Four More Nights in Virginia

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA--Mike and I are sittin in the Hampton Inn tonight. And I am trying to work fast on this laptop because of a mistake I made several days ago. I forgot the power supply cord for my MacBook in the motel room in Williamsburg. Fortunately, I had their phone number and they are going to send it to MaryAnn back in ABQ. She'll have to figure out how to get it to me.

Meanwhile I am lugging the machine around and using it sparingly. I have 70% power left as of right now.

The first night we got to the Glendale Methodist Church, 41 miles or so from Williamsburg. Our information said they were willing to put up cyclists. What wonderful people.

Mike and I slept in the Sunday School building along with a couple on a tandem. Katie and Chris were from Milwaukee. She used to be an editor for the Milwaukee Journal. Anyway, they were planning on doing 80 miles a day...so we won't be seeing much of them!

The next night was in a private campground near Ashland, Americamp. It had an airport on one side, a sawmill on another, and the freeway on a third. Not only that, it was pretty difficult to find. Nevertheless, Mike and I did strike up an acquaintance with a ten-year-old who hung around most of the day. Finally we asked, "Why aren't you in school?" The answer was in one word, "Homeschooled."

There was nobody around during the day to even watch out for him. He lived in a 5th-wheel with 4 or 5 men who were all gone working until suppertime.

The next night we rolled into Mineral after a pretty hard day in the saddle. I had got us lost a couple of times following 3-digit route numbers until I couldn't even remember my own phone number.

We rode up to the Mineral Volunteer Fire Dept. and said, "We hear you have a place for cyclists who need a place to put up a tent." One of the chiefs, Delbert, said,
"Not tonight, we've got a carnival all set up on the lawn. You'll have to sleep in the firehouse." So we did. Showers. TV. Internet. Really fine people. We went across the street and had a truly excellent pulled pork sandwich for supper.

We were out of there by about 7:30 as we have been every morning so far. Coming out of Mineral we took a shorter route than the Adventure Cycling map shows. It had a LOT of traffic, but it cut out 15 miles. The Hampton Inn has a shuttle service and we took it out to Montecello this afternoon and toured the building and grounds. We called and the driver, Renee, picked us up and drove us downtown to a central street to eat. The street had be turned into a pedestrian mall. It was fabulous. We picked out a restaurant with tables in the shade and sat down for a great meal.

Then who showed up walking down the street but Jerry and Lynne, the couple I had photographed in Yorktown. They were doing fine except for Lynne's allergies. Anyway, we had a fine time sharing road stories and left hoping to see each other again down the road.