Day 5: Recuperating in Charlottesville...

Sorry for the delayed update - cellphone reception hasn't been so great between here and Yorktown!

First off, a GIANT thank you to all those who sent us off with style this past weekend. It meant a lot to the biker guys and we are SO grateful. We are still feeling the aftershocks of the love you've expressed. Who'd have thought! We're also still enjoying the powerbars and energy foods (though they are dwindling fast...)

So here's what we've been up to the last few days... The first day we traveled from Yorktown to Jamestown Beach Campground, a mere 31 miles or so. Jamestown Beach was great, we camped out right near the water and had a grand time trying to figure out how our alcohol stoves worked. In the end we made a great big campfire and cooked some stew. It worked out very nicely. The route to the campground took us through historic Williamsburg along the Colonial Highway. Incredibly beautiful.

Day 2 we traveled from Jamestown to this place called Americamp, somewhere on the way to Ashland (I think it was in Mechanicsville). It was right next to a highway in an industrial part of town and definitely not as cool as Jamestown Beach. We rode over 70 miles to get there, as we combined Day 2 and Day 3 into a single ride. We were beat, and there were no open fires allowed. We cooked franks and beans over our alcohol stove and slept hard. We had a GIANT breakfast the next morning at a place called Jesse's. DR got something called biscuits and gravy. We calculated that breakfast slowed us down about 5 mph for that day.

Day 3 we rode from the Americrap Campground out to Lake Anna. This was another bruiser ride, especially since we missed a turn and went about 10 miles out of our way. We asked some guy who was mowing his lawn for directions... he didn't really know, but filled up our water jug. We ended up backtracking, and found that the sign was entirely hidden by foliage. I didn't feel so bad for missing it after that. The Lake Anna Family Campground closed about two days after the book we're using as a guide was written. Luckily there was a REALLY sketchy farm/campground/dog kennel/marina place that we stayed at. No one worked there apparently, as the main office never opened the whole time we were there. We left $5 in the door of the front office and skedaddled. Creepy place, with working showers.

Day 4 we "woke up early" (6:30am) and it took us 2 1/2 hours to pack up and get moving. Weird. This was the toughest day yet, and we definitely talked about it over dinner. 70+ miles to Charlottesville, one giant rollercoaster of a ride with some GIANT hills to finish with. We cried yesterday. We took Day 5 off, as our bodies just haven't recovered from the riding. We made a decision last night - we're bringing the mileage down to something reasonable, like 40 miles per day, and we won't worry about whether we finish or not so long as we are enjoying the ride. Maybe we'll work up to higher mileage, but all we've been doing is sleeping and biking. No good! I think we all feel better after that discussion.

So today is Day 5 and we're chilling in Charlottesville. I'm updating the blog from the Medical Library here in the center of downtown, after yet another giant breakfast at a greasy spoon called the White Spot. Last night we ate two pizzas at the Mellow Mushroom, which was anything but mellow. What a crowd, especially for a Wednesday! We finished the evening out with some pool and slept like ... slept a lot.

Here's our list of roadkill we've seen so far (in size order):

1 deer
2 raccoon
5 possum
1 duck
4 squirrels
1 turtle
4 snakes
2 frogs
1 mouse

The summary so far - we're all still adjusting, but we've come to the conclusion we've been working too hard and enjoying too little. An important lesson to learn early in the trip, and we're going to fix it. Tonight we'll take a short ride out to a nearby campground and chill out for the evening. Then we'll see what tomorrow brings.

We've seen some other heavily laden bikers headed the other way on the trail. They honk and wave and yell things like "good luck!" One guy stopped to talk. He was finishing his cross country route from San Francisco, and wanted to know a place to stay. We told him about Americamp and warned him that it stunk, but he didn't seem to mind. He looked pretty tan and grizzled - I guess we will be the same way when this is all over.