RIDE FOR ROGAN!

Day 75: Vesuvius, VA

Damn fine day today. The weather has been excellent and every uphill has been met with an incredible downhill (which isnt always the case). We ‘broke into’ a private park in Buchanan that had been closed for the winter and got a good nights sleep thanks to the overhead pavillion which protected us from the drizzling rain last night. We had a big breakfast in town and wound up delaying our start by an hour after inviting a gentleman who was hiking the Appalachian Trail to come eat with us. He had read some of the same books we were reading and we had a delightful breakfast talking with our new friend Jonathon. I think what was so refreshing about it was that we were both doing things that peak peoples curiosity and illicit the same questions from strangers so that we unconciously agreed not to harass one another with commonplace questions and were instead able to talk about books, current events, et cetera whereas with most people we meet we spiral towards answering questions about our trip. Don’t get me wrong, we love sharing our trip with people but when you suddenly meet someone who is on a similar you feel refreshed knowing you can leave the subject alone for a bit. After a late start we made good time to Lexington where we checked out the tomb of Stonewall Jackson before finding a health food deli and getting lunch. Pretty girls all around us and a main street that very closely resembles downtown Annapolis’ were nearly enough reason for us to spend the night there but we wisely continued on after giant helping of chocolate cake for Vesuvius. In Vesuvius, Joe found shelter for us in a pavillion outside a baptist church and Danny led us to Gerties general store, a Trans-America landmark and legendary grocer. The small shop is covered in signatures from cyclists over the last decade and we of course added our own to the walls and ceiling. After picking up some beer and postcards we headed back to the church and were greeted by a member of the congregation to their potluck dinner tonight. Speaking of which, it sounds like it’s about to start so I’ll end the post here and go get our dinner!!