What have I been doing?

I’ve been shopping for a house.  I think I found one.  I’m working out the details and getting inspections and all that jazz.  Hopefully I’ll have everything worked out soon.  Then I get to move a bunch of stuff into it.  Needless to say, I’ll be busy for a while.  I’ll try to do better, but no promises.

We carried out our bikes empty, then loaded everything on to them in the parking lot before starting back into town. We made it to the Post Office and began packaging our less needed things. As time goes on, you find that the weight up the hills doesn’t pay for the convenience of some items. Adam shipped a package back home to Omaha, and I sent one to Jeffersonville. Around 1 PM, we left the Post Office on our way out of town.

We decided to take Hwy 11 to Natural Bridge, so we didn’t have to back track to see it. We had assumed that there would be a free exhibit, being that it is touted as a national marvel. We stopped at a fruit stand/store to take a break. The owner warned us that Natural Bridge was a tourist trap. It was a tough ride to the Visitor’s Center, where we found that we could see the Natural Bridge for $10. We both thought that we could just swing by and see it. That will be one thing that we will miss on our trip. We another black snake, dead by the side of the road. According to the locals, they really like these guys. They apparently eat copper heads and keep that population in check.
The climb out of Natural Bridge was tough. You have to take Hwy 11 out of town and we had thought about taking it all the way to Troutville, our destination for the night. After the 2 miles, we decided to climb the extra hills, that traffic was just bad. We were both glad with this decision after the beautiful scenery started. We were climbing, but it was a nice slow uphill for the most part. Of course, these were be punctuated with the occasional serious uphill. We took a break at a gas station with a little picnic area. I look at the $0.16 gas purchase to fill up my camp stove and laugh. Then I look at the $1.489/gallon gas price of a few years ago and stop laughing.

After a fast, but tough ride with a few hard hills, we made it into Buchanan for dinner at the Main Street Diner. Located not surprisingly on Main Street.
Today’s ride contained many tough climbs. The route turned into some serious rolling hills, which you could climb with momentum, if you worked at it. This meant riding fast and pushing a little. It was interesting to follow the stream and rail road tracks, but it was the first time that we rode along a stream with the water flowing opposite of our direction of travel. Breaking the law of gravity takes energy.

The third to the last picture below shows the after effect of my first heart stopping scare on the trip. I was riding along and suddenly something was chasing me behind making a terrible noise. I had no idea what it was. I saw nothing in my mirror and glanced back. Then I started laughing loudly. Adam stopped to see what was up as I was unhooking a huge branch from the side pocket of my panniers. The little piece of wood made a tremendous sound along the road. Heart back in chest, we continued on.
Troutville was a satisfying end to the day. We rode over 45 miles and a over 2000 feet vertical. From leaving town at 1 PM. It was a hard day. This heat is a killer. Since we talked about stopping in Troutville, I hoped that the park had a picnic shelter. This allows you to roll out our sleeping pads and bags on the picnic tables and break camp fast in the morning. It turned out that we were able to do just that. The city park was really amazing, for a city that small. There is tennis, basketball, horse shoes, a running/walking track, and some seriously cool playground equipment (says the small child in me).

We arrived just after 7, so we went to the local store before it closed at 8. We picked up some heartburn medicine, as that has been a problem with both of us a few days so far. We are starting to figure out what to eat, but still learning. Drinking Gatorade or similar sugary energy drink without some fat or protein makes me digest it too fast and causes bad heartburn. Going to Wal-Mart yesterday was like a kid in the candy store. We both had bad gas all day for all the dairy products we decided to get. One of us would drop back to, umm, get rid of some up it, and then catch up using the added propulsion. It is really good that we are riding bicycles all day, and not working in close quarters.

At the store, we purchased some watermelon, Fig Newtons and bananas. I didn’t eat that much, as it seems like my body is working a little more efficiently. I haven’t been as hungry as the first few days.

