Roll me Away, from Kentucky

We ran into this guy- Dave, on the road. He camped with us one night before we split. He's a bit slower than us, but a lot steadier. He's never biked before. Graduated college this spring. Air Force pilot training in October or something. (Heck yes.) He's aiming for Oregon. Go Dave!
This was way back in VA. Walker and I missed a turn and rode an extra 8 miles or something. But this was way worth it.

Billy in VA.

Western VA. We had stopped to admire the view. Check out this guy's arm.

Sweet hills.
Breaks Int. Park, double rainbow!!

I know Chris, you warned me about Breaks Interstate Park, and I strongly warned everyone else, but after a day of hard rain and 80 miles through the mountains, we didn't care much. Shawn's mom had reservations for a room in their shady little motel, so we all crammed in and fell asleep to Indiana Jones.

We trucked down the mountain to eat some Mexican, courtesy of Shawn's mom's rental car. Ate wayyyyyyy too much. Nearly threw up on the way back up. It was bad.

Last night, I don't even remember the name of the town, KY. We found a middle school to stay at. The buildings we slept next to were getting bulldozed at 8 am in the morning. I slept without my tent so I woudln't have to deal with the dew and whatnot in the morning. This spidey made it's web on my bike.

Word on the street is Food Lion Moose Tracks is da bomb. Too bad there's no Food Lion out here. Past couple towns, there's been either nothing or just an IGA. Walking through the folks smoking in the breakroom, I heard somebody say "When are you going to divorce him?" For cereal?

That last town we stayed at- Damascus, was purty dagum cool. The hostel was even cooler. $4/night donation gets you a bed, kitchen, shower, and a cool hangout spot. An army of boy scouts showed up on our second night. The leaders weren't too friendly and the kids were nuts.

Anne and I found the craziest piece of playground equipment I've ever seen. Imagine a see-saw, with tires to bounce and gain momentum off of, and a good risk of losing teeth/butting heads. Well crap, no, it doesn't look like that, I'll have to draw you a picture sometime.

We're now in Kentucky. We spent almost 2 weeks in VA, and we were ready to be out, but now we're all kinda pissed at KY for the following reasons:

1. Total anarchy. No helmets on motorcycles. No mufflers on cars. Dads hauling ass down the road on 4-wheelers with their kids in their laps, both without helmets. WHO ON EARTH DRIVES A GATOR DOWN A 45 MPH ROAD?




2. The hills are not ending. We've heard from countless people that "yup, it's pretty much flat from here on" To us, a 7 mile climb is not flat. Only reason we want flat is a few of us are developing some knee problems, myself included. I'm taking it easy, but we'll see how it goes.




3. Dogs.




4. Shady roads. Gravel around corners, more climbs than decents, George Bush. Well not really George Bush, but damn.




5. Rain. Our first day in KY, we got dumped on for a few hours. It wouldn't have been if not for the narrow shoulders and lotsa cars.

It's not all poop, though. It's still fun riding, it's just we're ready to git out of these here Appalachain thingies. West.

Other items of note:

1. Almost no foriegn cars in the country. A few of us waited for about 20 minutes on the side of a 4 lane highway. Out of 100 or so cars, we saw ONE import- a guy in a Toyota pickup who slowed down to tell us "good luck, and be careful, people can be crazy around here." A lot more pickups and SUVs than I'm used to, as well. Harleys everywhere. The louder, the better.




2. Tiny towns. The town we're in right now is HUGE, listed pop is 800-ish. Convenience stores with bathrooms are few and far between. Grocery stores are even more rare. Toilet paper is a good find. I've been taking a few squares from every place that has some.

We're still encountering a surprising amount of hospitality and unexpected friendliness. We get stopped by random people who want to know where we're going. I'm still trying to figure all that stuff out.