The last couple of days have been a bit crazy. Between backwoods locals, weather, mountains and Google maps playing a bad joke on us, we've had some rough times but we did enjoy last night in Damascus, Va.
To catch you all up I'll pick up from when we finished doing laundry on Thursday. Not starting our day until 4 pm was probably not a great idea so while we began to fight the 25-30 mph winds goof against us, we decided a rest day was needed and we only covered 15 miles to the next town. Little did we know, but every year this town has a week long festival in the park we planned on camping in. After getting the go ahead from police we Hung out, listened to a first terrible band then a pretty good older band, had festival food and watched the locals do their thing. Needless to say there was entertainment at every angle! The party was supposed to end around 9 but with our luck it went on til 11. Finally we were able to set up camp once everyone left our bedroom and it was time for much needed sleep. As we were dozing off the head of the fire department informs us we can't camp there, but was then told but the police station that it was ok. Pew! The deal was to be out of there by 7am and we were!
Friday morning started off great and just continued to get better. It was our first night in a week without rain and though the sun wasn't shining our spirits were up. We did a ton of climbing during our 60 mile ride, more than our first day of mountains, but when we reached our destination it didn't matter anymore. Damascus is like a little hikers/cyclists town, every business revolves around the people passing through. After hearing so much about the dogs of.Kentucky and crazy mean people, little foot decided to get some dog spray to protect herself, I already have mace and will not hesitate to spray any animal that comes within two feet of me. Haha. We also stocked up on a couple other things. That night we found a cheap hostel to stay at and it was easy to see why it was so cheap. He "beds" were pretty much picnic tables with a yoga mat on top - yay! After getting cleaned up we went over to the Old Mill for dinner and a couple beers. The waiter invited us to continue drinking at his, but that never happened, so we called it a might after 4 hours at the Old Mill.
Attempting to get another early start this morning, we didn't actually get on he road til 9 and had about 70 miles in our future. Or so we thought. The first 22 miles weren't bad, a nice long climb then a pretty sweet downhill. We stopped for a snack before the next big climbs and after that point this became my least favorite day yet. Every uphill I got nauseous for no reason, causing me to walk up a few climbs along the way. Lil foot took the lead today and crushed me! The end was in site, Haysi Va was just around the corner. We arrive at 7 looking for the campsite which I was told would be there. This was the big joke Google maps planned for us. The closest campground wasn't for another 10 miles. Maybe this was a good time to try rogue camping? The search began for a good spot to set up camp, the longer we looked the closer we got to the Breaks International Park, and that is where we ended up. It's was already pitch black out when we arrived and all the tent sites were taken, so now we get to sleep on lovely gravel. What a great night of sleep I'm going to get!
Oh man, I can't believe I almost forgot this part which added to my hell of a day... I got my second flat. :-(
Right before stopping for lunch my tire got popped from a staple, of all things a damn staple, like one used to hold a few pieces of paper together. Ugh. The repair didn't take too long. As I pumped the tire up and pulled the pump off, I snapped a piece of the nasal on the tire and bam, my third flat. Now I was in no mood to go on but obviously had to laugh it off and suck it up. That was when the Google map joke kicked in.
The only good thing I can say about today was the weather was AMAZING. Oh and we climbed about 8000 feet so that's something to be proud of!
Little foot and I will begin our 11 th state in the morning, and are not looking forward to the damn dogs, but we're ready for them!
I believe that covers it for now. Good night and good bye Virginia!
Sasq
Ps I can see my breathe right now.... Brrrrr
No comments:
Post a Comment