av bike adventure 2017

So, I made it. We (me,bike, Liz the lizard) pedaled 1840 miles. This is me dipping the front tire into the York River. The Chesapeake Bay is around the bend, and the Atlantic Ocean is around the next bend. It feels good.  This is my bike parked next to the Yorktown Victory Monument. It does a pretty good job of showing how big the monument is. I am staying in a church hostel here for a couple of nights to chill out before I take the bike in to the bike shop to be shipped back to Casper. It is a great place to stay. Both of these photo's are taken from the front yard of the hostel. Kind of sweet. I had a crab cake for lunch. It was really good, although a bit on the expensive side. This is a tourist destination for sure. So thanks for all of your support. I loved reading the comments on the blog. It was a great adventure, and I learned a lot about our country and the great people in it. Til next time.

Today was a tremendous riding day. Most of the day was spent on paved bike trails like the picture on the bottom. The surrounding area was beautiful, and there were almost no hills. I got a kick out of the other two pictures. Since the trails were for bikes, when they wanted to let you know it was possibly slippery, they pictured a bike slipping around. When there was a steep drop, instead of the usual sign with a truck facing downward, they had a bike doing the same thing. What I thought was really funny is that they put that same sign at the bottom of the hill before a climb. So when I saw the sign I didn't know if I had to be careful about going down a hill too fast, or if there was a hill to climb coming up. I wasn't complaining. The riding was great. I ran into an impressive cross country cyclist today. He was from California and his goal was to cycle a square/rectangle. He started in California and rode to Florida. When I met him today he was going up the coast to New Eng...

Yesterday, I called a member of the church where I am staying today. I wanted to get here early enough to be able to attend the service. 37 miles today, so it wasn't too bad. Willis United Methodist Church. I got here at 10:10, was able to shower, and attend service at 11:00. I was raised Methodist, so I fit right in - I remembered all of the memorized stuff and was made to feel a part of the congregation. What I really liked was the feeling of being a part of a multigenerational spiritual family. I have had a lot of interactions with others on this trip, but it was just great to see how these people fit into a spiritual whole. We had a baby, young kids, teenagers helping with the service, an impromptu choir, and lots of parents and grandparents. I miss that part of my life. I am looking forward to getting back to my UU church and being part of my own spiritual group. I even miss our impromptu choir. Tomorrow, I should be In Williamsburg. I think I will stay a few days and soak up ...

This picture captures the kind of ride I have had for the last few days. Great road. Lots of trees - in fact I think I am starting to lose my tan. I have been riding in the middle of trees for 4 days. The road is always curvy, and it doesn't have much "climb" to it. Next to perfect. Now the thing that is NOT typical is that there is a "shoulder" on this road. I know it is only six inches wide, but even that is unusual. Most of these roads don't have "any" shoulder. Road kill report - about 7 frogs. It has been raining at night for several days. I think it brought the frogs out.  Live wildlife report - 1 bright yellow rolly poly, and my friend the turtle.    Today, we got back to riding 50 miles. It is so much easier on the knees when there is little climbing involved. Today, I am in Ashland, Va. I can feel the end coming. It is a good feeling, but strange all the same. Tomorrow, I will be staying in a church just outside of Glendale, Va. I can'...

Was dodging rain today. For the most part, I was successful. It is supposed to be like that for the next few days. I ended up going a bit north today. I think the plan is to go around Richmond. The goal for tomorrow is Ashland, which is just north of Richmond. The roads were good again today. The only issue with the roads in Virginia is that there are no shoulders. So, I am really happy that the route takes me through less travelled areas.   The highlight of the day happened early. I was on the road at 5:50 this morning trying to get a head start on the rain. A Sherrif's car passed me and I waved. When I rounded the corner ahead, the Deputy had stopped his car at a stop sign and gotten out of his car. It was a little unnerving, since he had not pulled over to the side, but was in the middle of the road. He proceeded to the back of the car and it was obvious he was waiting for me. There were lots of things running through my head - did he misinterpret my wave? was I breaking the law...

So today I find myself in the tiny hamlet of Palmyra, Va. Staying in a church tonight. The people who welcomed me and showed me around the church included one celiac disease person. So we talked gluten- free for a while. When I get back I will be sending her recipes for gluten- free bread and English muffins.      The wildlife sighting of the day was an absolutely beautiful red-headed woodpecker. Today's ride included some new terrain. There are still hills, but they are different. There is not as steep of an incline on descent or ascent. Which means that I can't get a head of steam going down the hill so that I can get half way up the other side. With a little practice, I will hopefully get better.    The church has a nice piano, so I was able to play a little and sing through the songs from my vocal recital in May. I am rusty, but it sure felt good to be singing again. I wasn't singing so much the past few weeks when I had steep climbs to make. They tell me tw...

