Field Trip 21

 Day 56 (or 57) We set it up so that the last day would be a short ride.  It was a smidge under 16 miles from our campsite to the pier at Yorktown.  Turns out our campsite was established in 1954.  The man who established it was a blacksmith. He did a lot of the decorative ironwork for the re-created Williamsburg.  There's a small blacksmith display in the camp headquarters/store. Originally Leslie was going to ride with me, but the weather was not co-operative. 94 degrees and greater than 90% humidity.    Rode south, then east around the Naval Weapons Station, along the York river to Yorktown.  It took me 1 hr and 6 minutes. I dipped my rear wheel in the waters of the Pacific Ocean on June 20.  Today I dipped my front wheel in the waters of the Atlantic Ocean. And so Our cross country bicycle adventure comes to a conclusion. I've ridden 3,872 Miles, climbed 145,129 feet and crossed 9 states. Thanks for coming along for the ride. Distance 15.85  mi Elev Gain 331  ft Time 1 h  2

 Day 55 +/(We've been travelling from the coast of Oregon for 66 days,  I have sometimes not been counting Sundays since its a non-riding day. The moral of the story is to take the Day # with a grain of salt).   Started out along I 95 north of  Richmond. The route took a  somewhat circuitous route east and finally south to connect with the Capital Trail, a bike trail that goes all the way from Richmond to Jamestown. As you travel around the northern suburbs of  Richmond, you are constantly passing roadside markers commemorating various Civil War battles. And as I turned down a road, what should I see? He was scooting across the road, in contrast to the turtles I saw in Missouri, which were sitting like lumps. The bike trail terminates at the Museum in Jamestown.  There I got on the Colonial Parkway.  This road was probably built some time ago. Its concrete, with rather large round pebbles/rocks in the mix. Over time the superficial concrete has worn away exposing the rocks.  Its ve

 Day 53 Started out Near the town of Trevilians, and then went southeast through Louise,  and Mineral. The route crossed lake Anna several times.  I kept seeing signs directing you to a nuclear facility.  Wonder if the lake was used for cooling a reactor.  Passed through a place on the map called Bumpass, but I didn't know I had passed through, it was so small.  Went by Patrick Henry's house. Into the town of Ashland, then south to our campsite nest to the Hanover Airport, a general aviation airport. The land is hilly, but not real big hills and most not real steep. Morning Ride Distance 62.13  mi Elev Gain 1,450  ft Time 4 h  11 m Try this route

 Day 52 We started out at the Misty Mtn Campground. The route went down route 150 to Charlottesville.  My Wahoo Element Bolt died during the rides in the rain last week.  I found a bike shop in Charlottesville that had one in stock.  So I used Google to plot a route, and that went sideways pretty quickly. Managed to find the bike shop Blue Wheel Bikes and get the replacement. Talking to the guys there thought I was crazy to be riding on Rt 150. They proposed several alternatives that would have taken me miles out of my way.  Managed to find my way out of Charlottesville and on to the Small Country Campground, in the countryside west of the town of Louise.  Glad to be back on small backroads.    I ended up with about 42 miles for the day, I had been recording rides with my phone, which died, so the recorded ride was about half that. 

Day 51 Today we spent at the "Misty Mountain" campground on the eastern slopes of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Much warmer and more muggy.  The usual laundry and bike cleanup and inspection.  I finally had to replace a tire. So far I've cycled 3690 miles and climbed 140,672 ft.  Interestingly this last week mostly in western Virginia had more climbing than the week before. We have 4 days to go.  We're planning to camp in Williamsburg on Wednesday and do a short ride to the coast on Thursday.  Hard to believe its coming to an end. Thanks for reading

 Day 50 The day started out at the Natural Bridge KOA.  There was a fairly thick fog, and everything was wet.  I started out without my rain jacket on, but that didn't last long.  As I rode north on route 11, things gradually cleared, and it turned out to be a beautiful day.  I passed through the town of Lafayette, which is home to the Virginia Military Institute.  Saw a bunch of guys standing around in military garb.  As I rode north, the route became less hilly.  This was right in the Shenandoah Valley.  I made my way to Waynsboro, then over the hill to our campsite.  The route crossed the Blue Ridge right at the end/start of the Blue Ridge Parkway and Skyline Drive.  As I went downhill headed east, I noticed that the cars headed west were backed up for more than 5 miles.  The freeway that goes through here is Rt 64, and apparently there was an accident that blocked west bound traffic. Everyone had gotten off the freeway to get around the accident, so they parked on Rt 250.  Tomo

 Day 49 Started out in Claytor Lake State Park.  Did the climb out of the park back up to the route.  The route takes one to Rayford, then Christiansburg.  Coming out of Rayford, I made a wrong turn and after some time ended up back in Rayford.  Rayford is home of the University of Rayford.  The roads that I came into Rayford on were marked for cycling events, including a race WRR.  After getting sorted out I ended up in Christiansburg.   This lead to a fairly long time on small country roads with a fair amount of climbing. The weather was partly cloudy, and the temp started out in the high 60's.  Did a lot of hill climbing, some steep, but not as long as those in Missouri and eastern Kentucky.  Cut the trip through the country side short, had lunch on the outside tables of  a road stop.  The lunch started out sunny, the wind picked up and it got completely cloudy.   As I headed north from Troutville, the sky opened up.  A pretty rainy ride. The rain had subsided by the time I got

