Just a quick hello...

Just crossed the Ohio River into Illinois. Loving the flatness, although not the big mackers. We are trying for a 100 miler today from Sebree, KY (where we spent the night with some very blessed people) to Carbondale, IL, so we will catch up on descriptions tomorrow. (I know you all can hardly wait! I need to do it for myself so everything doesn't blur together.) We are missing you all and wanted to say hi.

Day 17/18 Berea to Danville, Danville to Hodgensville

So we have deterred from our TransAm route a bit and are posting from Lebanon, KY where we hope to eat a delicious burger n' fries from Big Jim's before we head out.

Yesterday we left Berea on a stomach full of sugary nutritionless continental breakfast. Continental has never been so inaccurately used. We were rewarded however by some less rigorous terrain (still hilly), trees, and friendly horses and cows. We stopped for some sandwiches at the saddest little grocery that we have seen so far. The window glass was broken and dirty. The inside was a bit dungeonlike with about 3 ft square of shelf space for every can of potted meat. The lady made us some much needed sandwiches with love, really good lettuce and tomato, and Miracle Whip (which seems to be a favorite here). The shop was apparently also the playground for her cute red-haired son and his babysitter, an ageless Kentuckian, maybe her husband, brother, or father.

We moved on through these curling roads without too much traffic, successfully navigated (with some locals help) several 'unsigned' turns, which is always a bit intimidating. Lots of tree canopies and creeks, a saved turtle, and some dogs that sounded like they were choking on their own spit as they ran after us. We must smell delicious.

At Bryantsville, we made the decision to leave our beloved TransAm map, and go off course to Danville (pop. 15,000) that contains the only bike shop for the next 6 days or so.

We expected our time in Danville to be brief. I was looking for some handlebar attachments to change my grip, but it turned into a rebirth of my bicycle thanks to the shop owner Ernst. We had lunch while he started working some magic at the Hub Coffeehouse, where we were photographed as locals by a lady from Southern Living, spoke to one of the waiters there and found out he intends to relocate to Manhattan in the fall for school at Union Theological Seminary, hopefully he looks us up.

Back at Danville Bike and Footwear, Ernst had taken complete inventory of my bike, whose name is Agnes, and slowly but surely, tightened things that were about to fall off, added toe clips, the handlebar attachements, a new front wheel (with pointers that the back soon needed replacing), realigned the brakes, adjusted the derailer, and most excitingly switched out the front part of the drive train, so that it's no longer a double, but a triple, so I now, most excitingly, have 20 working gears, as opposed to 13! Wahoo! And Matyr Andy can use his lowest gears as well, so he doesn't force himself to "sympathy" ride anymore.

Ernst and his eldest son (who is currently gardening in Monet's Giverny) had done the TransAm(ish) route over a 6 year period. Having taken a few weeks each summer to complete it on a Tandem bike, while his son was 10-16, he knew what we were up against and felt compassion even with a full house of bikes to be worked on. We so appreciate his help. His service was pretty superior than what he had previously encountered in the, um, Richmond bike shops.

His helper Travis was also a pretty interesting fellow. He had recently been run off the road on his bike and was recooperating by helping out at this shop. He plays banjo and fiddle and bikes around to various music festivals about. We want to look up his NYC friends' band, Powder Keg.

Needless to say, it was about 5pm when we got out of the bike shop, so Danville ended up being our resting place for the night. Still a 45 mile day.

We scurried over to the Pioneer Playhouse Campground (a funky little dinner/theater/campground, where apparently John Travolta got his start at about age 15.) We ate at the empty Red Rooster (rooster everything) and the fried okra hit the spot!

It was supposed to thunderstorm, but it never did rain, just lots of thunder and lightning. We slept well, got up and have ridden through Perryville and now to Lebanon. Our goal for tonight is Hodgensvillle.

Day 14 Haysi, VA to Hindman, KY, 15 Hindman to Booneville, 16 Booneville to Berea

The Hilltop motel view...


Andy at the breaks...

Smooshed at the Breaks Interstate P.