I spent a large part of the day at Monticello. It makes me want to learn more about Thomas Jefferson.  One of the more interesting parts of the day was the Uber ride out to Monticello.  It was my first time using the app to get a ride, so that was fascinating. Then the driver had lived a large part of his life in Madison, Wisconsin. And was a cyclist. He and I have bikes with a lot of the same parts, hubs, etc. it was so fascinating to find such commonality . And he also assured me that the animal I saw yesterday was certainly not a black cougar. Sigh of relief. So, tomorrow I head east. After going to Monticello today, I know that I still have some hills to climb, but I am determined to keep the daily distances a lot shorter than before. I finalized the arrangements for packing up and shipping of the bike back to Casper. I still have a good week on the bike, but it is time to start thinking about the end. Til next time.

Today, I had to come down from the Blue Ridge Parkway.  That can be (and was) a little scary. It is easy to go too fast and get out of control. The brakes held up and now I am on flatter land.    The highlight of the day had to do with wildlife.  Many of the roads on the route are out of the way and in wooded areas, which is why I have been enjoying all of the deer the last few days. Today, I was struggling up a hill in one of these isolated,wooded areas and glanced at my mirror. At the bottom of the hill (maybe 1/4 of a mile back), I saw a large animal in the middle of the road. It was unusual, so I stopped and looked back. At first, I thought it was a big, black dog. The animal was looking at me, which put me on edge. Then, it moved back into the woods - not dog movements, but cat movements. Shivers up the spine. It was a black panther (cougar). I am still unnerved by the sighting. The routes have since moved me away from the mountainous area. I am happy about that...

Today was a really good day.  I rode about 30 miles on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Riding on the Parkway was fun and surprising. I expected a lot more cars, but for the most part, it was me and beautiful scenery on a great road. The tough part of the day was getting up here. It was 4 miles of STEEP. Lots of wildlife - again, mostly deer. I heard a lot of woodpeckers pounding away. The wildlife surprise of the day was a snake. I noticed what looked like a wooden bow in the middle of the road that from a distance looked like it was made out of some interesting, exotic wood. As I got closer I realized that it was moving across the road. Then I realized that it just might be a rattlesnake. It made a lot of noise when I zipped by.     The views were amazing, but also disappointing. I could see for miles, but it was always a bit hazy and unclear. Hard to take a good picture. Before I came up to the parkway, I had breakfast with a retired guy who helps run a nature camp for kids. Th...

Today was another great day on the bike. The roads here in Virginia have been really good.  And, yes, I was able to go around the barriers on the closed road and bypass the detour. It is starting to heat up here. It is 90 degrees out right now, and the high's for the next few days are expected to be similar. I love riding early in the day - not as hot, and the birds sound great. Today, was Sunday, so the traffic was fairly minimal. It was a tale of two rides today. For a large part of the day, I was on a road which was next to an interstate. So, it was noisy, but there wasn't much traffic. The people in a hurry (and the trucks) were on the interstate. The other major part of the day was spent following a series of streams. The road wasn't quite as nice, but it's was quiet and peaceful. And there were lots of deer again.     Roadkill report. 1 possum, 2 squirrels, one fawn. Tonight I am in Lexington, Va. It is a beautiful, small town with classic, old buildings. There ar...

It was great to get back on the bike today. The roads were fantastic- lots of rolling hills, but not very steep and the surface of the roads was smooth. There was a section of about 6 miles where the road wasn't gravel,but there was a lot of small gravel on the road, which made it kind of slippery and dangerous. I looked on the map to find out that directly above that part of the road was something called Gravelly Ridge.       The Appalachian Trail crossed my route at least once, maybe twice - near Catawba and near Daleville. I saw a couple of hikers going to the post office in Daleville.     Road kill report. 2 possum, 2 squirrels.      Live wildlife report - lots of deer. I spooked two of them as I came around a couple of blind curves. They spooked me at the same time. One of them bolted across my path. For a split second, I thought I would end up with a wildlife sighting and a road kill report at the same time. My favorite sightings were t...

So, I will be on the road again tomorrow.  The past two days, I have made some important decisions. I needed to get some rest and get my knee right.  I was about to go into the mountains. There would be no way to get out of the mountains if the knee situation got worse, so I rented a car and went around the mountains. There are still some tough climbs to make, but I think I will be ready to go much more slowly and not as far on a daily basis. So, I am now in Chistiansburg, Virginia, if you are marking off the route on the map. I do feel refreshed. Til next time.