Since the shelter had power, I was able to use my laptop quite a bit. My automatic email system had stopped deleting messages I sent it after processing. This caused emails to go out every couple hours. I deleted all the extra entries in the archive and typed up and sent Day 10, then turned off the email functionality. All this automatic stuff is cool, when it works. I had to update static web pages, instead of the automatic system for the rest of the tour. I don’t have time to deal with it right now and writing code and testing it over a slow analog cellular modem on an old Toshiba Libretto would be painful.

We got setup for bed and packed up everything for leaving early tomorrow. A finally got in the sleeping bag after 10:30. I must have slept only 30 minutes when the volunteer fire department alarm went off. The best I can figure is that this signal calls the people to the fire department. The reason I think this is that a few minutes later, just as I was falling back asleep, the sirens from the truck and ambulance started up as the vehicles went out. I almost got back to sleep when the train came through, 200 feet behind the park, with it’s whistle and rumbling diesel. The first time I looked at the clock was almost 1 AM. I finally got to sleep then.

Troutville, VA
Tent Site: 37 deg 24.976 min N, 79 deg 52.537 min W, elev 1373 ft.

Day 1 (start) | Day 10 (prev)

The incident started with a man concealing his $12,000 engagement ring in a helium balloon, with the idea of actually ‘popping’ the question. I don’t understand why he had not attached the balloon to something of a greater weight than the buoyancy. Long story short, his plans of proposing went up, up, and away with the ring. After following it for a couple miles in the car, he lost the ring.

Two thoughts came to mind after reading this. First, I don’t remember a balloon clause in the Scheduled Insurance coverage I purchased to cover the ring I gave Amy. Would you be able to file a claim for it as if you just lost it? If you didn’t have some type of insurance on a $12k ring, you are a moron. Of course, if you let said ring fly off in a balloon you could also be classified a moron.

Second, a quote from the article. “But I had to tell her the story — she went absolutely mad. Now she is refusing to speak to me until I get her a new ring.” All I think of is what a materialistic little brat she sounds like.

If the woman I hoped to propose to would no longer talk to me until I bought her another $12,000 ring, after losing the first, I would chock it up to a cheap lesson. For $12,000, I would have found out her true nature and start running (not walking) away. It would save much bigger losses in the future, both emotionally and monetarily.  Perhaps she was just mad that he didn’t get a big enough ring to keep the balloon from flying away?
If this happened to me, Amy and I would share the sad laughter of the futility of the situation. I know at first I would probably tell her that she would have to work for her ring, then point to the balloon quickly gaining altitude and tell her it is in there. But I deal with stress by using humor. She would say yes anyway and I would go buy a duplicate ring in CZ until I could replace it with a real diamond. What else can I say, I think Amy is a better person than the woman in the article. That is why I picked her.

Last night, I decided to make a German Chocolate Cake.  Amy thought I shouldn’t have to make my own cake, but I wanted to try one from scratch.  The cake used real melted chocolate and I folded in whipped egg whites.  The frosting was pretty standard fare with egg yolks, evaporated milk, sugar, etc.  I didn’t have a piece until tonight.  I cooked the cake a little too much and it was slightly dry.  I’ll post the recipes on here later.  It is my birthday, after all.

For the last few months, I’ve been very careful with how I didn’t give away surprises, while knowing I was giving them away. I knew I would need Amy to know my “tell”. The latest was my response to her asking if I had her favorite pizza place make a heart shaped pizza for Valentine’s Day. This was after I told her a food place was going to make dinner in a way they didn’t think about till I asked if they could. I kind of looked away and gave her a “no comment”, when she asked if I was having a pizza made in a heart. When the heart shaped pizza showed up, she already knew it.

When I told Amy to reserve February 26th as a date night, she didn’t think anything of it. She didn’t know of any special date or anniversary for the 26th. Amy immediately tried to figure out what we were doing, but I gave no clues. After many days, she came across the idea of going out for a play or a movie. Here my months of “giving away” my secret plans had come into play. I “gave away” that I had no comment about that. Amy bought it hook, line and sinker. Now, I just had many things to prepare.

