Post 7, 1 June: rest day at Breaks Interstate Park

How y'all doin'? (as they say here. And yesterday afternoon, when I went into a country store for an iced tea and snack, I was greeted with "You burnin'up on that bike?")

Eleven days riding now complete, and tomorrow I cross from Virginia into Kentucky. This second stage of riding days has been great, especially the two with Mike and Joan. I met three more TransAmmers this morning, three guys in the 20s who aim to be in San Francisco by 10 July; young and strong....! Maybe I'll meet up with more kindred spirits like Mike and Joan. Let's hope so.

This part of Virginia, crossing the Appalachians, is very beautiful. Lots of woods and forests still, and several times my road has followed closely beside burbling rivers splashing over rocks. Some of the climbs are long; yesterday one was 1300 feet, which took me 45 minutes at about 5 mph. Long uphills are always followed by long downhills, though.

I hadn't planned on having a rest day today, but as I was planning ahead for yesterday it became clear that the one motel listed on my map between Wytheville and Breaks is now closed. The only place to sleep en route was a church floor; I'm too old for that, and need a shower each night too! So I made two (shortish) days into one (long) one, and despite temperature s in the mid 30sC (low 90sF) it was OK. (I have been v lucky with the weather, with still only 20 mins of rain. The three guys I met this morning, by contrast, told me of a horrendous thunderstorm that hit them on the Blue Ridge Parkway a few days ago. I guess it will happen to me too, at some stage...)

I mentioned place names in an earlier posting... I look out for neat road names too, in the residential neighbourhoods. Cutest has been "Possum Hollow". Least explicable, "Fuzzy Drive"(???). Most evocative, though, were - in quick succession - "Sunlight Drive", then "Twilight Drive", then "Starlight Drive"! I have also seen names that bring back music titles; any readers remember "Cripple Creek" by The Band? And I once had a bluegrass album by Earl Scruggs, one of whose pieces was "Foggy Mountain Breakdown"; well, I passed Foggy Mountain, though perhaps a different one.

Tomorrow, then, Kentucky. Cyclists talk of the hazard in Kentucky of dogs chasing bikes, sometimes in packs. I have some "pepper spray" as a defence. Let's hope all is well.

Keep those emails coming in! - they keep my legs turning. Over 600 miles done (but I refuse to calculate how many therefore are left), and 30,000 feet climbed (ditto!)M

All best wishes and thanks, Ken

Blueberry pancakes and iced tea before the long day to Breaks.