Great friends, magnificent weather, outstanding sag-wagon support.

Dave Pollock, Peter Brown, Greg Short, all of Squirrel Hill, and Dirk Landis of Chicago experienced all of that and more on a well-paced, week-long trip from Pittsburgh to Washington, D.C., along the Great Allegheny Passage and C&O Canal Towpath.

Pollock, 57, Brown, 60, Short, 61, and Landis, 64, had been talking for years about such a ride. Rita Pollock and Steffi Brown, each driving a car with luggage and supplies, met them at the overnight stops.

In addition to all the people Pollock said they met, the bikers saw "hundreds of turtles, lots of deer, three species of woodpeckers, hawks, herons, kingfishers, geese, an osprey, turkey vultures, turkeys, snakes and one gray fox."

And, after they arrived in Washington, they pedaled their bikes to the Lincoln, Jefferson and World War II memorials, the Washington monument and the Kennedy Center.

They left Pittsburgh Oct. 12, had dinner at Tillie's Italian restaurant in McKeesport -- the first of several "carbo-loaded" pasta meals during their trip -- and slept at home that night.

They were back on the trail early Saturday morning, stopped for lunch in West Newton and spent the night at the Melody Motor Lodge on Morrell Avenue in Connellsville.

"[It] was cleaner than clean and the owner is a woodworker who makes beautiful wooden boxes with Polish folk art designs," Pollock said. "This was after a local family invited us to their birthday celebration and feast at the local park."

They donned leg coverings and full gloves to ward off the chilly early morning temperatures Sunday, treated themselves to milk shakes at Falls Market in Ohiopyle, had lunch at the River's Edge Cafe in Confluence, dinner at the Oakhurst Tea Room and spent the night at the Four Seasons Guest Farm in Markleton.

Their 49-mile ride Monday took them across the Salisbury Viaduct, over the Eastern Continental Divide about eight miles southeast of Meyersdale, through the Big Savage Tunnel, across the Mason-Dixon Line and down the trail to overnight at the Trail Inn, Campground and Cafe in Frostburg, Md.

"The trees and hillsides were glorious," Pollock said.

After a stop at the renovated railroad station in Cumberland, Md., they rode through the impressive Paw Paw Tunnel, stopped at the new Bill's restaurant, bar and general store in Little Orleans and ended a 60-mile day in Hancock, W.Va. They spent the night at the Country Inn at Berkeley Springs, W. Va.

They biked 51 miles to Harper's Ferry Wednesday, endured the dangerous detour at Dam No. 4, met and compared notes with other bicyclists, Appalachian Trail hikers and Shenandoah Trail users at the Hilltop House in Harper's Ferry, W. Va., and stayed there that night. Landis had to leave the group to get back to Chicago.

Pollock, Brown and Short rode 37 miles to Leesburg, Va., Thursday, where they stayed at the Norris House Inn. They pedaled 36 miles to Washington, D.C., Friday, spent the night at the Hilton Washington and Towers at Dupont Circle and drove back to Pittsburgh Saturday.

"We live in an amazingly diverse country with lots of open space," Pollock said. "The trails and towpath that were taken for the development of our country and are now given back to the citizens are wonderful treasures."

A million K

Danny Chew rode his one-millionth kilometer Oct. 15 "on a beautiful Western Pennsylvania autumn day." He was 59 miles into a 101-mile ride on County Line Road just east of New Castle in Lawrence County when he reached the million-K mark.

"A million kilometers is 621,371 miles," Chew wrote in an e-mail. He figures it's the equivalent of pedaling 25 times around the earth at the equator.

"Allowing for a decrease in mileage with age, I predict I should ride my millionth mile by age 70 in the year 2032."