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Tuesday 4th October
Well decision has been made and we off load about 10 kilos of stuff from the coffin and send it forward to the York Town Post Office. The decision means no more camping except in the case of emergencies as the cooking stuff has gone ahead. Stu snores a lot and gets up 5-6 times a night to go to the toilet so hope we don’t have to camp!
The impact of the offload is immediately positive. Not only just because of the reduced weight but also because the lower profile of the ‘coffin’ allows me to get out the saddle on the hills. All good so far.
Yesterday’s efforts have left me quite jaded and there is not a lot of push in these legs but because of the delayed start (visit to the Post office) we have decided it make it a short day anyway. We soon pass into Virginia , our 10th and last State.
The change in scenery is almost immediate. It opens up and the colours of the autumn trees is beautiful in the bright sunshine. It is easy to relax and enjoy. Also the roads seem better. I already like Virginia.
Two other pluses – (1) not a dry state so a beer will be gettable at the end of the day and (2) no more mad dogs chasing you all the time. (Last day in Kentucky two Aussie cattle dogs came out at me and I thought I was in serious bother but luckily a car came the other way and frightened them off!)
I say we took it easy – well most of the way. We saw Stu’s mates ahead and we could not resist the urge to overtake them on a hill. Stu enjoyed that enormously!
After 80 klms we call it a day and rest up at Elk Park Methodist Church just outside Rosedale. It is in beautiful settings.
We play cards again and Stu wins his first game of Crib – at last.
I notice that my rear wheel is out of true. I do my best to adjust the spokes but I think it need s a professional touch. It might also explain why the Garmin is playing up!
Wednesday 5th October
Well this is a very cold start and also thick fog.For the first time I get out the leg-warmers and so don a bright yellow beanie i had brought for such mornings. I have all my flashing lights on and set off to Damascus (the next town with a listed bike shop) like a Christmas Tree. I race ahead with the plan to get there about an hour ahead of Stu so as to cause no delays. (Stu is still hoping to finish on the 10th).The fog soon burns off and all goes well. Plan works and I get there and have the wheel fixed for the time being and look around the town, which had been highly recommended by my son who had passed through it 15 months earlier a he did the Appalachian Trail. Cool little town although I was less than impressed with the food at the local cafe. Maybe the sign on the menu board should have warned me “Roadkill cafe” (ha ha)
From thereon the day went downhill. Stu arrived and decided to get his Garmin (cadence counter) checked. Long story short but he went to a different bike shop adn got conned into getting a new chain- we lost 3 1/2 hours and so the days planned destination went out the window. Stu got very stressed and I got impatient.
However the Virginia scenery helped calm us both and we ended up all cool at Sugar Grove where I found another baptist Church to stay in. The locals were once again very helpful and obliging. Despite the delays we had still done 100klms for the day
On the way I came across an interesting derelict house at Koonarock that had to be photographed
I must admit i am getting tired of gas station food but in these small towns there is not much choice expecially as I have now forwarded my cooking gear.
Thursday 6th October Another cold start but no fog and clcearly going to be another beautiful day. Note my gear – even wearing a beanie now to try and stay warm! You sexy thing ha ha
Before setting out I tried to sort Stu’s gears that were proving anything but smooth since the change of the chain (surprise surprise). I made some improvement but it is definitely a concern. Our target is Christenburg and journey of about 80 miles or 125 klms. My rear wheel is still not as I would like it to be but is is not causing any major problems and is certainly better than yesterday. At one point I thought I had missed a turn adn so backtracked abut 4 miles nly to find that I had not gone forward quite far enough. That meant I hd to climb the sme hills 4 times – just what I needed!) Once again we caught up with Jimmy Bob and Tom and this time Jimmy made a better attempt to fix my wheel.
One of the best laughs for a long time when Icame across this garden set out for Halloween. The best by far and it kept me chcuckling the rest of the day.
I had to join in!
After luch it was a greed i would press ahead and that we would meet at the Super 8 motel in Chritainburg an that I would make the booking. Stu leg was playing up and so he needed to take his time. Seemed like a good plan – BUT no-one told us there where two Super 8′s. Makes the next two ays very intersting – more on that later as I have to go now! After after my retrack still did 138klms for teh day.
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