Last Few Miles - 10/17/18

It rained on me quite a bit last night, but eventually stopped and then the winds came.  The winds almost completely dried my tent's rain fly.  Woke up to much cooler weather, and a nice sunrise.

Rode around Pulaski some before heading out of the town.  Below is a pic of the Pulaski County Courthouse.

I was impressed with Pulaski's city sign.  They even have it nicely decorated for Fall (pic below).

Last night, my wife, Lisa, sent me some information about the Blue Ridge Fudge Lady in Pulaski.  The owner, Robin, use to work with Lisa's cousin, Krisa.  I went by the store at about 8:30 a.m. this morning, but unfortunately, it does not open till 11:00 a.m.  While I was standing in front of the store taking a picture of the storefront for Lisa to send to Krisa, Robin, the store's owner came by, so I snapped a pic of the 2 of us for Lisa to send to Krisa.

As I was looking at the photo, I wondered what the black thing was under my neck.  It was then that I realized my shirt was inside out and backwards.  That's what happens when you get dressed in a dark tent.  Oh well.

So now in Pulaski, I have met the bicycle guy and the fudge lady.  Can't wait for my next trip here to see who else I might meet.

I headed out of Pulaski on the Dora Trail. The pic below shows damage to the trail from recent flooding.  There were a few sections of the trail in this condition.  On those sections, I chose to "hike a bike" because those are large, loose rocks.

The Dora Trail connects with the New River Trail.  I rode on it to Draper, Virginia.

The New River Trail runs on an old abandoned railway.  Below is a pic of one of the trestles on the trail.

In Draper, I got on an I-81 frontage road and stayed on it until I arrived at Fort Chiswell, Virginia, where I  will meet Bob and ride back to Chattanooga (in his van) with him.

Total miles biked today:  25 (a lot more in a van) :)

Pulaski, Virginia - 10/16/18

My 2 comrades left me today.  As planned, they rode to Roanoke and rented a car to drive back to Dickerson, Maryland, to pick up their cars.  They will spend the night in Dickerson and then head for their respective homes tomorrow.  I will meet Bob somewhere along I-81 tomorrow and hitch a ride back to Chattanooga with him.

I continued riding on nice rural Virginia back roads, but got on busier roads for short distances a couple of times.  Below are some pics of my scenery today.

At one point during my ride, I had a half a mile climb up the gravel road pictured below.

Pics of a couple more structures that have seen their better days.

The photo below is my favorite Fall decoration I've seen this trip.

I went through Blacksburg, home of Virginia Tech.  I ate a super-sized burrito (pic below) at Chipotles in Blacksburg.  It was wrapped in 2 tortillas.  The first tortilla they put it on tore, so they put the fixings on a different tortilla.  I asked if they were going to throw the torn tortilla away, and they asked if I wanted it. I said yes, so they wrapped it around my burrito.

I'm camping in a backyard in Pulaski tonight.  I stayed at this house a few years ago when I was biking the Heart of Appalachian Bicycle Route. Mike, the owner of the house, owns a bike shop in Pulaski.  I texted him last night to see if I could camp at his place tonight, and he graciously allowed me to do so.

This trip has been fantastic.  Bob plotted out a great route, and did a good job finding camping places every night.  It has been fun riding with Bob and Mike.

Total miles today:  81

Troutville, Virginia - 10/15/18

I'm glad we were able to camp under a covered pavilion last night because it rained quite a bit.

We rode through Lexington, Virginia, today.  Lexington is home to the Virginia Military Institute and Washington and Lee University.

Most of our miles today took us along streams and creeks.  The roads had very little traffic on them and it was very enjoyable listening to the soothing sound of the flowing creeks while we were riding.  Below are pics of some of these streams.

There were even a few small waterfalls to enjoy.

There were several structures along our route, some of which time has obviously gotten the best of, that I think appropriately reflects the rural environment in which we were riding (pics below).

There was this interesting grinding wheel sitting beside the road and Mike took a pic of it.

I went to Natural Bridge State Park and walked almost 2 miles to see all the sights at the park. It was all very impressive.

Pictured below is Lace Waterfall at the State Park.

Below is a pic of the natural bridge.  It is 215 feet high, 40 feet thick, 100 feet wide with a 90 foot span between the walls.  The Lee Highway, U.S. Highway 11, passes over it.

Below is the Monacan living history exhibit.

Below is a pic of the palisade, which was a defensive structure designed to protect the inhabitants from wild animals and territorial infringements.

Somehow, Bob wound up riding his bicycle on the Appalachian Trail, and the below pic was taken as he was coming off the trail :)

We are staying at the Troutville City Park tonight.  Below are pics of our camp sites there.  Again, we are fortunate to be underneath shelters.

I met Sean ( pictured below) who is also camping at the park.  He is from Seattle and is biking from Seattle to Yorktown, Virginia.  He has been on the road for about 2 and 1/2 months.

Total miles today:  60

Duck Mallard Campground - 10/14/18

We had a short ride from Afton to the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Let me give you a small taste of our ride experience today. Climb long mountain grades, rain enough to get thoroughly wet, sub 50 degree temperature, then screaming down mountain grades at 25+ mph.  Do you know how cold that gets you?  We do, and it's chilled to the bone cold.  But it was still a blast and a great day.

I'll just let the pics below speak for the beauty of our surroundings today. Twenty-seven of our miles were on the Blue Ridge Parkway.  As usual, the pictures do not do the views justice.

I met Neal (pic below), a touring cyclist from Quebec City, Canada, at a visitor's center on the Parkway.  He is riding from Quebec City to Dallas, Texas. We rode together for about 20 miles today.  He is posting his adventures on the Crazy Guy on a Bike website under Quebexas.

Below is a photo of Mark (on left) and Corey, who are touring on the Parkway as a "shakedown" ride for a cross country bicycle ride next year on the Adventure Cycling Association Northern Tier Route.  Mark is really "chomping at the bit" to retire.  And Neal, who has been retired for about 5 years, and I were really encouraging him to do so as long as he can financially afford to.

We made to the Duck Mallard Campground, and were able to pitch our tents under a pavilion to help keep everything dry in case it rains.  The water in the shower was very warm and we 3 probably drained the 90-gallon hot water heater trying to warm up after our ride.

Total miles for the day:  43

Afton, Virginia - 10/13/18

We were fortunate to be sleeping on a front porch this morning because it came a short shower before we woke up. Since we were on the porch, we avoided having to take down a wet tent.

We went through Charlottesville, Virginia, and the town was hopping because tonight is the University of Virginia's homecoming game against Miami.  I cruised through the campus and took a pic of the rotunda.

After leaving Charlottesville, we rode on some country roads and could tell we were headed for the mountains (pics below).

Our first bike mechanical issue happened today.  My rear tire developed a slow leak.  I removed the tire and found the leak.  I determined it was caused by the duct tape that I used on my last tour to boot the tire. I put a patch over the hole, pumped the tire back up, and went on my way.  Pic of bike stripped down with rear wheel removed.

We made it to Afton, Virginia, and will be staying at the "Cookie Lady's" house tonight.  For years she provided cross country cyclists with cookies and a place to sleep.  She passed away in 2012, but her residence is still used by cyclists.  Below are pics of my camping spot and the memorial at her house.

Total miles today:  59