For those of you that don't already know, the state of Virginia can be a bitch. People have continued to be super friendly and amazingly accommodating! The bad parts are the elevation climbs, weather and lack of beer selling stores. The last being the most important of course! Yesterday lil foot and I got an early start and the rain held up for maybe twenty minutes before coming down on us for a good hour, but we pushed through. Along our morning journey we came across two fellow cyclists going in the opposite direction. They started in Oregon and were only a couple days from ending their trip. Lucky for them they had a third person following behind with a trailer, that made it a bit easier to bike more miles in less time. They gave us a few heads up of what was to come and then we parted ways.
After about 50 miles before lunch we stopped at a Target where I bought new sneakers and threw out the smelly things I had been using. The sun was actually out and strong at this point but we were warned it wouldn't be for long. That was a lie! The rest of our day was rain free and sunny! But also extremely hilly and pretty rough. We stopped on the side of the road for a little trail mix break when yet another cyclist came along, also close to finishing his trip and had a support vehicle following him. He warned us about the dogs in Kentucky, and told us about getting bit by one, that was enough to convince us to hold pepper spray close while riding through our next state. Shortly after our break was over we got chased by a mean dog for at least half a mile. I came soo close to trying to kick him just to get him to stop, but luckily the two of us and the dog made it unharmed. Just a warning to Kentucky dogs, I will probably be trigger happy with my pepper spray so back off.
As the sun was setting lil foot and I thought we were half a mile from camp, turns out we had another four miles to go, damn Google maps. In those four miles we found a subway for dinner and a store that had BEER! It was like a little Christmas morning joy when we finally found that store! I swear we don't have a drinking probably, but for about five days we searched for a place to get just one beer each and none were found. After making our dinner purchases it was off to find the Pioneer Village RV Campgrounds. It was pitch black out when we turned into the camp site and of course another half mile hill to climb before we could finally relax. The camp host, Roy, was beyond amazing, he had met us by the entrance because he was on his way out to search for us, they were worried :-) Roy then built us a fire since he figured we would be exhausted, and boy was he right. The tent was pitched in no time and then it was time for a few beers and a foot long. Yummy.
This morning we decided to sleep in and take a half day so we can get some laundry done, which I am currently sitting outside of a Comfort Inn while waiting on our clothes to dry! The goal for today is anywhere between 30-40 miles. Then we have a packed week and a half ahead of us so we can make it to Illinois by the forth of July!
Later for now, I'll post again tonight if I have service!
Sasq
Sasq forgot to mention the wind! Yesterday may have been a nice respite from the beating sun and pouring rain, but instead we just battled a strong headwind for several hours. And although we didn't climb a mtn range, we certainly climbed as many if not more ft of elevation (around 5k ft). The Appalachians are not easy to cycle through! If you couldn't tell from sasq's posts, we are really looking forward to the flat states. All things aside though, we still managed to squeak out a 90 mile day. Hopefully we won't have anymore strava failures and get an accurate report of feet climbed.
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