What a beautiful day it turned out to be ... both from the stand point of weather and personal enjoyment. After reaching Monticello, I took the tour of Thomas Jefferson's residence, then spent a couple of hours just roaming around and soaking in the history and the beauty of the estate. Wonderful break from the daily biking experience.
After leaving Monticello, I did another short ride into Charlottesville and got a motel room, with the intention of heading on to Afton on Thursday. The fabled "Cookie Lady" was based in Afton; She offered lodging and cookies to over 15,000 touring cyclist prior to her death in 2010 ... kind of a landmark for those riding the TransAm. This area is extremely hilly, and makes for (me) very tiring days, so the reasonably short distance of 35 miles was not looked upon (by me) as an easy day.
Upon waking Thursday (yesterday), rain was falling and the high temperature for the day was projected to be in the mid 50s. Not being overly motivated, and having no schedule deadlines to meet, I opted to take the day off. Felt a relief not heading out into the wet and cold.
This morning the weather again is beautiful ... but the hills remain. Next few days promise to be hard on the legs. Motivation was added yesterday when I received a message from Claire Rogers ... she and Bob are visiting friends in Lexington, VA, which I will be reaching in the next few days.
Good weather and the promise of seeing good friends. That is a real contrast to the grayness of yesterday.
Trying again (3 failures in posting)... sent you an email in case this one does not publish either. Great to read the blog, with the ups and downs... thanks for sharing words and pictures, I hope to get inspired one of these days to get on my surly and travel the world again...See you in Tucson when you come back
ReplyDeleteGood Morning Randy, Just got caught up on your travel adventure. Are circling back to the west? When can we expect you for dinner at the club? P
ReplyDeleteGlad to read about your splendid visit to Monticello and your layover day. How do the hills compare to the climbs on the Sierra-Cascades? I don't know about you, but for me, rolling hills are often way more tiring than a single, long slog up to a ridiculously high pass.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to hearing about your visit to the Cookie Lady's homestead. :)