As you might expect, we did finally make it up that Big "A" Mountain, (and the following day we saw it on a raised map at a state park, and it's name, definitely suits, even the church atop it included it in its title), and to Council, where we didn't stop for free camping, but decided we should continue our trip onto Haysi for another 20 mi. or so. Fortunately for us, after this big push, most of the way was downhillish, so our main concern was squeaking brakes, curvy tight turns, and trying not to whiteknuckle our handlebars the whole way down. The road hugged one side of the mountain and the "towns", Council, Bee, Davenport, Birchleaf (all of which were sort of indistinguishable from each other and had 1 in-service gas/grocery between them) were settled on the other side and just below this Sand Lick road that runs along a winding river.
Just to note that these mountains are impressive. I really had no idea that VA's Appalachians got so tall and turny as you get into coal mining country. We were definitely glad it was Saturday and the trucks weren't running. Apparently next to the mountains, they are the biggest impediment to success.
At Haysi (pop. 194), we stayed in our first motel: the Hill Top Motel, which, as the name suggests is at the top of a big hill about 1 1/2 long. It seems to be our lot to end the day with a big hill of some sort. The motel was a VFW Post site and the gent running the place seemed to be a Vet himself, as he had quite a bit of trouble getting around but had a wicked sense of humor and used it to help us loosen up a bit, taking advantage of our gullible, hot, and apparently feeble brains.
We ate food from Martha's Place, just around the corner: Chili, Pabst, Coffee, Bloomin' Onion, Country fried steak (Just what my mom, Martha, would of course have served us at home! Actually, other than the French waiters pictured on the wall and the friendly, but muletted, waitress Chris, I don't know that much of the place would have struck of chord with you, Mom).
We felt much better after our night's sleep here, but we just couldn't get up in the morning. It was raining when we first rose at 6, but this was really just an excuse not to get going. When we finally made it out of the place around 8:45, we couldn't get our host up, and ended up leaving the key in a potted plant by the door and a message on the answering machine.
After a quick breakfast at the only open place, the gas station, we headed up to the Breaks Interstate Park (bridging VA and KY and lovingly called "The Grand Canyon of the South" or was it East?). The climb killed us, and it was only with the help of some meditation, Janine's Chi balls for me, that we ever made it to the top. Wow. We can't totally discern whether the hills are getting harder, or it just seems that way as our legs and lungs get tighter. But I would presume that this day, was well, killer.
Once at the top we felt that we deserved a break of sorts, and there is a book in the park that other bikers on this route sign. So we headed into the park for the 3 mile loop, to see the scenes, the river and railroad, the Towers (of rock), route 80 leading to Kentucky.
Our next little ride took us into KY where it seemed that more rock immediately sprung up on the sides of the road, and took us to Elkhorn City. Although it was mostly downhill, our legs still felt like they were working pretty durn hard, so in Elkhorn we stopped for some grub and ran into two other bikers heading East, Ben and Nick, who seemed like super nice fellows, and were almost done for the day. They had about 17 miles to go to Haysi, whereas we had about 60+ still to Hindman, KY. Again, they seemed well put together and had trailers on their bikes. They recommended us to the Knott County Historical Society B&B once we got to Hindman (there is no camping for quite a while) and we set that as our site.
This day was excruciatingly long after that, but we put in some good, hard, riding. Dogs chased, we ate our snacks, we exchanged a few waves with folks, but we felt as if the climate changed a bit. People didn't seem as friendly to us as they had in VA, or to anyone. There wasn't a place to stay for 80 miles. The dilapidation of these towns was even more extreme than on the VA side. People didn't wave back at you and they seemed mighty suspicious of outsiders.
Again we were so happy it was Sunday and we were spared the coal trucks, as we saw tons of them parked on the sides of roads, lots of slides and strip mining operations, and also about 20 massive elk up on the sides of mountains.
It was almost ten (fortunately one of the longest days of the year) and had just gotten totally dark when we arrived at David Smith's B&B in Hindman. He greeted us with a smile and ice tea, got us hot, slightly sulfuric showers, settled into the huge expanse of a tent that they keep there for cyclists, made us veggie burgers after we called the local pizza joint and they had no drivers, and ice cream (on the house). The only bad part was that it too is on the top of a great, steep, nearly vertical, hill. We walked our bikes both up and down the following morning.
David was quite an interesting host. His herd of tetradactal cats were beautiful, and one, Inky, was just having a litter as we arrived. He had written and compiled an extensive book on Knott County, after setting aside his career as a Christian actor for many years. He is definitely the rich kind of character you find in a very well developed novel. And apparently his sister is a Bikram yoga instructor in FL and they hope to have collaborative retreats at the B&B. I think he said they have 150 acres, but it may have been 450. Either way, quite a few.
It was hard for us to leave our pleasant stay after eating a tasty breakfast with a precious, tiny, polydactal kitten in my lap, but we finally did. Our camera at this point was totally toast and the pictures we took of the place didn't come out, but I recommend this place highly.
Still a bit foggy around 9, we set our sites on Booneville as our resting place for the coming evening, and hoped since it was about 67 miles away (about 15 miles shorter of a day than the previous) and we were getting off earlier that we would make it there before nightfall.
I can't say that there was much that was exceptional this day, more of the same. The day started off very pleasantly. The terrain helped stretch out our legs as we continued to head west, and the roads were fairly untrafficked and seemed fresh after the rain and fog burned off from the morning. Then of course we turned off our our friendly roads and back onto 80, this time with a much different character. There were large shoulders on the road, but that didn't stop the indimidation we felt as trucks full of coal and other mined bits of earth flew by us at lightning speeds. Debris from trucks and ridged shoulders (to keep these drivers from falling asleep) made the riding a bit hairy and less pleasant, not to mention the hills. We were also shocked (unfortunately Andy's panoramic shots of this didn't make our camera's dying lineage) when we came upon a large area, probably a mile along the highway, where mountains had been totally razed. It was a site to see. Or rather, no sight to see, as there had very obviously been large mountains here, and now there was just nothing. Absolutely nothing.
We came upon a Walmart shopping complex outside of Hazard, where we met Eileen and Cono, two retired Manhattanites, who were heading west on our same route and about an hour ahead of us. Although they had a man with a van, Bill who had biked across 5 times himself, we were still pretty impressed with these folks. We let them get on and went to by ourselves a new camera at Radioshack and get ourselves some Mexican. The camera was probably worth the money, the Mexican turned out not to be worth the $11 it cost us for lunch. Many miles later, we were still grumbling about our tummies, and although Andy resisted further ingestion, I was popping Tums like a regular addict. Around Buckhorn Lake State Park (a bit off our route), the terrain travelled out of the valleyish nature and back into the mountains. We put in some good legwork despite our belching bellies, and gave ourselves some good breaks, although we were both less than pleased when I decided to stop at a gas station halfway down a good hill, and therefore lost some much needed momentum for the climb that followed. No one ran us off the road and an older couple stopped to ask us if we were 'man and wife', which is obviously important information to have about a couple of bicyclists climbing some bloody steep hills. We stopped in Buckhorn proper for some good fruit salad Yay! and the folks were very nice. They had Konan the Barbarian on their TV set in the market and I have never enjoyed having a TV in an eating establishment, but I was actually grateful to zone out on a good helping of nonsense drama.
The rest of the day we dragged our feet but enjoyed the countryside, even as we passed trailers that looked like they should be condemned, but then that produced romping dogs and/or seemingly happy children and often obese parents.
Generally we have been amazed at the number of hillside cemeteries we have seen. In many places it seems that the population of the dead greatly outweighs that of the living, and the cemeteries themselves look better cared for and attended to, with flowers and the like, than the abodes of the current residents.
We passed yet another British biker, who was on his 116th mile of the day and part of a larger group of British policemen who were travelling across country in sections (and with a pretty kick-bottom RV that passed us by as we finished our conversation.) You can check them out at www.bobbyonabike.com.
Finally we made it to Booneville and not a hill too soon, where we were delighted to find the amazing First Presbyterian Church that has a setup in the back for cyclists to camp. The setup was so perfectly generous and simple and Christian. They have a (cold) shower and sink, a porto-john, a covered picnic table area, and a nice big grassy area that is pretty private from the main road. We pitched our tent and cleaned up and then headed off to seek out some of the local fixins. The main restaurant Dooley's Diner, was closing up, but we headed to Spencer's dairy bar and ate some potatoes, tater tots for me and ripple fries for Andy, bbq and a burger. We met up again with Cono, Eileen, and Bill, (conoandeileen.livejournal.com) who had eaten at Dooley's and were staying at Linda's B&B, where they were planning on taking a rest day. I think this partially inspired us to let ourselves do the same once we got to Berea.
We slept well at the Church, after watching the many many lightning bugs go about their business along the tree-lined river and the adjoining corn fields; the character of the developed part of Booneville, with it's gas stations, etc. was hidden from view.
We got our share of fog and Dooley's in the morning. We got up around 5:30, but by 8:30 the fog was still super thick. We loaded up on snacks at the gas station (these gas stations are grocery stores, I do not know how anyone survives on the kind of "nutrition" offered by these places, lots and lots of folks have gardens/farms on their property, I do hope they get to eat a lot of it!). Our map didn't show much in the way of stops until we got close to Berea (our ending destination).
After we went up our first mountain, we turned off the large road we were on and into less dense areas. The fog cleared and the farms got progressively larger and pretty as the day moved on. We passed 3 more bikers going the opposite direction, 2 of which were on a tandem, but they were in no mind to stop and chat, so we let them be and kept both of our momentums going. We were to discover that they had just covered about 20 miles of really difficult terrain, so I completely understood that they were more interested in finishing their day than we were pre-trauma. Our thighs seemed to grow ever tighter, and we were just barely able to keep charlie horses at bay. We did have to push up a few hills, but we also made it up some daunting ones that didn't even seem possible looking at them. So all in all we were proud of ourselves, and the fact that we had decided to give ourselves the gift of a day of rest kept us going.
We started to feel pretty punchy as we approached Berea, but we made it here in good time and were done by about 3 o'clock.
The town is an odd mixture of college, deeply religious folks, and normal people. It certainly has the most diverse population of people we've seen. The college was originally founded to be an interracial institution in 1855. In 1904 a law was passed forbidding the education of white and non-white students in the same class, and it wasn't until 1950 that the law was altered and the college's doors were opened to Blacks and Indians again. Still better than much of the rest of the country. The school's banners display "learning, labor, and service" as the students here all work to keep their tuition costs low. More here: http://www.berea.edu/about/
We ate last night at the Black Feather, about a month old, very good food, and not greasy! but good local produce including rhubarb and peach tart with vanilla ice cream. Some parts of this trip are not hard :).
We settled down in the Knight's Inn for cleaning and comfort and to let our stuff explode everywhere in the room. (Although I think this is driving Andy a bit nuts) We watched Harry Potter and slept soundly. Today we have been catching up on business, eating at more of the local haunts, and just taking it easy. Tomorrow our journey will continue. Hopefully our bodies will be ready again. They were really begging for a rest day. We have tried to oblige since we are asking so much of them, pushing hard, eating lots but not often healthfully (at least not in the Michael Pollan fashion we usually strive for).
Berea marked the end of one of our TransAm maps, so tomorrow we start on the third section for us which will take us into a new time zone and into Illinois. We are keeping our ears open about the flooding and hope that you are all safe and sound wherever you are, especially in California and the mid-west.

