May 24, 2002
7 min. read
This post is part of the Trans-Am series.
I woke up just before dawn cracked at 5:45. I had packed up everything but my sleeping gear before I went to bed, because I wanted to secure as much of it as I could from any animal or other visitors. I was out of the campground before 6. I still couldn’t find anyone to check in with, so I dropped off a couple singles in the slot near the closed sign, which I felt was far more than the accommodations were worth.
The country store just out of the campground had hot biscuit sandwiches. I enjoyed a country ham, egg, and cheese biscuit as I hoped for the temperature to rise. It did not, so I geared up for the downhills in 40 degree wind and started peddaling.
After 10 miles of riding with about 250 feet climbing, I entered Mineral, VA. This country is really pretty to ride through. I stopped to peal off a layer for the rising temperature and enjoy the sights.
I found an interesting site just as I was leaving Mineral, VA: The Trevilians School House. It is a single room building, about 20 feet on each side, setup inside with period desks and such. Sambo Johnson owned both the property of the original location and where it now sits in Mineral. It is believed his mother or Aunt taught there and he moved and restored the school several years ago.
Although it was locked, the front steps were perfect and shaded from the sun which had now warmed up the day. I sat down to type up a little of my ride journal, then I put on some sunscreen and got back on the road.
I stopped in Pendleton, the town 1 mile out of Mineral. There the gas station/mart had some newly prepared chicken fingers and potato wedges. I decided to partake in some of those and wasn’t disappointed. I talked with a few locals and one guy who lived on the route later in Kents Store, VA. He gave me a lay of the land and told me that I would be doing good to get to Palmyra today. It was only 10 AM and I already had 15 or so miles under my belt, so I wasn’t worried. But boy did those hills start coming.
There isn’t much to talk about today, I just road through some pretty countryside and climbed a bunch. Today was the first day I was able to see the landscape actually rolling, and I am definitely about to hit the real climbs soon.
I pulled into the single store in Kents Store. (One wonders if this town was formed by Kent, who had a store. Hmm, I guess we’ll call it Kent’s Store.) I loved the air-conditioning. My thermometer was indicating 85-88 in the shaded grass and 92-98 on the sunlit road. Needless to say, I stayed in the AC for a while. The ice cream sandwich and cold Gatorade helped to lower my core temperature. When I went to the toilet, there was even a comics section from today. That was a nice diversion.
As I was visiting with people at the store, a man came by asking about the bike. He understood everything until I got to GPS.
“What’s that?” he says.
So I explain about satellites and positioning and show him the map.
“That’s what I need on my boat!”. Apparently he has gotten lost a time or too, and I agreed that it would be perfect. So I told him where to pick them up and gave him a few brands to check for.
All in all, the people of Virginia have been really great. My left arm gets a little sore from returning all the waves I’m getting. But I do have two things to bring up about Virginia road signs. One is a gripe and one is a compliment.
First, the gripe: What is up with numbering every road and then also giving it a name. I’ll ask someone about a road and they say, “There ain’t no 634 around here, you want to take Something Something Road.” Turns out that they are one and the same. This happens occasionally everywhere, but it seems like EVERY small road has this happening in Virginia. Strange.
Now the compliment: Any road that dead end within a mile or so has a sign at the turn off to is “Road Ends 0.5 Miles” or whatever the value it needs. This is GREAT. I have been touring around Indiana and you assume some country road (say 400E or similar) keeps going over a stream or through a forested area, until you ride a mile and it dead ends. The best that you get is a “Dead End” sign after the last turnoff (maybe .9 miles in). Kudos to VDOT for these.
I pulled into Palmyra around 3:30. I was totally spent. The Old Stone Jail Museum was interesting, but unfortunately closed. The hours didn’t really meet with my current situation, so I rode on.
I stopped at the cafe right at the turn onto 53. This is the same cafe that I have read of other TransAm cyclists camping behind. I had a milkshake, purely for medicinal purposes. (You know, that whole core temperature lowering thing.) I washed the shake down with a burger, wedges and cole slaw. Then I sat inside the AC and looked at my options.
I have a 20+ miles ride, part on route and part off, over to Charlottesville’s KOA. This would then require more off route riding back. Or I could ride more than that into Charlottesville and get a motel. I want a rest day tomorrow, but I didn’t think I can hit either of those with my legs where they are at right then. So, I killed time in the AC and then went to setup camp behind the store. By killed time, I tried to debug why some email messages are not going out and wrote up travel journal.
The site is actually a boat launch for the Rivanna River. I noticed the sign after I setup camp that says only fishing and boat launching, no camping, alcoholic beverages, with penalty of arrest. Oh, well. I ain’t pedaling anywhere else today. Hopefully no ranger comes by to take me to jail.
I’m beginning to wish my tent was closer to dark green rather that bright white. I’ve got the fly off and the windows open, so all you see is a white border. We will see what happens. I’d like to get up and out of here by 6:30, so I can ride straight into Charlottesville via 53 with the hopefully lesser Saturday morning traffic.
Memorial Day weekend is making me second guess a bunch of things. This is my first night in a half open sky for star gazing, and I fell asleep looking at stars.
Currently I am 167 miles along the Trans-Am trail and I have ridden just under 200 miles. Those side trips add up, I guess. Due to the rounding of corners by the GPS, this is probably just a little under actual travel distance.
Today is brought to you by the letters C and H and by the number 9 and 5.
C is for Climbing, 2000 feet today.
H is for heat, I met along the way.
9 is a number when multiplied by ten.
Then added to 5 is the temperature I'm in.
Well, now we know why I’m a bicycle tourist and not a poet.
Part 8 of 48 in the Trans-Am series.
Series Start | Day 4 - Ashland to Lake Anna, VA | Day 6 - Palmyra to Charlottesville, VA