It's The End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)

3 days from the end!  It's hard to believe.

We had a pretty easy day today; we had split a day into two, going for 2 40 something mile days instead of a single 80+ mile day.  I'm very glad that we did, because of the heat indexes, and because it's nice not to be slogging through another day, hurrying to the end, eating, sleeping, repeating.  This has been a long trip, a great trip, but sometimes we had to be on such a tight schedule to make the places we needed to make.  For a change yesterday and today, this wasn't the case.

The Royal Oaks "Resort"

We started this morning from our "cabin" at Royal Oaks resort.  The air conditioner froze up a couple of times, so it ended up being cooler outside than in.  That made for some difficult sleeping, but eventually it cooled off enough that I could get a few hours' sleep.  Even though this place was nothing really special, and not somewhere I'd seek for a "resort" stay, I'm glad it was there.  We got a break, from the heat and from the long days.  It also rained most of the evening into the night, so it was a big step up from tent camping.  In any case, with no breakfast we feasted on another morning of pita bread and peanut butter.  Not bad, and it gives us something.  We waited a little longer this morning for some rain to pass, then headed out.  We were on top of the Blue Ridge Parkway, so immediately we were greeted with incredible views of the surrounding mountains, the clouds hanging low over the hills, and the views of the valleys below, on both sides of the mountains.  We cruised along, stopping every once in a while whenever another great view was at hand.  That was a lot of times.  There were a few uphills, but these were up-slopes rather than hill climbs, but even so, my legs were very achy.  At the end of this trip, I think they are 4,000 mile tired.  But most of the trip through the Parkway this morning was downhill.  After about 18 miles, we noticed the downhills going further and further, until we exited the Parkway at its official end/beginning (depending on which way you're going) in Afton, VA.  

So many incredible views from the Blue Ridge Parkway, of the mountains and valleys below.  Photos don't do them justice

From Afton, we followed the Adventure Cycling route / Bicycling route 76 up and down, in and out, for a number of miles, though a couple of other small towns that were so small there were no services.  Eventually we started to see that we were approaching a larger town.  The houses were no longer farm houses but more large houses with no farms or other means of support.  These were the homes and retreats of people from the Charlottesville area.  There were horse farms and vineyards, and eventually we stopped at a peach picking place, hoping they might have something to munch and something to drink.  I bought a bottle of peach cider and a box of plain donuts.  I was a bit taken aback when the register rang up $17!  I think we've arrived at over-priced Charlottesville.  After my expensive breakfast, we headed closer to town.  This was Garth road, and while it was a pretty small road, the drivers were as rude as we found them late in our Missouri trip.  Today's idiots were not rednecks in pickup trucks, but suburbanites in their Range Rovers and Benzes.  As we rode along the side of the road, ON A CLEARLY MARKED BICYCLE ROAD WITH "SHARE THE ROAD" SIGNS EVERYWHERE,  the SUV's rode up our butts, and even if we helped out and waved them by, would roar by, most times swiping right by us, clearly irritated by our presence.  One woman yelled something we didn't understand, but we got the message.  Clearly driving stupidity is not limited to the poor or rural characters in other states.  This was honestly the only time we felt uncomfortable on a road in Virginia, even in very poor southwest Virginia, where most drivers were patient and nice.  

overpriced breakfast

We continued to ride through the back-roads, riding up and down hills until we passed the football stadium for the University of Virgina, a clear sign that we had entered Charlottesville.  I thought it was a bit odd that this was located so far away from the campus, but I'm sure that securing enough land for a stadium isn't a simple matter.  However, it does seem a bit like they are shunting off football out of town, while I'm sure their basketball arena is located front and center (I'm just hypothesizing here).  We saw some of their other buildings, including Jefferson's famous rotunda.