The most important piece was getting insurance for and picking up the ring. Without that, nothing happens. Since I work at an insurance company, I consulted some co-workers for best ideas about getting coverage for this ring. It wasn’t a cheap ring and would really hurt to lose it, damage it, have it stolen, etc. With all of those details taken care of, I picked up the ring in early February. I had to bring it to work on the day I picked it up, because of the way the timing worked out. I told the co-worker who helped with insurance advice that I had picked it up. She asked to see it. I said, “No. Men have died for less than showing someone an engagement before she gets it.” After thinking about it, she agreed. When I got home, I had to find a good hiding place. Just knowing that the ring was sitting there and I couldn’t say anything was tough.

I also started preparations and tried to keep them secret. I was on a time crunch for making the CD and would up letting Amy know about it, just playing it off as a fun scavenger hunt to start the date. I didn’t finish it until the night before the “date.” It was really dorky, but I thought she would get a kick out if it.

The whole night was almost blown as we left work, a day before the big event. A co-worker who knew about my plans yelled, “Good Luck Joe!” I reacted with a quieter, “Its not tonight.” Then I shut up and hoped Amy didn’t hear anything. I learned later that she did, just didn’t think it was for anything special.

Finally, the day was here and I gave Amy a note at 5:20, then left in her truck. It isn’t running very well and took some will power to get to the destination. She now drives a Passat and I use the truck when we need to haul things a short distance. The front of the note indicated that it shouldn’t be opened till 5:30. Then the note told Amy to get in my car (which I left in the driveway) and start it at exactly 5:40. By that time, I was almost to the restaurant. The parking spot I was looking for and hoping to be empty was empty. It is an important spot.

“Amy Cox, this is your mission should you chose to accept it.” That audio greeted Amy as she started the car. The CD consisted of me being a dork and Mission Impossible music, with directions. At a few places where the timing was unknown, I had her skip to the next track once she reached various places. I figured that she would know where she was heading about half way there. It didn’t really matter if she found out. I had more planned.

I had thought about standing outside, right were I was waiting for her on our first date. I decided not to for two reasons: 1 - She would wonder why and possibly think it was a really special day (we couldn’t have that) and 2 - It was REALLY COLD. I was willing to do it if I had not thought of #1. Amy arrived a little after 6 PM. I was sitting in the same booth we sat on our first date. This wasn’t an accident. I had come previously and made sure to have it reserved. However, I had done this once before on the anniversary of our first date, so nothing to shockingly new yet. After all, this was the 26th, not the 24th, and February, not September.

Dinner was nice. We chatted and Amy couldn’t figure out something special was going on. All according to plan. After dinner we ordered dessert. We had never eaten dessert at Acapulco Joe’s. Cheesecake was odd for a Mexican Restaurant, but the fried ice-cream felt at home. Amy took the cherry, but gave me the stem. I like seeing how fast I can tie them into a knot with my tongue. When we left the table, I slipped the tied stem into my pocket for something cheesy later.

During dinner, Amy asked what I had to haul in the truck, because that was the reason I told her I was taking it. I wouldn’t tell. She worried that it was sitting in the back of the truck to be stolen. I told her that it fit in the cab. This made her ask why I didn’t just take the car. To that I said nothing and changed the subject. I couldn’t tell her that the cargo I was carrying in the truck was the most expensive thing that truck has ever carried. It wasn’t sitting in the truck, it was in my coat pocket.

We left at 6:54 PM. I told Amy that the rest of the night required the truck and we walked towards it. While crossing the street Amy mentioned, “Its funny. I drove the truck here on our first date and you drove the Maxima.” I resisted the urge to reply quickly and acted out my best thinking look for 10 seconds. Then I replied, “I guess so.”

We walked up the sidewalk towards the truck. When she spotted it, she said “That is about were I parked, too.” It was actually exactly where she parked. The last spot before the hydrant. “Really?” was all I said. I told her she needed to get in the truck, but she couldn’t find her keys in her purse. I opened the door for her. As she started to get in the truck I told her to turn around. I got down on one knee and said some of the things that I had written down throughout the week. I was nervous and don’t remember exactly what I said. The only part that I can really remember is that it was exactly 30,000 hours since we first met and I’ve loved spending a majority of those hours since then with her. I should have had the camera ready to capture her face when she realized what was going on. I placed the ring on her finger and she just stared at it. I let her enjoy it for a while before reaching in my pocket to get something to put in the box. Then I gave her the closed box and told her that wasn’t all. She opened the box and I said, “Here is the knot I tied on the night I asked you to tie the knot.” If I was any cheesier, I would be named Cheddar. But she laughed.

