...oh hello there pringles can.
Distance: 164 km (It's Metric Sunday, honoring the Tour de France!)
So after a marvelous evening enjoying the Grand Marc hot tub courtesy of the recession (apparently the hard times have made Grand Marc unable to pay nighttime security guards), we slept in like the motivated champions we are. Thanks Ali for the place to crash! Aaron and I decided we couldn't leave the home of our dear alma mater without remembering our good ol' glory days with a trip to Bodo's. So we went with Ali and met up with Alli (haha) at 8:59am to indulge in some good ol' nostagia. Ahh, seems like yesterday we were here, laughing it up with our good ol' college buds. After giving a good ol' digestion punch to those breakfast bagels, we got outta good ol' (all right I'll stop) Cville, avoiding getting squished the whole way. Charlottesville, as progressive and self-righteous as it is, is a fantastically dangerous place to find yourself on a bicycle. Luckily, we didn't get destroyed and we at last made it into the Albemarle countryside.
The day was perfect, the road was open, and the scenery was glorious. And as usual, by glorious scenery I mean the road was generally heading downhill. But then I suppose a road lined with scenery like that in Bosler or Hima would be beautiful if it went on a DH. Still, Albemarle is very pretty (and you pay for every bloody ounce of it too) and the ride was just jolly. Of course, the fact it was the last full day of riding didn't hurt either.
We hit the town of Mineral and after debating the chance of any foodstuffs on the road ahead, we chose to follow a local's advice about the colorfully-named "Mineral Restaurant". Aaron had a grilled cheese and "all but one" onion rings. That essentially means that you get a plate of onion rings and then a loud smoky fella comes in and takes one for giggles. God bless America. He and his buddy came in and sat with us too, and we discussed the usual "You got that bike all the way from SEATTLE!?" and the not-so-usual "There's a chance you two could be my kids!" I had a calzone which was completely delicious but it was not nearly as interesting.
We left Mineral full on America and rode toward the labyrinth of country roads that tangle themselves north of Richmond. Up to this point on the trip, we hadn't really gotten lost. A few missed turns, sure, but not lost. Well naturally, on the last full day, we got ourselves pretty turned around. When you get on roads that even the finely drawn (EIGHT DOLLAR!) map fails to indicate, things get a bit tricky. After riding in a giant loop, we finally found a local sportsmen who directed us the exact way to go, and didn't even make us feel stupid either! What a great guy. We found our way out of the maze of roads and hit US Hwy 1 and pounded Rockstars and candy...of course. We steeled ourselves with dragon might and rode onward past King's Dominion and its 1/3 replica of the Eiffel Tower (ah memories) and kept moving toward King William.
About 8 miles from our planned endpoint, we came across a strip mall which beckoned us, yet again, with free Subway. So we procured our sandwiches (thanks once more Mom!) and prepared to hit the road for the final leg of the day. Simultaneously, a thunderstorm prepared itself to hit us for the final leg of the day, and after only two very fast miles of us trying to outrun the worst of the rain, we realized that the storm had dragon of its own and we stood no chance. Luckily Aaron spotted with his American Bald Eagle eyes a shelter situated well off the road, and we sprinted to it just as the rain really came blasting down. But as usual our heroes survived and spent the night on top of picnic tables under a shelter at a Pow Wow site. Typical. No easy sleep tonight, Yorktown in half a day!!!!
Also I apparently failed to take any pictures this day. Whoops.
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