Fredericksburg, Virginia - 10/11/18

This morning started out in the rain.  It rained several minutes while we were breaking camp, but quit by the time we headed out.  We were thinking it was going to rain on us most of the day, but it actually just sprinkled on us a couple of times during most of our ride.  At about 4:30 p.m., about the time we made it to Fredericksburg, the bottom fell out of the clouds and the wind picked up.  We rode on busy streets in a driving rainstorm for about the last 1.5 hours of our ride today.

The rain was so bad that Bob and Mike decided to get a hotel room in Fredericksburg.

Our ride today took us on some nice Virginia country roads like the one pictured below.

We were primarily on U.S. Bike Route 1 today, and the route was pretty well marked with signs like the one below.

If you have had much of an extended conversation with me about bike touring, I'm sure you have heard some of the stories about the random acts of kindness from complete strangers that I've experienced.  Eric (pic below with Bob and Mike) pulled up beside us in his car and rolled down his window, and asked about our trip. We told him we were cycling to Roanoke.  He then drove ahead and pulled over, opened the back of his vehicle, and began pulling out cookies and granola bars to give to us.  We gratefully accepted his kindness.

I finally made it to the Spotsylvania Fire and Rescue Station Number 10, and walked up, soaking wet, to the Captain who asked if I was one of the cyclist camping at the facility for the night.  Bob had previously contacted the Chief and got permission for us to camp there.  The Captain went above and beyond with his kindness.  He allowed me to pitch my tent on a covered patio (pic below) so I would be out of the rain, and provided me with several towels to dry off my saturated camping gear.  He also let me take a warm shower.

All in all, it was another excellent day of bike touring.  As I'm laying in my tent typing this, the wind (and towels) have pretty much dried out my tent and my body has warmed up to a comfortable level after the warm shower.  All is good:)

Total miles today:  77