I know that she thought we were going to see a movie or play tonight, so I gave her the option of going to see a movie. She said that she didn’t know, but that sounded good. As we were walking to the truck, Amy had mentioned how cold it was. I offered to drive her back to the car in the truck. She mentioned that she didn’t feel cold any more. I just walked her back to the car.

We were to meet up just south of 465, then get in the car for the rest of the way. When I almost got there, my cell phone rang. It was Amy. She called her mom on the way home and was on auto pilot. She was almost home, instead of heading to where we were supposed to meet. I’m guessing shock was involved. She told me that she probably couldn’t stay still for a movie and wanted to tell everyone. I thought that would be the case, but she told me she wanted to go. I started driving back to her house. Amy spent the rest of the night and all day at work showing everyone her ring. I was glad that I was finally out of the “When you giving her a ring?” question. I didn’t know that it was immediately replaced with another question:

“You two set a date yet?”

No. Not yet.

One of the first things I did, as a kid learning to sew, is figure out how the lock stitch worked on a sewing machine. You had a bobbin of thread in the bottom and the machine wrapped the top thread around it without getting tangled up (for the most part.)

This image is the best explanation I have found for the process. Very cool to see how it works. The bobbin is feeding out the blue thread and the main green thread comes from the top. Compare this image to your sewing machine and you will be able to identify the portion around the bobbin that fills the role of the red section in that animation.

Here is the most ambitious thing I’ve made with a sewing machine.

This also shows why FOD is such a risk. Here is a higher resolution version of the image taken by Keith Blincow. I haven’t been able to find a home for Keith.

At the bottom of the hill was the post office. I sent off a post card to my parents, with little on it. Most updates that needed to be sent were emailed. I just had to get a piece of mail with Vesuvius on it.

I left the route to the north, almost all the way to Steeles Tavern, to get a sandwich and stock up on my food. I found Gertie’s Country Store and ordered a cheese burger. I was in time to meet with the local lunch crew and we talked for a while. They surmised that I was crazy too. I’m starting to agree with these people. After I finished the sandwich, I lathered on sun screen and started back to Vesuvius to pick up the trail. The best part was the front license plate: “Welcome to the South, Now Go Home!”

About a mile out of town, I saw a yellow flag flapping ahead. I wondered if it was Adam, so I gradually poured on some steam and caught up with him. Sure enough. He got his wheel fixed Monday, about halfway down the Blue Ridge Parkway yesterday, and was shooting for Lexington today. He was glad to run into me for moral support. He wanted to have his wheel gone over at the bike shop in Lexington, and we discussed sharing a cheap hotel.

We climbed a little getting out of Vesuvius, then ran with the stream for about 10 miles. That was great. My legs took a beating on the Parkway, and it was nice to have a gentle rolling ride with beautiful vistas. We really started climbing into Lexington. I was hoping to stop at Natural Bridge or Buchanan by today, but like the idea of hooking up with Adam for a few days. We hit the bike shop in Lexington and dropped off his bike to get service. There was supposed to be a Thrifty Inn at the end of 11, going out of town. I rode up to where it should be and found a Lexington Lodge that will be re-opened in a couple months. Not good. I noticed a travel agency coming back, and I asked about local hotels. She was able to book us a room at Super 8 for $62 with tax. Not bad for $31 each.

Adam hadn’t seen the new Star Wars, so we decided to go to the 7 PM showing. There was a Golden Corral going back into town, but we didn’t have time to take showers, eat there, and ride back into town for the 7 o’clock showing. Burger King it was. This is the first time I have eaten at a fast food joint on the trip and I really enjoyed the fries and grilled chicken sandwich.

