July 27 - Jeff

July 27, 2013

Leftovers from last night.  We had our second campfire of the trip last night.  Jack needed to be a firebug for a while. He struggled a little, citing the “green wood”.  I played a few games of solitaire, going winless.  Sue played once and won.  Sue made a dinner with asparagus in it and strawberry shortcake for dessert.  Good shtuff.  At our campground, a little kid started crying around 9-10:00.  Didn’t stop until about 12:30.  Don’t know what they did for him or to him.  Then as soon as he stopped crying, the rain began and didn’t end until about 8:00.  Tents all wet.  Those of you who camp know what a mess it is to pack up the tents wet.  Yesterday, we saw a store called Shultzie’s.  Wytheville wins the award for the best water tower so far.  Painted like a hot air balloon, multiple colors.

Today, we left later than usual, waiting for a break in the rain.  That ended up being about the only break all day, as we rode in the rain almost the entire day.  As long as you didn’t stop, you really didn’t realize it was raining we were so wet.  Had to ride a little slower around the curves, but all in all, a good day of riding.  About 60 miles.  Beautiful countryside.  Streams.  A couple of rebel flags.  Several anti-Obama signs left over from the last election.   And a lot of nice homes.  Some so far up, you wonder if they airlifted them in.  We went through Radford, pop 15,140 home of Radford University.  Coach, I kept looking for signs commemorating your career at Radford.  Didn’t see any of those, but there was a “Whoa Nelly” real estate sign.  Then it was on to Christiansburg, pop 19,373. Beautiful subdivision jsust before the city. Then it was onto Ellet.  Stopped at a little gas station/food mart.  No lights on.  Power was out.  Coffee was not too warm.  But they were nice people and had free walter for cyclists.  Lot of nice homes on the way out of Ellet.  On the way to Ellet, there is this phantom bridge that looked like it was an expressway bridge, but one thing missing.  No cars.  Jack asked a local yokel about the bridge.  Dubbed the Smart Bridge.  The bridge cost an estimated $2 Billion according to the local, built with tax dollars by  Virginia Tech.  Different driving and weather conditions can be simulated on the bridge, from ice to snow, etc.  Toyota uses it for test drives evidently, or they used to.  The local was none too happy about the bridge being a taxpayer.  He said the bridge is referred to as the “dumb” bridge.  After Ellet, there were no services whatsoever until we got to Daleville, pop 2,257.  Trigger and Roy were nowhere to be seen. 

Today’s mailbox award is actually a repeat from one in Montana  or Idaho, a big fish with mouth open.

Traffic was almost nonexistent for most of the trip.  For a Saturday, I guess the rain kept people and dawgs inside.

We decided to Super 8 it tonight with the rain, wet tents, and wet clothes.  And we did Pizza Hut.  Really hit the spot.  So we are living large tonight besides no tents.

Tomorrow, we head for Lexington, about 50 miles.  Having a hard time locating a place to camp tomorrow.  Then, we are in position to attack our last major climb of the trip finally.  Just past the city of Vesuvius.  We call lit Mt. Vesuvius although that may not be the official name of the mountain.  Once we cross the mountain, we have smooth sailing into Yorktown.  Topography looks really flat compared to everything we have done.  Hopefully, it is not a delusion or a mirage.  Should take about two days to do the last part of the trip if all goes according to plan.  Landing in Yorktown sometime Wednesday.

We think rain is forecast for tomorrow.  Could be more of the same as today.

Thanks to all who recently donated to the Courage page.  Keeps me going.  Thank you.  Very encouraging.

Jeff, Jerry, Jack, and Sue