The Rotunda, which reminds me a bit of the architecture of Monticello, and the Jefferson Memorial

We traveled past the campus, and stopped in an area where we hoped to nab some lunch.  The Virginian seemed like a good choice, and Google's reviews were good.  Unfortunately it was only about 11:15AM and they opened at noon.  Jerry needed new cleats for the second time on this trip, so we went off in search for his obviously short-lived ATAC cleats and found them at a bike shop not too far away.  By that time I figured we should go check into the hotel.  We rode to where this was located, a Home2Suites, located in town, not on the highway, so that we would be close to some better quality meals.  We were, of course, too early, so we walked down the street to Three Notch, a local brewery, where we had a pretty good quality bar lunch.  When we did finally check in, I found that they had complimentary laundry facilities here, so even though we will soon be at Tess's apartment with a washer/dryer, it's never a bad idea to de-stink the clothes.  More than just that, I'm really tired of doing my laundry in the bathroom sink and hanging up cycling clothes, only to put on damp clothing in the morning.  Ironically, as soon as we were finished with our lunches, Jerry was busy looking up local eateries for dinner.  Such is the life of the cyclist, consuming thousands of calories each day just to keep up.  

We did find a good local restaurant, a southern style place, called Maya.  It was close enough to walk, so off we went.  We went back for rain gear when we saw the skies, but made it while it was dry.  They had seats for us in a courtyard with a clear tent over the diners.  Good thing, as it began raining about 45 seconds after we arrived.  I mean storming, as in how are the streets not flooding storming.  And it didn't let up for about an hour.  At that point we were doubly happy that we had chosen to split the one day into two.  If we hadn't, there was a good chance we would have been out in this, and there was no way we were going to stay dry in this mess.  In any case, under our tent in the courtyard things were dry and tasty.  I had catfish (southern delicacy) and Jerry had ribs, but it certainly brought to mind some of the places we had eaten dinners on this trip, including the time the locals had said that the gas station would be our best bet for dinner.  And it probably was.  It was nice to be in a place that had choices, and this was a good choice.

Back to the hotel, after the rain, and I spotted a statue of Lewis and Clark.  I had to take a photo, since we had learned so much about them when we were riding through the west.  Mostly how they didn't seem to take the advice of the local native Americans and made some really stupid mistakes, like leaving the mountains before the last snowfall, and how they had to be rescued from their folly.  They looked pretty regal in this statue, and then from the side I saw that Sacajawea was also on the statue, in a pose that looks like she was cowering behind these big, brave men.  I almost had to laugh at how this was portrayed, knowing how important she was to their journey.  It was almost like they had stuck her likeness on as an after-thought.

The brave explorers

Hey, who's that cowering behind these brave guys?

So now we prepare for the second to last day, or the penultimate day, as Jerry is fond of saying.  It will be a long one, but we will do our best to take every short-cut possible to make it shorter.   Adventure Cycling's app says it is 112 miles, but we have found ways to get rid of about 19 miles at least.  After today's meandering route going up and down hills unnecessarily, we're happy to shorten this trip. We need to get out early and get some miles on before it hits the mid 90's again.  Our target tomorrow is Tess's apartment, so we've stayed at our last hotel on the trip.  That's hard to imagine, but it is almost over.  

Oh yeah, her

For the past week I've felt like I'm ready to get this done, but now that the end is here I keep wondering how life might change when I get back.  I will really have to stop eating like this, or I'll gain a hundred pounds or so quickly.  I hope not to lose the momentum of riding, although I'll never be able to ride these kinds of distances so often.  I hope that I can strike a more balanced life between work and home, and not always give into the work part of it.  It's hard to force myself to take the time to ride or do other activities, but I hope I can.  

I will look forward to sleeping in the same place for more than a night at a time.  I do look forward to a washing machine at my disposal, and dry clothes in the morning.  Seeing my wife, kids, and of course my dog after so long away.  And I really think that I will look forward to other bicycle trips in the future, likely much shorter, but I really, really enjoyed the adventure. 

Today's numbers were short: about 51 miles, and we climbed about 3,000 feet.