Since it was over a mile, with some decent hills back into town, we were going to ride our bikes instead of walking. We did however, unload them in the room before heading out. It is amazing to feel them with no baggage. You go from driving a Greyhound bus to a sports car. Very cool. We allowed ourselves 30 minutes to get back in town, and were able to do it in 15. Adam enjoyed the movie and I caught many things that I had not noticed the first time I viewed it before heading out on the trip. It is much better than Star Wars 1, but both still don’t compare to the originals.

After we got back to the hotel, we put the bikes in the room and walked over to Wal-Mart. It was like a kid in a candy store. We are stocked up for the next few days. We had tuna sandwiches with provolone and mustard, yogurt, and some granola bars when we got back to the room. We may have over done the milk products with cheese and 2-3 yogurts each before we left in the morning. We got to bed a little after midnight, after both of us went through our things and figured out what we were mailing home in Lexington. I’m sending home my big bike lock for two reasons. First, I picked up a slightly lighter and more compact lock at the bike shop. Second, and slightly more important, the tingling sound I heard on a downhill the other day was not a washer I ran over. The best I can figure it, the sound was the keys to my cable lock and my white LED flashlight. I had the spare green LED light, but I no longer have a key to open this heavy bike lock. Instead of being a trooper and carrying it to Kentucky, I’m relying on the whole no rain, no sleet, no dark of day, thing to deliver it to Jeffersonville. We both slept like the dead.

Lexington, VA
Tent Site: 37 deg 48.196 min N, 79 deg 24.656 min W, elev 1112 ft.

Day 1 (start) | Day 9 (prev) | Day 11 (next)

• 4.5 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 2 cup butter, softened
• 1.5 cups packed brown sugar
• 2 (3.4 oz) packages vanilla instant pudding mix
• 4 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 4 cups semisweet chocolate chips
• 2 cups chopped walnuts (optional)

Preheat over to 350 degrees F.

Sift together the flour and baking soda and set aside.

In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar and white sugar. Combine with pudding mix until well blended. Stir in eggs and vanilla. Blend in flour mixture. Stir in chips and nuts.

Drop cookies onto ungreased cookie sheets.

Bake for 10-12 minutes until edges are golden brown.

Dip in milk. Enjoy.

I woke up at 6 AM, reset my alarm, and went back to sleep. Then I woke up a 7 AMand I felt a little better about it, so I didn’t reset the alarm and I got up. I had partially packed up last night, but left the panniers empty. I maneuvered the bike out of the bike house (no an easy task, but much easier when unloaded) and started filling panniers. I then did a once through the house and straightened up anything I had disturbed in my stay. I locked up the house and dropped off a note, a donation, and the key under June’s front porch mat. I started climbing just before 8. I stopped as I passed behind Hope and Jim’s house and got a better overall pictures of the labyrinth and a few shots of the view.

The hill going out was as bad as the 2 miles up to Afton. Luckily there wasn’t too much distance on 6 up to 250, where the grade lessened. Highway 250 climbs up into Rockfish Gap. There both the Blue Ridge Parkway starts to the South and Skyline Drive to the North. I stopped at the visitors center at 8:40, which opened at 9. I didn’t mind sitting, eating breakfast, and resting from my 2 mile, 3.5 mph climb. (This will be a recurring theme today, not eating breakfast, the climbing.)

I’ve heard so many good things about The Blue Ridge Parkway. Mostly from people on motorcycles or cars or anything thing else with a motor. The reason for this is the views are great. However, the hills were not. Strong motors are a good thing, mine is a little weak.

I stopped at Humpback Rocks Visitors Center and Farm Museum. There were some nice displays inside, regarding early farming and life in the Appalachian Mountains.

After spending 20 minutes inside, I walked through the log cabins, barns, and other structures adjacent to the Visitor’s Center. I thought the spring house was interesting. Old day refrigerator.The rest of the day involved no more major stops, but many minor ones. Every hill you climb doesn’t seem like much of a victory, because you almost immediately head down hill. I did have one victory, passing the 45 mph speed limit on a bicycle. I met a Japanese family who were very interested in my trip. They asked if they could photograph me and then burned almost a complete roll. There were some fun places to climb and repel, but I had no gear to hook into the strapping.