Day 13, just outside Marion to Haysi (Hays EYE!)

On the way down from Hawter's Gap...

and a little further down...

We are sitting (from transcription you see) at the Sidewalk Cafe in Honaker, CA on white-washed metal cafe chairs and table (that remind me of my great Aunt Odell's outdoor furniture. Caddy-corner to us (because it's a curvy little town and we are sort of at a Flatiron building-esque intersection, is a Rapid Cash Advance Center that has gone our of business.
Once again we are the sole customers (they're busier during the week and everyone is all the ball park today.)
We had a good night's rest, rose at six and made it about 1/2 a mile down the road before our eyes fell on a Little's Snack Bar where we saw fruit outside. We filled our fists with plums, a nectarine, apple and pear and went in to discover that they also served our normal sloppy breakfast. The coffee left something to be desired but our eggs had flavor and my gravy biscuit was quite tasty.
At the Sidewalk Cafe now, we are having some classy chicken salad with sliced grapes and walnuts that is pretty delicious and a good Reuben (although not NYC style with half a cow stuffed between two slices of bread).
The morning has been hard but fulfilling. I need to remember to put on sunblock more frequently as I start to feel flushed and have a permanent expression of embarrassment on my face.
We got off Rt. 11 around Meadowview and back onto our blessed MAP at Rt. 80, a windy beautiful route though Hawter's Gap. Everyone warned us about that mountain, telling us we'd be pushing for most of the way. We didn't push, but after stopping twice in a 5 miles climb we made it to the top... although we broke our camera on the way. The county was beautiful. The mountains were closer in than before and and the fields are bulbous and beautiful. I'm getting sick of seeing so many dead creatures in the road though. It really makes you sad to see so many smooshed animals. So far people driving have been pretty respectful, but we are told that KY and MS are other stories.
Our legs are pretty tight after the somewhat chilly downhills, the uphills have been killer, but we're taking a good rest now. According to the elevation chart we have a good bit of climbing still to come this afternoon (I guess that is to be expected). We stopped at the Honaker library, but it's closed on Saturdays, which is sad because it was just this little white cottage on a hill, with lots of potted flowers about and trees shading a sweet little bench. But instead we are at this main intersection of Honaker. I am trying to sit ladylike for all the cars going by and coming up the hill towards us, but it is hard to care all the time. The town's population is about 945 and I think all of the cards have driven by.
We've seen a good number of CF flags and quite a few signposts with "white power" sprayed over whatever DOT instructions were there before. I hate to say it, but if I were a black person, I'd be much more cautious about doing this route. We definitely haven't seen any posters for Obama, but really not for anyone for that matter.
Andy and I have decided that if we lived in this part of VA we would have some serious Southern drawls lickety split, because we are already starting to encroach on our Yankeefied speech (if you could even call it that.)
Last night I had a weird dream about teaching yoga. But I think it was weird enough that I should keep it to myself. But I think it pretty much centers around me thinking I'm forgetting how to teach. We've obviously been sitting here too long and it's time to start our climb to Council, and then see it we can make it to Haysi for the night. The climb to Council is up a mountain called Big "A" Mountain. It is actually called that. So apparently we are allowed to use profane language as we make it up it.

Internet strikes again...and ending Day 12

So the past few days have begun to run together and the route has been a bit dry on libraries and internet, fruits and vegetables, flatness and leisure, however the beauty is spectacular, some of the poverty mind-blowingly third-world, the people friendly but often suspicious, the dogs chasersm the mountains tall, and the weather perfect... We have been wearing ourselves out and having a good old time doing it. So good that we are taking today off in Berea, KY, home of Berea college founded by Cassius Clay. Again, we are in their public library with a load of chilluns looking at fuzzy and slimy creatures. I guess that is a premiere summertime activity.