Saw some interesting fences today. The one in the photo at the bottom looks to be quite old. Ate a snack with a tobacco farmer at a convenience store. It was fun talking agriculture. The big crops in Kentucky are tobacco, corn, soybeans, and winter wheat. Ran into two riders going the other way - one was retired from Houston. The second one was a young guy from San Diego. Tonight I am in Berea. This is a much larger city than what I have ridden through for a long time. Lots of places to eat, but I hate the traffic.       I will be taking at least one day off, maybe two. I am having issues with a knee. I hope some rest will help. In general, feeling good. Til next time.

I included two photo's today. One is a typical road photo of what it looks like a good deal of the time- kind of like a tree cathedral. The other is a typical view when the road opens up.    Back to yesterday. It seems like I quite often leave out the best part of a day and then remember it after I finish a post. Yesterday I stopped in a grocery store to find some lunch. I was soaking wet and leaking all over everything in the store. Suddenly, a guy behind the meat counter engages me in conversation. The next thing I know he is handing me a huge chunk of ham, while enthusiastically letting me know that it is the best ham ever - not as salty as typical ham. After letting him know that I thought it was great, he then hands me another huge hunk wrapped in a cheese that he said complimented the ham to perfection. Before you know it he is making me a sandwich. And not too long after that I am eating lunch in the workers break room.  It was quite the welcome.     Toda...

First I need to complete the thoughts from last night. The B&B I stayed in was phenomenal. The owner was a geologist in Louisiana/Misssippi for a long time. 14 years ago he moved back to his home town in Kentucky and bought his classic family home that hadn't been lived in for 35 years. The home was built in the late 1800's. He used a lot of the original wood,added some great touches and a bunch of square feet. He ended up buying a lot of his original family furniture, books, metal bed warmers, etc. So the B&B is classic!!!. But he didn't stop with the inside.  He created some amazing outdoor spaces that can be used for weddings and other large gatherings. He dug out his own pond, landscaped like crazy, renovated barns. It was beautiful.    The other 4 guests were all cyclists. Two newly retired from California. And two brothers who originally came from Lebanon. Just before the Lebanese civil war in the 70's, the brothers came to the U.S. to go to grad school. ...

It was a good two days. Yesterday I went a long ways (70 miles) because I either had to do it yesterday or today. So today I eased back to 46 miles. A good average for the two days. I had my worst dog encounter yesterday. Three dogs. One on one side and two on the other. The one on my left seemed to be having a bit of fun, but the two on my right were serious. One of them bit my rear bag. Evidently it didn't like the taste, because it soon backed off. It was probably not as serious as it felt, but while it was going on my heart was racing. And I couldn't figure out how I was going to get the pepper spray out, hang on to the bike and spray the dogs.  I hope I don't get much more practice.     I ran into bunches of riders going the other way today. I think I counted 20 riders. One was a group of 13, then a group of 3 and two sets of two. It is always good to learn about what is ahead. Tonight I am staying in a B&B. It feels good to be pampered a little.  The locati...

I forgot to include this photo when I got to Chester. Yesterday was a great day. I ended up staying with friends of my sister-in-law, Jessie. Veronica and Pete were amazing hosts. I ate like a king, got to do ALL of my laundry, read a book under a huge oak tree, and just enjoyed my hosts immensely. Right after dinner we went to a wildlife refuge and got the daily fill of wildlife. There were tons of deer, and we got to see wild turkeys strutting their stuff. They walked right in front of us across the road. Three toms who were fanning their tail feathers and strutting in front of 5 or 6 hens. It was great.  Today was a good ride. The weather was not too hot. There wasn't any wind, and the road was good. I am in Cave-in-Rock, Illinois. Tomorrow we cross into Kentucky. Lunch was a lot of fun. I sat with a retired welder from a small town in Illinois. He was on a motorcycle, but has also bikes a lot. So we enjoyed talking about the open road.    While we were eating, 3 recen...

So now we are officially in Kentucky. I love the state motto (see pic on top). And the bottom photo seemed like a typical Kentucky field in the morning. Road kill report- 1 raccoon, 1 fox ( a new one for this trip), 1 turtle, 1 deer. Live wildlife report - 1 turtle, 1 deer.   The deer was fun. He couldn't find a spot to get back into the woods, so he bounded down the road with me for a while before escaping.  Was out early to cross the Ohio River via ferry. There is a lot of water in the Ohio. I'd love to see where it meets and blends into the Mississippi. That is a lot of water, squared.  It was so peaceful. Someone had warned me about trucks on this route, but it must have been too early for them. In Marion, I ran into a retired hairdresser who treated me as if I were a long lost friend. She was excited about meeting another cyclist from someplace new for her. Met my first solo female rider. In her 20's, from New Hampshire. She likes riding alone, and seemed to be doing...