The First Few Days' Rides...

... have been a little nondescript. (The route for the first 350
miles of the trip, BTW, from Yorktown to Christiansburg, basically
parallels I-64 up to I-81, and then I-81 down to I-77. The towns
we've passed thru are mostly microscopic, so they may not appear on
std roadmaps.)

SUNDAY we rode from Williamsburg to Glendale (E of Richmond) and
stayed in the Sunday school room of the Willis Methodist Church, which
keeps its doors open for bikers. A late afternoon rain storm drove in
Heidi, Jamie, and Mac, 3 young women (mid-20's) on a self-contained XC
ride, who joined us for dinner & then brkfst on Monday. Philip (22)
perked right up, but had a major barrier to overcome -- I think our
guests "played for the other team," as the saying goes. The ladies
were enjoyable company, and pitched right in to help Mike and me with
dinner & brkfst prep and clean-up.

MONDAY's ride was very short, and petty ugly. We spent the night at a
KOA in Ashland (N of Richmond) hard by I-95. Blech -- although the
roar of traffic (unlike the roar of snoring the night before) was at
least sleepable-through.

TUESDAY we rode out of the Richmond area (yay!) to a farm about 20
miles W of Lake Anna, near the little town of Mineral. It was a long
ride, made 6-8 miles longer than necessary due to a couple of tactical
errors on my part -- one a flat-out wrong turn (which cost me a beer
'cause I misled Jerry too), and the other a brain freeze when Hugh and
I set off to "pick your own blackberries" forgetting that it's May
(they're a late summer crop). Oh well. Hugh made BFF's with the
blackberry lady and Paul and Alice, an older couple we stopped and
bought honey from. The farm was a beautiful respite. At dinner we
celebrated Mile's 55th birthday, and then were serenaded all night
long by the whiporwills.

(Sent from my iPhone)