So way back when in Wytheville, we travelled on the librarians recommendation to CJ's Pizza and Subs. This adventure started out quietly with some ice tea and empty restaurant but pretty quickly a schoolbus full of temporary workers from North Carolina and Georgia pulled up to devour the pizza house's supplies. These folks, about 60 or more, were all on their way up to Iowa to help out with the flooding. They had called CJ's about 30 minutes ahead of time to order 60 pizzas these hungry men and a few women. Some were pretty fit, others looked a bit less than able-bodied for the hard work they were heading for. Some had just left their jobs/life to travel up, work hard, be paid well, sleep in hotels and get $30 a day to eat. Doesn't sound too bad, although I imagine the work is backbreaking and the psychological toll perhaps heavy. But most seemed to feel a sense of duty towards helping out their fellow man. This one man, who had a pretty groovy sense of humor, gave a pretty vivid description of how all these full grown (at least) folks were squunched up into this schoolbus, faces presses up at against the window, knees up around their ears. CJ's was able to provide them with 30 pizzas, and got us one as well, soem salad and really really good sweet tea.
As we continued down route 11 after this lunch, we met 2 British guys going the other way who had started and San Fran (and on a previous journey done the Southern route). They looked very fit and put together, hauling little trailers and small front packs, they seemed quite hip and unscathed by the journey. I felt like we were looking pretty rough in comparison. Very jovial guys, they gave us some tips, including putting flags on our bikes (which we have yet to do) to keep away the scary coal trucks, and taking a route slightly different from what our maps were offering, and stay on route 11 to shave off a bit of time and some hills. We took their advice and covered another 20 miles or so from there. So today probably 70-75 mi. The road ran right along 81, but since everyone was on the interstate, traffic was light and the road was strait. We stopped at Walmart (mixed feelings) and found Andy a new stuff sack for his sleeping bag and I mistakenly bought some 97% fat free beef jerky. Could meat be stranger?
We ended up sleeping at the "Interstate Campgrounds", our first pvt. camping experience. Had our dinner of beef jerky, V8, nuts and ice cream under the fluorescent lighting of the campground. We stashed our food in the back stall of the girl's bathroom, did our laundry (fantastic!) and went to bed in this bizarre little village of campers, apartments, and ours the lonely lonely tent.

Direct from Wytheville... Day 12

Andy with solar panels and wind stuff along Catawba Valley's Blacksburg Rd., maybe 785?

Just pretty, Catawba Valley.

The New River Lounge.

Not to offend anyone, but skeleton and puddle.

Andy posing with the big house.

Clear water at Claytor Lake...

So when last we left you we were booted off our computer in the lovely Christiansburg Public Library... now at our new library setup in Wythesville the same thing could happen again. Although there are about 50 school children in here being shown reptiles, so no one is really interested in the computers aside from their chaperones.

If you checked the blog yesterday I added a few more pics to those posts.

Yesterday on the route to Christiansburg we were in the Catawba Vallery. This was probably by far the most gorgeous site we had seen thus far. The hills were frequent and sometimes literally breathtaking, but it was a shaded beautiful day, and the valley was just spectacular. I highly recommend this drive, walk, bike to anyone!

At Ellett we popped some vitamin waters and only a few minutes later grabbed our Clif bars, but both of us were starting to feel a bit sick (probably from the excessive beef we had eaten at all three of our meals the day before), but we made it to Christiansburg and sat in the library for a bit, and let our tummies settle a bit.

Then of course we were still hungry, even with unsettled stomachs, so we set off in search of lunch, but before we knew it were out of Christiansburg and on our way to Radford. So no lunch yet.

The hills however were kind to us for a bit. Daylillies were everywhere and cheered us on our hungry ride to Radford. There was a bit more of a suburbia feel here, and less country, but the trip went pretty quickly and we had some fun downhills that made our leg hair stand on end. For this portion at least, I was glad to be going westbound on the trail.

We entered Radford with our eyes on a salad, hoping to find a little college town favorite, all we found was our neighborhood grill and bar, Applebee's. This however turned out to be perfect. It was the dead hour, we sat outsite with our bikes, our legs up, shoes off, and a big salad (and appetizer sampler I must admit), and some pretty friendly waitstaff.

After leaving we immediately crossed the New River (which apparently flows North) and entered Pulaski county. Our route took us along the river which was quite picturesque and apparently lots of drunk college kids think so too. RC cola anyone?

I got off the bike to go relieve myself in the woods (you don't notice some things when you have to go really bad!), only to find myself face to face with this lovely skeletal sight.

We made it to Claytor Lake Park without too much more ado (some DQ on the way though). It's just off 81 before Newbern and we recommend this park. The water was gorgeous and clear. We went for a slightly illegal swim after hours. The sand on the beach felt divine between our toes. Apparently the lake is where the New is dammed up. Showers, campfire, some miso soup, my misplaced wallet which caused some tension, a just less than full moon, and then bed.

Sometime in the night, we were awoken by lots of animal noises that persisted for sometime. They made our nature night outings a bit, scarier? but we were largely unphased and slept it off.

Around 5:30 when we awoke, we discovered that one of our bags of food, which had been sitting atop this lantern hanger thing and happens to be the stuff sack for Andy's sleeping bag, was no longer there. So I set out, shamefully, to look for our missing snacks.

The animal noises were fully explained when we found half devoured and ripped everything, including the stuff sack, a bit further back in the woods. Fortunately no other campers seemed to be up so my embarrassment was limited to our company. All the food had to be thrown out, and the stuff sack is still in sad need of repair, and apparently we need a few more lessons on the ways of Scouting. This raccoon or whatever it was, even liked the Peaceful Planet meal that we had and my current book, Atonement. Andy suggested that it was a section in the book where they were eating. Ah those AMO bars.

Anyway, we recovered and moved onto our bikes, with me dragging my feet and ego a bit. We sat ourselves down at the McGuire campground cafe just a bit up the road and doused ourselves with coffee and nice company, although I am not sure about the nutrition value of the meal. The lady there, Ms. McGuire, told us of the trials of the folks in the area, and how it's just so hard for people to sustain themselves since the furniture and garment industries have moved out.

These comments followed us throughout our morning, with tidbits of political discussion.

Andy got his first flat, and a half really. We played with my brakes on the bike, which are rubbing a bit. Had some snacks and tried to be patient with each other. So far successfully. The rode a lot along and around 81 which wasn't always as pretty as the previous day's ride and the difference in air quality was immediately apparent to us. Getting up to Wytheville was pretty spectacular though and Andy rode down to the shop while I typed this. So we should be on our way. We are hoping to hit Sugar Grove tonight, but it's already later than we imagined so we'll see.

We miss you all and love all your comments. They keep us going.

Day 10 and the middle of 11, Smith Mtn Lake to Salem and off

Andy at the Lake.

We still love each other. (for now... :)

Andy finishing off our breakfast. Yes, I posed both plates in front of him, but the finger and tongue are real time happenings.


Our stuff seems to have dried out from the Tstorms a few nights ago. Andy really did a fantastic job navigating yesterday for 11 hours! (We checked Google maps, and it looks like we went 95 miles!)