Today, I crossed the Appalachian Trail for the first time. This is a backpacking trail spanning many states and it crosses the Trans-Am bicycle route a few times in Virginia. I met my first hikers, where the trail crossed the Blue Ridge. Each time is stopped, the bugs really started coming out. I snapped one photo with all of them swarming around my head.

Today was tough. I passed up a few places I could stop to camp, because I would have to ride quite a bit to get back on route. I finally made it to a campground along the route, just after the route left the Blue Ridge Parkway. I won’t have too much riding to get back going, but it was a serious descent into the Tye River Gap Campground. I pitched the tent in a nice spot, next to a stream and left to take a shower. Then I cooked some food. In the process, I ran out of fuel. The noodles got done, but there wasn’t enough residual heat to activate the sauce, so it didn’t thicken. I’ll tell you, that was the best macaroni, tuna, and cheese juice I have ever eaten. I didn’t mind it a bit, I was that hungry! It is one serving for a cyclist that climbed the Blue Ridge all day.

When there is no forecast for rain, I leave off the rain fly. This allows fresh air to cycle through the tent. There was one problem with this all night. A flowing stream sounds very similar to rain following through the high tree tops. I woke up a couple times fearing of rain. I probably would have slept no drier, but much better with the rain fly.

Day 1 (start) | Day 8 (prev) | Day 10 (next)

So enjoy a fun power of two date/time sequence that will not happen again for a hundred years.

The fruit is called a Kiwano Horned Melon. I wonder how much the spines are toned down after picking. They are still seriously sharp as I picked this up.

I dropped it into a plastic bag and the spines poked through the bag until the bag hit the main body. This fruit isn’t cheap, but I’m always up for an experience.

I lopped off a little of the top, easily enough. The outer skin was fairly soft, where spikes were not present. Inside, the fruit contains green transparent sacks, each holding a seed. The fruit looks so moist that I punctured the opposite side and turned the fruit upside down to drain out some of the juice. Nothing came out. But it looked so moist.

I cut the fruit in half, longitudinally. The color is an odd lime green. With all the little sacs, it almost looks like a Kiwi. I’m guessing that this is part of the Kiwano naming. I cut one of these halves again. I decided to try to just suck on the piece. It felt like some sort of cannon battery firing into my mouth, as the sacs let loose. The sacs seems like they are full of water, but you can’t pop them and get any fluid out. It is like an extremely soft gummi bear. You can’t get water out, you can only cut the sac into a smaller piece. It is very strange.

Yeah, but how does it taste? It is a cross between a banana and a slight cucumber flavor. But the flavor isn’t very strong. The seeds feel and taste like a cucumber seed. It really doesn’t have a great flavor, and the texture is just strange. Not a bad experience, but I had to wonder why you would want to eat this. Was there something I was missing?

I started doing some research. I learned that my method of cutting it isn’t the “proper” way. You are supposed to cut it in half transversely, as you would slice a cucumber into circle. Then squeeze the fruit half, while you suck on the end. If you can’t handle eating the seeds, lightly bite on them with your teeth as you suck. This will pull the sac from out around the seed and you can spit out the seed.

I’m thinking the only reason this is sold in supermarkets is for people like me to buy it. The best thing about it is the visuals of the outside and after the first cut. It is all downhill from there. My philosophy for food is that I will try anything at least once, if there isn’t high probability of death. This rules out a few things, such as blowfish and other potentially deadly foods, but makes me try most things.  I’m glad I bought it, as it was a fun experience.  I don’t think I’ll get another though.

The seven circuit labyrinth design is believed to be 4500 years old. The first example is found carved on the wall of a Neolithic tomb from ancient Sardinia. The design, however seems universal. It appears in many different cultures from all over the world. This same design appears on 3500 year old coins from Crete, tablets and pottery from both ancient Greece and Rome, an 11th century manuscript from India and labyrinths believed to be from the 12th century have been found carved in rock on Hopi reservations in Arizona.

