Troutville, VA > Afton, VA
Old schools, a bear, the final crushing climb and the funkiest lodging of the whole trip... well maybe aside from the teepee back in Wyoming...
Lunching spot In the morning I ate breakfast at the motel and eves-dropped on some New Zealanders at the table next to me. I enjoyed hearing their accents while talking about where they had been all over the world. One of the staff members was about my age I think and it seemed like she kept making eyes at me. Eventually she came over and asked me what I was doing in broken english (I forget where she was from... Egypt? Malaysia?) and told her about my trip. She said she was working there to get through school and wished me well. Naturally I ate a ton too. They had a waffle machine, so also naturally, I made one of those. =D
More rolling hills and farms as I left Troutville, following some pretty nice roads. It was uneventful smooth sailing (figuratively speaking) to Buchanan and then on to Lexington, home of Washington & Lee University. I had bought a Subway sandwich somewhere along the line and after stopping at the local visitors center to fill up bottles and learn about the town, I sat on an old brick wall downtown and ate my sandwich for a while. Brick is hit or miss for me. I don't like new brick but this whole town was ancient brick and everything looked awesome. Check out the argyle pattern on the building across the intersection! I was enjoying the sit as a change of pace but soon enough, I had to get back on the bike. Next stop: Vesuvius, a foreboding name for sure.
More rolling hills and farms as I left Troutville, following some pretty nice roads. It was uneventful smooth sailing (figuratively speaking) to Buchanan and then on to Lexington, home of Washington & Lee University. I had bought a Subway sandwich somewhere along the line and after stopping at the local visitors center to fill up bottles and learn about the town, I sat on an old brick wall downtown and ate my sandwich for a while. Brick is hit or miss for me. I don't like new brick but this whole town was ancient brick and everything looked awesome. Check out the argyle pattern on the building across the intersection! I was enjoying the sit as a change of pace but soon enough, I had to get back on the bike. Next stop: Vesuvius, a foreboding name for sure.
Why are old things so cool? On the way though, about halfway in fact, I crossed paths with a few interesting things. The first was this old RR bridge. The second was the one and only bear sighting of my whole trip. A little ways past the bridge, riding through a corridor for woods, I come around a corner and there it was, a baby black bear about 100 yards in front of me in the middle of the road. Since it was still a young one, I wasn't very intimidated, but I didn't linger because I figured mama bear couldn't have been far away and that was something I did NOT want to encounter. I slowed down as I approached and it continued crossing the road but once I got through there, I sped up. A lot. I thought it was kind of amusing and ironic that I had gone through the heart of bear country out west and didn't see a single one but here in not-so-rural Virginia, I see one plain as day and so close to the end of my journey.
Nothing like a ridiculous climb to slow progress...
Vesuvius itself wasn't much to write home about – another tiny settlement of a town and some railroad tracks. Crossing the tracks though was the demarcation point for what was the final kick in the nuts of the trip. Why you ask? Well you see, where I was headed was a ribbon of road that runs along the top of the Blue Ridge Mountains and often parallels the Appalachian (hiking) Trail. The Blue Ridge Parkway is waaaay up there. Most of the time, I could average about 10-14 miles per hour throughout my trek, but here, the road became so steep that riding it was simply out of the question. It took me over an hour to cover less than four miles as I clambered up the side of this mountain to the Parkway above. I think it was about 1,500 vertical feet of up in 3.5 miles. This was an extra hour that I hadn't accounted for and by this point, the sun was starting to go down.
I wish I could have stayed right there for the night. I finally did make it to the top, but not before a million motorcycles had passed me, racing up the road. Many of them were extremely loud which meant I could hear them for a long time which also meant I could tell that they were all still climbing up the hill, even after 10s of seconds after passing me. It was a long climb if you haven't figured that out yet.
Once at the top though, the views were pretty excellent. These ain't called the Blue Ridge Mountains for nothin'. The road became a series of long rolling hills which was certainly better than the mega climb to get up there. Progress was quicker but still not as quick as I would have liked. Eventually the sun did go down and being much higher and exposed, the temp dropped a lot and very quickly. I stopped and basically put on every last bit of clothing I had at that point and was glad I hadn't brought any less. A few cars stopped to ask if I was ok since it was totally dark, cold and I wasn't close to anything. I was fine, a little tired from the hills of the day, and hungry but I liked being way on up in the sky because they views were pretty great, even at night because you could see the lights of all the towns below.
Once at the top though, the views were pretty excellent. These ain't called the Blue Ridge Mountains for nothin'. The road became a series of long rolling hills which was certainly better than the mega climb to get up there. Progress was quicker but still not as quick as I would have liked. Eventually the sun did go down and being much higher and exposed, the temp dropped a lot and very quickly. I stopped and basically put on every last bit of clothing I had at that point and was glad I hadn't brought any less. A few cars stopped to ask if I was ok since it was totally dark, cold and I wasn't close to anything. I was fine, a little tired from the hills of the day, and hungry but I liked being way on up in the sky because they views were pretty great, even at night because you could see the lights of all the towns below.
A half-century's worth of bike stuff from all over the world. Towards the end of the night, the Parkway started descending which was naturally a welcome change and the final run in to the town of Afton was short, sweet, and fun. On the map, there was a cyclist-only place listed to spend the night and so I called the care-taker's number, learned where the key was and let myself in to the biker's abode. Omg. What is this place??
June Curry or "The Cookie Lady" was a woman that had opened up her home to TransAm cyclists since 1976 and always made them cookies as yet another gesture of hospitality. Even though she passed away in 2012, the lodging still remains open to travelers on bikes as a self-serve kind of place. As neat (and funky) as it was to see all the paraphernalia from people throughout the decades and from every corner of the globe, it was a little creepy being in the basement of this old house by myself. It was also really dirty in there. Like really. The kitchen had mouse poop on the counters and that was just the beginning. I made some couscous for dinner (I had been carrying the box of couscous since Idaho I think) and then settled in on the couch as I read the Cookie Lady's guest book.
June Curry or "The Cookie Lady" was a woman that had opened up her home to TransAm cyclists since 1976 and always made them cookies as yet another gesture of hospitality. Even though she passed away in 2012, the lodging still remains open to travelers on bikes as a self-serve kind of place. As neat (and funky) as it was to see all the paraphernalia from people throughout the decades and from every corner of the globe, it was a little creepy being in the basement of this old house by myself. It was also really dirty in there. Like really. The kitchen had mouse poop on the counters and that was just the beginning. I made some couscous for dinner (I had been carrying the box of couscous since Idaho I think) and then settled in on the couch as I read the Cookie Lady's guest book.
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