Day 5: 2/28/24: Clinch River Family Campground to Ceres, VA

As I was talking to Lisa on the phone last night in my tent, she heard the treefrogs in the background.  They were not singing continuously, but were sporadic in a pretty regular routine.  She said that sound would keep her awake at night.  I didn't even notice the sound until she brought it to my attention, but it is a calming sound to me and did not interrupt my sleep.

On the other hand, the coughing guy in the tent near mine, and the dude that kept getting something out of his truck then using his key fob to lock it with the following "beep", now they woke me up a couple of times.  

I slept solid for a few hours and woke up at 2 a.m. Eastern Time. I considered getting up and leaving then, but decided not to.  It's good I didn't because a short time later, it began to rain, which it did sporadically all night.  Breaking camp in the rain is not fun.  I ended up taking a cat nap and woke back up at 3 a.m.  I decided to go ahead and break camp and go.  Plan worked well as the rain held off while breaking camp, and the traffic was very light, even on U.S. Hwy 58/23/421.  It's never a good sign when a road has 3 numbers.

Highway 58/23/421 is a busy divided highway with a 60 mph speed limit and people going much faster.   I was on it, as there was no way around it, for about 2 miles.  It has maybe a 3 foot shoulder with about a 1 foot rumble strip on it. Not a fun road to ride on, but traffic was light this morning due to the time.

I enjoy riding before sunrise when the world seems so relaxed and calm.  I get to hear and enjoy all the nighttime critters making their sounds.  Even the short rain shower I rode through this morning didn't dampen (no pun intended) my enjoyment.

I have always found on bicycle tours that even interrupted, limited sleep does not hurt the enjoyment.  No matter how little sleep I get the night before, the next day when I get on the bike and start pedaling I feel refreshed. I guess it's the fresh air in the lungs and blood flow that invigorates me.

The only pic I took today was of the sleepy little town of Mendota (below). I mainly took that pic to see if I could figure out how to get my pictures to post correctly.

(Maybe so)

As I was riding along this morning, I could tell 2 weather fronts were competing.  I'd be riding along, feel somewhat warm humid weather and then run into a cooler autumn like crispness in the air.  I knew there was a high probability for rain.  After about 50 miles, it happened.  The bottom fell out and buckets of rain drenched me. The wind, fortunately it was mostly at my back, began blowing hard, and thunder erupted.  I wasn't about to pull over and try to wait it out and give up that nice tailwind.  There was one point when I noticed the wind had a strange sound, and on the hill beside me I saw 2 trees break from the force of the wind.  I then started noticing the trees that were hanging over the road I was on and thought to myself, "This helmet's not going to help much if one of those breaks." The temperature started dropping rather rapidly while I was still about 30 miles from my final destination.  The rain never completely quit until I was a few miles from my final destination for the day, so I arrived completely soaked and chilled to the bone with my entire body shivering uncontrollably.

I am staying indoors tonight at the Bear Garden Hiker Hostel in Ceres. It is located next to the Appalachian Trail (AT) and they cater mainly to AT hikers.  Bob, the owner, said they have had a couple of cross country cyclists stay there also. I'm sure glad to be staying inside tonight since the forecasted low temp is 21 degrees.  I was the only one staying there.

Below are some pics of my accomodations.

Total miles today:  94.6

Day 4: 2/27/24: Norris, TN to Duffield, VA

I woke up at 4:30 a.m. and decided to pack up and hit the road.  I told my host last night that I sometimes wake up early and decide to start riding.  We said our farewells just in case, but he advised me I could have some oatmeal with him if I was still around.

Speaking of my host, Jeff, he told me an interesting, funny story about his bicycle touring.  He and his touring buddy did a lot of touring before Jeff got married, and his buddy always talked about biking across the country one day.  When Jeff got married, his buddy, who was an attorney, did a tongue in cheek prenuptial agreement for Jeff and Jenny that included a statement that she would let him do a cross country bicycle trip one day.  Well, they did that 2 month cross country trip when Jeff and Jenny had a 4 month old child.  I'm sure Jeff still owes her big for that trip :)

Today I went through the communities of Andersonville, Liberty Hill, Washburn, Thornhill and Treadway.  Other than a couple of Dollar General stores (of course), there's not much in any of these places.  Liberty Hill has Liberty Hill Market  which may become a regular stop for me on this route.  I like their egg sandwich with lettuce, tomato, and mustard, which I've had twice now. (Pics below)

(I have no idea why my pictures have started coming up sideways.)

There was a lot of beautiful rural scenery today on very lightly traveled roads. In the pic below, it looks as though the building and the bicycle have been abandoned for awhile.

I'm camping at the Clinch River Family Campground.  There's a primarily paved way to get to the campground, but it includes some highly trafficked roads.  I chose the back way to get there, which includes about 5 miles on a road with loose gravel and some short steep hills.  I had to walk my bike near the top of a couple of these hills due to lack of traction because of the loose rocks.

Total miles today: 90.4