We have gotten off late today though, but not without its pleasures. We very awkwardly started our 3rd campfire. Andy commented that if he had an entire forest of dry wood he probably couldn't start one, but we did after many minutes and much smoke and without the aid of gas. Packed out tent, did a very good yoga session, spoke to a couple of the camp hosts (we have our eyes on some of you to get on this track- more on that later- very civilian jobs), and then we biked the couple miles down to the lake. Stupendous. Everyone should go and stay a week and get a floating device of some sort to go exploring with. We wanted to dive in, but knew, as it was already after 11 that we should really get our tails going.

We didn't go too far until we stopped at the White House Restaurant for some Mexican Chili Salad and their Hamburger Plate special. I will not say too much about this food, except that it was delicious in the moment, too much in the end, but we didn't really have to eat anything again until we got to Salem.

The dirt is definitely a solid red now. Brown dirt is just a memory. The wildflowers seem to be a bit more vivid springing forth from it anyway. Our bodies are really tight, and we are very grateful to only have about 40 miles cut out for us today.

Vinton, Roanoke, and Salem came upon us quickly and fortunately. Andy gave some version of ASL "I love you" to some people with bikes on the back of their car and they subsequently pulled over a few blocks later and waited to talk to us. Retired and probably in their 60s they had recently biked the Bike Rt 1 South the the Florida Keys, then the Southern Route across the USA and up to Oregon. Over 8000 miles people. These guys were tough and seemed pretty normal :) They were on their way to pick up the grandkids.

We stopped to refuel our trail mix/Clif bar stash at the Roanoke Natural Food Co-op, stopped at a great outdoor store on Apperson Rd. to get tent repair, and ended up picking up a variety of other items. We would immediately feel the new sensation of added weight in our packs.

Made it to Salem by 6. Had delicious roast by the famous chef Aunt Tish, had wonderful hugs from Tish, Ben, and Jane. Saw Jane's illustrious garden, and Ben introduced us to a new beautiful side of Google maps, recommended we either take a road flare or cotton balls with us on our journey to help us with our campfire challengedness (both are good suggestions, we are trying to pick the one that's more our style).

Slept brilliantly, and were off this morning. Up Catawba mountain via 311, I can't believe it at this moment, spoke to a lovely past thru-hiker of the A.T. up there and then cruised down the other side (a very chilly morning), and then, we met the Bicenteniall Trail, the Bike Route 76, the original TransAmerica trail which will hopefully hopefully lead us to safety in Oregon.

Now in Christiansburg. Times up!

Bonding to our seats: Day 9

Woke up this morning, but barely.

The night provided some delicious thunderstorms that began as Andy finished up his yoga practice. They lit up the tent, and unfortunately for Andy, we had gotten a few holes in our rain fly, so he progressively scooted closer and closer to my side of the tent over the course of the evening. We had quite a puddle at the foot of the tent by the end of the night. But nature is pretty nifty, and we were energized by the storm, at least to by tent patch tape.

What a day it turned out to be. We didn't get out of our campsite until 7:30 which was a bit later than we were hoping. We had set ourselves a good challenge of getting to Smith Mountain Lake S.P. by the end of the evening, estimating about 75 miles, but what an underestimation.

Fortunately the weather was very good to us and the countryside was gorgeous, wish you were here stuff. The headwinds kept us fairly cool, but they could be fierce, especially when they hit about half way up a steep incline that you were really already panting on.

We went through so many spaces and ultimately, I am totally amazed at what our bodies could and would do when asked. I look down at my legs with a renewed sense of gratitude. My legs, back, hands, feet, heart, lungs, were all totally pooped by the end of today's journey. By the end of the day, I felt like someone had given me too hard a smack on the back.

We saved 2 turtles from near death today (1 yesterday). It is so sad to see them squished. They are so cool, but they really like to cross the road and not quickly enough apparently.

This is exhausted me at what we labeled "Hay Henge". The bales have a lot of personality. This was MY 4th flat right before we doglegging onto Rt. 626 (Andy is still at 0.). The road behind us looks gorgeous, but its gravel and incline had a lot of bite!

I feel like we can't even remember the day in great detail, because we didn't dismount our bikes at the camp until almost 7:30 pm. (Although we did stop before quite often, lastly at the White House Market for some SALAD! Yay veggies! and apples! WOO HOO!) Stopping was not as easy as we urbanites were used to however, and it was pretty sad to see most of the few shops along our route, especially on 626 were closed and out of business. We really started wondering what these folks were doing for a living and how they were getting along. The thriving community was around the lake where, aside from the state park, there is a lot (dare I say too much?) commercial development. The lake is enormous and has a ton of shoreline because it winds in and out, so there is much real estate available to those who didn't grow up Appalachia style.

We were able to get a campfire going and have some tea at the campsite, shower, check for ticks, and hit the hay. We are not really expecting to be mobile tomorrow. We haven't really seen the lake except for a few glimpses, and have a shorter day tomorrow to Salem, so we are trying to listen to ourselves and take it a bit easy. Now sweet sweet sleep.

The first day back after Richmond, Day 8

Our first day back on our bikes and I have to say that it was a fairly mild one comparatively speaking. We probably did just under 60 miles, but our timing was really on the ball. (I guess when you set out from your parents' house there is not too much that can go astray.) We left their loving arms and camera flash at about 5:30am, and by 12:45 we were in our camp destination, Twin Lakes State Park just south of Farmville. The terrain had been pretty good to us and the map that Dad lent us led us down some pretty secluded roads and beautiful country. We passed very few signs of "civilization", i.e. the gas station. We took Hull St. (360) to Genito Rd. (604) which we stayed on for almost the entire day, then 616 to 307 briefly, 616, 460, 607, 621, and 629. Much of this was marked with the Bike Rt. 1 although I'm not exactly sure where we picked it up and where we left it.

The park is pretty gorgeous. We went swimming in our semi-opaque undies, had an ice cream cone (for like a dollar, when does that happen!), made dinner, ate it, had silence because we have many hours to kill before bed, took naps with the flies on the picnic table benches, from which we were rudely awoken by some very low flying fighter jets. The campsite is a bit surreal, all gravel and like an empty trailer park, there is almost no one else here. We made our first campfire for dinner to save our cooking gas. Spent $32 dollars today including our delicious barbecue gas station sandwich. It was actually pretty tasty. Tomorrow the hills will start for real, and I can't help be a bit nervous. Yoga always helps that.

Yes. It is a campfire.

The final days until our rest in sunny Richmond

Day 6

We awoke about 5 to pack ourselves up, eat the enormous breakfast quiche we had bought the night before from Eddie's (a short walk from C&B's), and be on our way. However, we found our hosts had arisen also to meet us at the wee hours of the morning, which was a delightful surprise to get to talk to them about the symphony they had seen the night before, Claudia's own musical abilities, their travels and life journeys and sip good tea. (We hope to make a pot for you in Brooklyn soon!) They waved us goodbye and prepared to embark on their own stoop sale project.

