Salty, Foggy, Cool Breeze (Days 54-60)

I can feel the ocean in the air as I draw closer to Yorktown, and I feel so excited to be nearing the coast. Virginia weather has been strange, three or four straight days of a pure gray sky, foggy mornings, and light rain on and off. Cold too, which is very surprising. It sometimes feels as I am riding towards the end of the world. On the mountains looking over the edge I just see pure white nothing. It’s very surreal.

>3800 miles

Day 53:
One mile into the day climbing up the first little hill and my chain breaks. Of course within 30 seconds it starts raining. Colby and I took shelter on someones porch, and I was able to use my chain tool to fix the chain. Colby had some extra links and parts that made fixing it pretty simple, and I was able to continue without having to lose any gears. I just crossed my fingers and prayed it would go another 200 miles to the next bike shop. After 67 miles we stayed at a church in Hindman, KY. We arrived expecting to camp at the historical society, but due to family illness they were closed. We got food and as we were leaving someone from the church stopped us and said we could stay in the church basement. How do I keep getting so lucky? We watched Lord of the Rings, then the guy came back and gave us two full cheese pizzas and a pie!
Day 54:
78 long hard miles through the hills, Colby and I ended in Haysi, VA, the final state. The motel there, our planned lodging for the night, was filled up so we set up our tents behind the library and passed out pretty hard.
Day 55:
69 miles to Damascus, VA and what a wonderful ride. The roads were all shaded, scenic, and quiet. Butterflies were flying around me as I climbed through the hills, and the sense of magic gave the climbs a great feeling. Arrived in Damascus early in the afternoon and hit the bike shop finally. New chain, new brake pads, new rear tire and I was back in business. This town was awesome though. It was an intersection of a few hiker/biker trails, so for a town of only 1000 people there were several bike stores, outfitters, hostels, and rental places. Stayed at a church hostel with Colby and got a good night of rest.
Day 56:
The town was too nice not to take a rest day (plus I was feeling beat), so Colby and I just hung around all day with some hikers at the hostel, traded stories, ate well, relaxed, and cleaned up. Good day.
Day 57:
Only one word can accurately described this day. Sloggy. The day started with Colby getting a flat, then progressed into a 62 mile ride through a non-stop downpour of cold rain. I stopped two hours for breakfast, waiting for the rain to stop, but it just kept going. I even took a nap at the table. Well, we got to Wytheville, VA and decided to just get a motel, dry out and warm up with some Chinese food.
Day 58:
58 miles to Christiansburg, VA. Adam and Jessy, from couchsurfing.org, were kind enough to host Colby and I in their awesome house. They drove us to a restaurant in Blacksburg and gave us a tour of Virginia Tech. Then we went back to their house and had some awesome debates and discussions for a couple hours. Both Adam and Jessy are incredibly smart PHD students which provided for some awesome conversation. Talking with them was awesome, their dog was awesome, the bed and shower they gave me was awesome, and I couldn’t be more thankful.
Day 59:
Adam and Jessy fed us a big healthy breakfast for the long day ahead, 102 miles to a hostel outside of Lexington, VA. Leaving Lexington for the last 8 miles to the hostel, I got honked at twice, screamed at three times by people hanging out the car window (one holding a bottle of liquor), and almost ran over by someone passing another car across a double yellow line. At the hostel the police knocked on our door thinking it was the office because of a domestic dispute in the campground. I feel as if I have now left the Midwest, and arrived in the East.
Day 60:
The last mountain, four miles of 10-12% grade into up and down climbs across the ridge, and I killed it. Did not even bother to set a foot down to rest while climbing. Any debates about the Appalachians being the hardest mountains on route are bogus. To any Westbound riders who read this, it was cake, your stories about them being incredibly difficult are being destroyed by riders from the West. <3. Half way through the day Colby and I stopped and met “The Cookie Lady,” an 89 year old woman who has been helping cyclists since 1976. She gave us food and some lengthy stories about “the good ol’ days” before we hit the road again. 70 miles, and we arrived at Colby’s house in Charlottesville, VA. His house is awesome and his parents were kind enough to take us out to a sweet restaurant. They really made me feel like part of their family. Thank you! I am so very glad I followed Colby up those hills to your house on the mountain.

Virginia country.

Moo.

Cookie Lady's hostel/museum. >30 years of bicycle rider collections.

You could spend days in this house and not have time to see everything.

Edge of the world.