august 2--breadbasket of the confederacy

61 mi from salem to lexington, va; 3344 logged miles. After riding through roanoke--not as bad as I had feared--we road mostly back roads and country lanes up the valley to lexington. Lovely scenery, relatively cool day. Whenever I ride back roads in virginia's great valley I see confederate battle flags displayed, on vehicles and hanging from dweLlings. They are reminders that this valley sustained lee's army through most of the war and also a reminder of appalachia's poverty. I saw a memorial to a confederate unit in buchanan, erected in the 1960s (!), a rare site because they were forbidden after the war.
Tomorrow we climb up the blue ridge where I will end my journey at rockfish gap after 54 days. What an experience it has been!

august 1--following the new river

76 mi from wytheville to salem, va; 3283 logged miles.I met mike's partner, dee, after she drove from connecticut to pick him up. She's a genuine person! I did my farewell with mike--he and I were on the trail together for five weeks, it couldn't have gone that fast. I miss him and our experience together already.
Richard had some important work done on his bike in blacksburg and he's happy about that.
I've noticed that people sometimes have difficulty grasping what I'm saying when I tell them I've ridden my bike from washington state. They often give me a perfunctory "uh-huh" or "that's nice".
The weather the last two days has been really cool...I wore my windbreaker jacket all day today.

bicycle haiku 6

his bike folds in half
but it didn't come that way;
thank you Blazer man