So we were off through Baltimore and since it was about 6am on Sunday morning, we were in good shape to cruise through it freely, as if everyone had been told to lock themselves away during our joyride through town. Straight down Charles St., the city was quite pretty. We flew by numerous churches and Johns Hopkins enjoying the already-wet early morning breeze. (I think the rock of quiche in my stomach helped propel us forward at a faster rate.) We wound our way down to the M&T stadium, where we met a biker who was on his way to a city-wide bike ride, who gave us the most efficient directions thus far on our trip. From Hollins Ferry Rd to Hammond's Ferry Rd. to River Rd., we went through some of the more depressed areas of time. Most were still asleep here too, but the character of the city changed completely in a few short blocks. The extremes we had just past through saddened us quite a bit. Many still separate and certainly not equal.

River Rd. introduced us to a few more friendly bikers and to our second flat tire, also acquired by yours truly (on the other bike) right at the crossing of mosquito-infested Patapsco S.P. We couldn't figure out what had caused the flat this time exactly, which haunted us later.

River Rd. took us to Race Rd. which then dead-ended into highway 100, and began again a few streets over. A man there told us the highway had clean divided in neighborhood in half and had separated family who had lived next door to each other all their lives. The road the reconnected the two sides a few long blocks over didn't even sport a sidewalk or shoulder for these folks to pass over. So we were a little upset by this and how car-centric things can sometimes be. But the man was very helpful and got us back to the proper road. A pretty hilly journey at this point, we were passed for the second time by another helpful biker who described the country as NSA saturated, saying that we were lucky to be here on a Sunday when secrets had a day off.

O.k. so this is getting pretty specific, we passed several high security prisons, helped anther biker with a flat tire (thank goodness we could contribute somehow!), got a little lost, got really hot, and then saw the sign: M.

So we headed for this M, the Greenbelt Metro. Now about 1pm, we loaded our smelly selves onto the last car and headed into D.C. So we 'cheated' a little bit, but hopefully most of you won't hold that against us. Refueled at Starbucks (to the detriment of our reputation) and then had a lovely lounging on the Mall, toured the newish WWII monument, talked to some fearless ducks who were very interested in our food, watched a soccer game, and refueled our Solio solar charger (this charges my phone, ishuffle, and other things with compatible attachments...got it from Paragon sports, $99, recommended!)

After a few hours we were re-energized and set off across the Lincoln bridge onto the Mount Vernon trail (which takes you right down the Potomac for a while and then into nice wooded areas, and past hot hot Reagan airport) which let us off right close to Christie's house.

First we met Norman however, a trail patrol gentleman who kindly escorted us all the way to our destination, and gave us some good advice which was to change the course of our trip. That was this introduction: http://www.adventurecycling.org/, which we found to have a plethora of information that we, and those we love, crave to know! Hurrah! Maps you can order listing routes with bike shops, campgrounds and other lodgings, post offices, rest stops, elevation, and other tidbits every curious and occaisionally lost biker dreams of.

Christie took us for a dip in the pool which felt amazing and then we set off for Rustico which turned out to have a delicious gluten-free pizza crust made from chick-pea flour, yummy!

Day 7

After Christie dispatched us with Luna bars (thank goodness!) the night before, around 6 we got back on the Mount Vernon Trail in Alexandria and took it about another 15 miles.

It was great to see lots of people biking to work on what was shaping up (we later found out) to be a 100+ day, even in the shade. The trail was lovely and gave us some beautiful views of the river. Then we got onto 235? which took us briefly onto Rt. 1. We were trying to find the Rt. 1 bicycle route which would help take us to Fredericksburg, but eventually this "well-marked" route was not so much the case, and during our 70+ miles ride of about 15 turns we probably saw about 4 signs. There were however some paved bicycle/pedestrian walks on the Rt. 1 which were a blessing as the shoulder was quite narrow.

Our journey (mostly around Quantico) took us down these routes:

Lorton

Old Bridge Rd.

Prince William Parkway (3000)

642

234

619

646, where there was a great little convenience market and just about every person in there gave us some fabulous directions and set us strait. We loaded up on some beef jerky, powerade, fresh wings, and trail mix.

611

612

610

612

646

616

17

Rt 1

3

The countryside was very beautiful, although I think our total on roadkill hit the 50 mark, which saddened us (everything from turtles and snakes to deer and raccoons). When we came upon the sign "You Cap 'Em, We'll Bag 'Em!" we were wondering if we could somehow make better use of these flattened lives. But like most thoughts on this trip that don't pertain directly to your legs, it was fleeting. But the country really was beautiful. Apparently we are not the only ones who think so, because there are lots of Estate Homes for sale.

But around 2, we were really read to hit 17, see strip malls, and V-line for Fredericksburg.

We actually had made really good time and were pretty proud of ourselves, so when we pulled up to the main drag in downtown historic Freddiesburg and we heard 'whoosh' we knew there was a bit more work to be done before feasting.

Again MY tire was flat, and this time we figured out that the tire needed replacing. A very nice local gave us directions to the bike shop a few blocks down by the Rappahanock and where we discovered that the brake pad had been gouging my tire a bit. The fellow at the shop also told us the tires were probably over ten years old and kindly sold us some that weren't dry-rotting, and he nicely let us change out the tires in the comfort of the AC of his shop.

We searched a bit for Spanky MacAdoos (it's gone though!) and settled instead on JBrian's PubHouse, where we tried to arrange lodging at a KOA campsite, but it was going to be $30! So Andy, without too much prodding, made the call to Liberty Town Arts Center, a great place we used to deal with when we worked for Campbells (where we met back in the day), and asked if we could sleep in their paved outdoor area. So Ellie and Dan Finnegan (the owner) made it happen and we spent another night in the comfort of our tent, with bathrooms, and without having to ride another mile for the day. We were left to simply crash and get a scoop of ice cream. Crash we did. I fell asleep in a plastic chair about 7:30, and Andy was in the tent by 8. When I woke up I couldn't go back to sleep. It was soooo hot and sweaty. I was worried that we would lose too much water just sleeping. I felt like my sleeping bag that I was trying to just lay on top of was soaking up my sweat like a sponge and becoming totally saturated. I contented myself with reading Atonement until the sun finally dropped and the night cooled off a bit. Andy's and my bodies were really cooking though. The tent seemed a good 5 degrees hotter inside than the air was outside. The only way I got to sleep eventually was with a cold waterbottle resting on my forehead.