 Day 48 Today Started out at Rural Retreat Lake Park.  I was looking for a bike shop, my rear hub needs adjusting. Turns out there was one listed in Draper, through the route takes me.  I got slightly turned around in Wytheville,  but not much time lost.   The weather was cooler, humid and partly cloudy with the possibility of afternoon showers.  As I got to Draper I found out that the "bike shop" was just a bike rental outfit for people to ride on the New River Trail. The people I spoke with told me that if I went down the trail to Pulaski, it would end at an old train station and there was a bike shop there that could help me out. So I got on this trail which was soft gravel and dirt.  After several miles and crossing a couple of roads on bridges, I saw a sign that I should take this branch of the trail and it was 2.5 more miles to the end of the trail and train station. At this point the sky  was getting darker and darker.  I managed to get out to a local road, and using m

  Day 47 It poured last night, very hard rain for a long period of time. This morning, the sky was grey, it was still raining, almost a mist with very small drops. Most of Fred has passed to the north. I recalculated the route slightly to stay out of the mountains during the rain. The problem is with wet roads, you can't roll downhill fast and maintain control. Usually in the mountains, you can maintain a reasonable average speed by going fast downhill. One advantage is that its cooler than it would be with constant sunshine. As I started out, it was misting, and this turned into a shower. Still uphill and downhill for most of the day. A shorter ride to day to Rural Retreat Lake Park. We have a couple of more days in the western part of the state, then we head across to Williamsburg. Morning Ride Distance 48.78  mi Elev Gain 2,876  ft Time 3 h  41 m Try this route

 Today started out rainy,  The plan was about 77 miles with lots of climbing, as we made our way across the Appalachians.  The rain let up, and I got a fairly early start. I was able to take off my rain jacket for a while.  As I came over one climb, the sky opened up. I had to really sit on the brakes going downhill to maintain control.  I stopped in Honaker VA for lunch, and afterwards as I started out, I got so cold I was shaking,  I had only covered about 37 miles in the first 3 1/2 hrs, mostly due to the very slow downhills.  I still had 40 miles to go.   I decided that I'd never make it before dark, so Leslie picked me up. We are camping in Damascus VA tonight. We went out to eat, and the TV in the diner showed all of the flooding and tornados due to Fred.  As I sit here, we just had another downpour.  Fortunately I've plotted out a route to our next campsite that doesn't involve any significant mountain climbs. Hopefully none of the roads will be flooded out.  Thanks

Day 45 It rained at our campground last night, and continued to rain this morning. I set out fairly early in a steady rain.  I was able to doff my rain jacket after about 40 minutes, but kept my rain hat and booties on.  4 climbs on the schedule today, all of them except one were steep with sections above 10% grade.   Finally crossed into Virginia. I still have to cross most of the Appalachain chain of mountains. Here's an example of my  view at one point this morning. It has rained on and off today, and is raining currently. We are staying in the Breaks Interstate Park, just inside the border between Kentucky and Virginia.  The route crossed the ranges then goes up the Shenandoah Valley cuts across through Charlottesville and skirts around the north side of Richmond heading to Yorktown.  At this point I'll dip my front wheel in the waters of the Atlantic Ocean on Thursday. Morning Ride Distance 76.56  mi Elev Gain 5,453  ft Time 6 h  9 m Try this route  

Day 44 We camped in the Littcarr  Army Corps of Engineers campground this weekend.  As I write this on Sunday afternoon, the place is deserted. It was full yesterday, but all of the weekenders have left. Usual rest day activities, eating, bike maintenance, laundry, etc.  Its been partly to mostly cloudy, and is currently threatening to rain. We had quite a rainshower last night. So far I've cycled 3298 miles and climbed 117457 ft. Tomorrow is going to be a fairly long day, punctuated by serious hills, and dogs.  We will be crossing into Virginia.  Anticipate about another week and a half or so. Thanks for reading.

Day 43 My legs were pretty tired from yesterday, so today was going to be a slow one. Left the Buckhorn  Campground and immediately had 3 big climbs.  After that the route was fairly flat except for two more climbs not as long or steep.  To give you an idea, the small country roads on the route have, usually manufactured homes, mixed with some very nice looking places and an occasional mansion.  The manufactured homes are usually surrounded by metallic junk and old junk cars, trucks, tractors, etc.  A fair number of abandoned buildings as well in various states of disrepair.  The roads that are more arterial carry more traffic, and the overall look of the land is better, with brick homes and nice lawns.  The climbs on the small roads are sudden and steep. The route brought me into Hazard, KY, which is one of the epicenters of the coal mining industry.  The large corporations came in and bough the mineral rights from the locals. A lot of the mining is strip mining, and the landscape is

 Day 42 Our campsite tonight is in Buckhorn, just downriver from a dam on the Kentucky river that was started in 1956, mostly for flood control.  The only unfortunate part of this is that its over 100 miles from where we camped yesterday. I got an early start and hit the road at 0710.  The first part of the ride winds all over the place on small often one lane roads.  I spent some time confused, and actually had to ask directions from a passing motorist.  I passed through the town of Paint Lick, then on to Berea.  There is a college there and school is just about to begin. I passed through the campus, and noted several people moving into the dorms. After Berea, I went through the town of Big Hill.  I wondered about the name since the route from Berea was mostly downhill.  Well,  a big climb is right after you leave town.  I met Leslie for lunch in McKee, and for a cold drink in Booneville.  I had several more hills to climb before arriving at the campground just south of Buckhorn.  No