but I could work with any of these dates.

OK, I know that this is way too much information, but I wanted to get us started thinking about it again. When are you all comfortable about nailing down a date, so that we can check out motel availability?

Happy New Year, everyone!