Day 8 and a break

We had agreed to get up even a bit earlier to try to beat more of the heat, so at 4 we got up, packed, ate breakfast, and set out for Rt 2 (Fredericksburg Pkwy) for Richmond! Yay! This took us straight the whole way, so we make really excellent time. We had 2nd breakfast in Bowling Green where the local cafe goers kept us entertained with their jovial and sometimes biting banter. We kept on this route till it merged with 301. The route was very pleasant esp. where there were only 2 lanes of traffic because we got nice tree cover. We stopped again several times for snacks, in Dawn, near a juvenile detention center, where the fellow at the counter showed us the gov't issued book on how not to sell to people under the age of 21 (seems obvious, but who knows). We made it through sprawling Hanover into Richmond where our memories of streets collided a bit, but fortunately the truth eventually revealed itself.

Mama was waiting for us, and we were happy to see her and clean ourselves up.

So now we'll have been here from last Wed. until today, Sun. June 15th (Happy Pa's Day Pa!) We've relaxed, and rushed around, tuned up our bikes with the help of Agees, and Richmond Re-cycle (who let us fix our bikes right in front of their shop with us running back inside every 5 minutes or so with a question), seen our good friend Britt and her lovely beau Brendan tie the knot, celebrated a bit with Dad, and now, a little fatter, we are preparing for the next (much longer leg of our journey).

Tomorrow we hope to make it to Twin Lakes S.P., then to Lynchburg, Roanoke and then Christiansburg. That's when we get to start following our awesome TransAm maps from Adventure Cycling. We are trying not to get a knot in our knickers about the Appalachians (which are said to be a harder bike climb than the Rockies!), but I think it may be forming anyway.

On y V.A.!

Day 5 A Hot One!

We awoke in a thick mist about 6. It is taking us about 1 1/2 to get up and get everything prepared to leave, cooking our first breakfast of coffee and oatmeal. This sort of breakfast got us through the first 2 1/2 hours of riding. The thick, thick fog remained and seemed to hold a force field of resistance against us and teamed up against us with big longish hills (probably only fractions of what is to come, but we are still in 'training' right?) and then, when the fog begain to clear, the oppressive heat set in, by 9:20 in the morning we were already chomping at the bit for some inside time and another meal, 2nd breakfast like a good Hobbit would have. I think we ended up eating off of rt. 23 in a place called Madonna House, which sounds exotic, but is really just at the tail end of a strip mall. Biscuits and gravy, western omelet, we definitely did not hold back. We are smearing everything with all the condiments in site too. I know I've been eating wheat too because my head is totally going nuts.

With our new calorie boost, we were able to enjoy the scenery a bit more, and the riding was very pretty, lots of small farms lined with trees, and fortunately for us the hills seemed to be rolling predominately downhill for us. I couldn't have imagined going the opposite direction at that moment. We made it down by Monkton where we got on a great trail NCR (Northern Central Railroad) that runs along the Gunpowder River. We were on this for maybe 10-15 miles. Stuck our feet in the water to try to cool off, a friendly dog ate my socks (which were probably at the ideal dirt/sweat saturation level) but fortunately the owner and I were able to get him to return them with only 1 hole.

My head is still really hot from the day. I can't believe that I haven't cooled down by now. We are wearing sunblock but still getting a little fried, especially my left hand which is left exposed and random parts of my left leg. I have some fears that nature and pavement and our own physical limitations will prevent this awesome journey from happening. But mostly these thoughts come and go.

However we are safely stretched out on Claudia and Bill's couch, who we haven't even met, but fixed us a delicious tea and left us a fruit salad (with mint, it was so good!) and opened up their entire house to us. Some people are amazing. (Including all of you beauties who keep our spirits up with your comments! We miss you!) We met these folks through http://www.couchsurfing.com/ which is a network of people who let each other travel via the others 'couches' or whatever flat surface they have available. Their house is charming and lived in and we seem to have similar interests in food.

Getting here was a bunch of hot asphalt after we left our nice trail. We stopped at a Chili's and had bottomless flavored ice teas for about 2 hours because we just couldn't continue in the heat. We had already stopped for 1 hour under some nears near an office park, but I made the mistake of asking a geared up passing biker for directions (it turned out that I was not getting very accurate energy readings from the people I asked for help this day). He came over and gave us some befuddled directions, but then he began to tell us his most intimate life story, beginning with how he had been a widower for 6 six years and peaking with his past addiction to internet, um, stuff. Hopefully our encounter was of some help to him, because it totally sapped us of all our reserves of energy and sympathy. So we probably only were able to do 50 miles today. We've been averaging a little over 60.

Tomorrow we hope to get through Baltimore through DC to stay with my oldest friend Christie in Alexandria. We will try to leave super early to get out of the heat as soon as possible.

Day 4, PA into MD

Today we left there early- about 7am, after being waved off by 2/3rds of the crew. Stacy was a great help with getting us onto sites about maps, trails, and campsites. She got us on track for a bike path back to Rt. 30 business in Downingtown proper, where we found our morning diner- Chef's that smelled a bit like history. In contrast with the Frazer diner where we ate before this place was still empty except for the Chef himself and the 'dishwater blond' waitress (The both of them were classic for their respective roles.) watching Fox News and Friends, a totally weird name for a show as it sounds like PBS children's special. Chef gave us a dose of his politics, regarding the new UN president and warned us that the US would probably now be invaded, but his eggs were good, although a bit excessive (3!)

Then we were off and onward to 372 and 10, passing a lot of little towns, all with very different flavors. The things Andy and I noticed about the towns were not always congruent, which provided an indication about how nothing could ever possibly be objective.

Rolling farms, both the organic Amish, whose stand we stopped at to have the most delicious strawberries I have ever tasted, gluten-free coconut carob cookies, and fresh snow peas for dinner, but there was also Herr's potato and angus farm and factory. This area totally wreaked of cow manure in a not-so-healthy way.

A bit further down we stopped at the Neuchatel Swiss chocolate factory (this was a day of satisfying our sweet teeth), where we purchased four chocolates that began to melt in our hands, a honey bee, dark chocolate ginger, a caramel cream, and a mint. Highly recommend, although apparently purchasing chocolate doesn't qualify you for using their restrooms.

272, 273, more stops, each without public restrooms (I thought that this was just an NYC thing, but apparently it extends far beyond), of course it was a McDonalds that finally answered our bladders' prayer, but we were simultaneously depressed by the long line of cars waiting to pull through the drive through.

The hills got much steeper and longer in MD after we merged with Rt 1. The dialogue going through my head got pretty monotonous, yay downhill, whee, oh durn, better start pedaling, my legs, my chest, groan, why do we have all this junk!!! yay downhill! then the heat that had been foretold started to descend in a serious way, the sky cleared up, our pores opened and offered sweat up tothe sun gods.

We crossed the Conowingo dam over the Susquehanna (where this beautiful hawk soared beside us the entire way across, as if protecting us from the traffic, watching his seemingly effortless flying our burden seemed a bit lighter.) We ate a delightful lunch of granola, trail mix and clif bards in the park across the way, picked up some bike maps, and filled up on water. Andy only jumped twice because of a daddy longlegs.

We left around 3:20 to head to the Pines Camp grounds, but now the heat was on! Lathered up with suntan lotion our sweat seemed even more slippery and those hills were a b*t$#! We turned right onto Rt 623 and then onto Castleton way where we began our ultimately unsuccessful search for these campgrounds. Grumpy and hot, all we wanted was a successful conclusion to our good day. Ultimately, using newly discovered maps, we found ourselves at a BoyScout camp, which I had no interest in dealing with and was ready to pitch a tent back in t he woods. The ranger's welcoming home was unfortunately empty, so we headed into hte Boy Scout camp, fortunately Andy had good instincts and determinations at this point. Ultimately we made our way down "Cardiac Hill" while I complained that we were just going to have to come back up it. The ranger Andy ultimately encountered, the generous Paul Semke, ()while I waited at the Scout store checking out merit badges), was super nice, had sympathy, and rented us the campsite for super cheap, when it should have been $50. Thank you Paul!!! So we were able to cook our first dinner of Punjab eggplant and snow peas, do some yoga on pallets, and avoid wasp stings. And there were showers (yay!) We did however have to go back up the hill.

So we are realizing that the trick to doing this is to be like the little engine that could. (awww) If your heart and/or head believe that you will get up that hill or whatever, your body will cooperate, but if you let yourself be lazy, your body will scream bloody murder at you, and you will find yourself on the side of your bike pushing it up that hill and rubbing grease on your growing calf muscle.

Even though we slept on a pallet (not so comfy) and it was on a slant (so we kept sliding down into the bottom of our tent), we got to sleep without the raincover and look up at these beautiful trees and listen to the gorgeousness of the bugs and reptilian songs.

more pics...

our first flat....

our lovely abode at the start of Day 3...

Day 2 Photos

after breakfast...yummm!

leaving NJ...

love on the Delaware...

in PA...

'Riding Prohibited'

Day 1 Photos

don't judge our mood by our expressions, but look Andy's wearing a helmet!


awaiting the ferry to NJ...

Our first few trials

So it's official. We are totally insane. But so far we think it is a good insane. You can decide.

Day 1:

After taking the ferry from Battery Park around 11:30 am to NJ, our exit strategy became slightly hazardous (let's just say Newark isn't for lovers, or bikers). The bridge we crossed had a
post-apocalyptic feel to it, lots of bike trucks with a mix of alien plant life.

But onwards, we saw our first grass at our lunch (of Trader Joe's Chicken Chili) in a nice big park, took a nap and did some lazy yoga.

So our goal was Princeton, which we didn't quite make. Biking along became more pleasant as fragrant flowers and honeysuckle appeared on the sides of our routes. Apparently we are a bit naive about campsites too. We just assume that America loves a tent, but apparently it does not.

About 8pm, with some limbs in shock, we discover the D&R Canal State Park and some nice folks there who tell us about the history of this Revolutionary town and let us sample there very good water (2nd best in NJ, it was quite good) and they sanctioned our illegal camping just across the way in the town preserve. We set up camp pretty quickly and went to bed without an official supper as it was about to pour!

Day 2: Up at 6:30. And grateful for no ranger intervention. Still rainy/misty and we're off to Princeton for a big dish of buckwheat pancakes, coffees, corned beef hash, and other good things at PJ's Pancake House. Really pretty area, and right outside we found a great bike trail that we were able to follow for a while and meander through the greenness and the mist.

We keep stopping for breaks and to ask if anyone sells 'white gas.' So we bought this cooking stove from Tents and Trails (the best store ever-thank you Molly and Bill!), which runs on white gas, but they won't actually sell it in NYC for security reasons, so we keep asking (finally end up buying a half gallon of it from a Big K-- not super smart)

Once we cross into PA, it really hits us... this is gorgeous and we are out of shape for hills! Especially with all our gear, may have to dispose of some of that. I only want my legs to be so big by the end of this trip.

Take a long rest in Philly in Germantown. Yummy mango tea smoothie from The Hill Tea Bar.

A few wrong turns, lots of rain, and one flat tire, but eventually, around 6pm we end up at Valley Forge NP off of 23. YAY! There is a beautiful bike trail here, Schuykill (sp?) that is part of the in process East Coast Greenway. But there are no camp grounds! Oh no! We are shocked (uninformed) and a bit depressed, so we get back on our bikes and follow the trail, secretly hoping to sneak off under a tree and set up camp. A truly beautiful park, at this point it is POURING! But we think that this is probably a true Valley Forge experience.

Then stranger 1 enters our lives. He is standing under a tree on the bike path, no umbrella, arms folded. Asks us where we are going, if we're alright, offers a ride. We decline a ride, but take some directions to an Extended Stay. So we continue down the trail until it ends, still scoping out sites, but this stranger is waiting for us at the bottom of the trail. So we continue, then another turn, the covered bridge, and he is there. We follow a really pretty and quiet road through some farmland/big houses place, and again, at the end he is there. A little weird guardian angel man. Come to a "Inn and Bar" and go to check the rooms, but apparently the name is deceiving and it is simply a bar. Our Innkeeper turns up out of the bar however, stranger II, a man named Dan, with a plan for us to camp in his office parking lot just up the hill. THANK YOU DAN! So there is our place of rest for the eve, amongst the disposed of satellite dishes, keyboards, and other industrial park monuments. It was exactly what we needed. After realizing that we miscommunicated about matches, we had a dinner of clif bars, raw potato, powdered milk and beef jerky. Yum! (really!)

Day 3
More rain in the night, so things are still soaked. We are pretty wet, but know that sweet sweet Downingtown with Andy's bro is close at hand, and we plan to spend the day drying out and writing this great literature.

Stop at the Frazer Diner on Lancaster Ave in Frazer for some tasty, hot, breakfast, and end up chatting with a fellow and his pa next to us. The younger fellow and his brother do quite a bit of biking and they gave us some needed camaraderie and directions. They left, and we followed shortly after, only to be told that they had paid our check! How nice! Thank you strangers 3&4! I am girly and get teary and we are really feeling touched. The ride seems much easier after that.

We also met a lady who told us about a network of horse people we might be able to camp with.

So now here we are cleaned up and dry in Downingtown, safe in the arms of family, writing this blog, and reassessing our camping strategy. Tomorrow onward to Susquehana State Park.

Thank you all for your help! Those who we know, and those we don't!