The labyrinth represents the path each of us takes in our own lives. It winds and turns its way in on a unicursal line. This means that there are no false turns or dead ends - just one way into to the center and back out again by the same path. It is a walking meditation, a metaphor for the course of our lives, and a powerful tool for solving problems.

As you walk the labyrinth you turn this way, then that, shifting 180 degrees each time. It is thought that this is the reason it can induce receptive states of consciousness. As each physical shift occurs, your awareness changes from right brain to left brain, and there is an equal number of turns in each directions. Each person has a unique experience in the labyrinth. Some walk it for guidance, some for clearing the mind, others for centering and gathering their thoughts. Whatever the purpose, most find a connection to their spiritual core.

I found it relaxing to walk the path. Before today, I didn’t know the difference between a labyrinth and a maze. I had always thought that they were different names for the same thing. A labyrinth only has one path in and out, where a maze has many paths and some of which are false. Hope has started planting lavender around the labyrinth and will eventually complete the entire thing in lavender. Not only will it be pretty, but the fragrance should be amazing. The very center of the labyrinth is the first time I stopped looking down at the path and looked up. Wow. The mountain view is amazing. They did pick a perfect place for this.

June later told me that that the couple with the 11 month old, who had come through over a month ago making her now just over a year old, were in an accident. Kami, Ben and their daughter Dove are all going to be fine. From what I understand, Ben was pulling a trailer with Dove and Kami was pulling a trailer with gear when they were hit by some vehicle. Both bikes and trailers were ruined, but Dove didn’t have a scratch. The parents were a little banged up, but only bruises and some gravel rash and no broken bones. It is a blessing that no-one was seriously injured.

I came in to the bike house and had a toaster pastry and tuna fish sandwiches. Then I sat down on the couch. I decided to lay down on the couch for a bit and was woken up by thunder. Looking outside, the thunderstorms and rain had started. I went back to the couch and dosed a little more. June came in at around 3 PM and was taking a man and woman from the local cycling club through the house for the first time. I was able to record some of her explanations of some of the memorabilia and get pictures of what she was talking about. It was great to hear a few of these stories and imagine how many more stories were represented by all of the pictures, articles, post cards, and cycling gear in the house. I purchased one of her books with anecdotes about various people she has met and she is going to ship it to my parents (so I don’t have to carry it up the hills and mangle it in my panniers.)

I had planned on leaving for a short day, but the rain continued all evening. My legs were happy for my first day with no miles. I’m hoping the weather clears up for tomorrow, just so I can see the sights from the Blue Ridge Parkway. I’m going to try to get out of here before 7 AM for a decently long day tomorrow. I have about 2000 feet of climbing before I reach the peak of the Blue Ridge Parkway, then it is all up and down riding. June assures me that the worst climb of the trip is the one up to Afton mountain. She says that those riding West to East comment on Virginia being the hardest state of all. This is even for those who are in shape after 3,500 miles of riding. Today I commented on my legs not liking the hills, June confused my physical soreness for my mental resolve and tried to assure me that I could make it across. I told her that I have no doubt in my mind that I can. My body is starting to morph into a hill climber. It isn’t there yet, but I can already feel the changes starting.

I came back inside the house and started taking more pictures (part of the 1100 pics mentioned above). I had some Spaghetti O’s with Meatballs and some Peas. June keeps the bike house stocked with food for us bikers. She has a donation jar for optional donations. Those are the only thing that keeps this house going. I will be leaving her a sizable one for the two most enjoyable days of my tour so far.

I took photos of the Pete’s and my Polaroids and also the sign in sheet. The Pete’s left a note for Adam and I. I left a note for Adam.

Jim (Hope’s husband) came down into the bike house around 7 PM and invited me up to their home. June was up there having a hot dog roast. I had already eaten, so I didn’t have a hot dog, but I did really enjoy myself talking with them next to the clay pot fire. They had a cool little clay fireplace that looks like a big pot with and opening and a chimney on top. It works really well for a small fire for roasting under their front porch. We sat enjoying the evening and listening to the rain fall through the trees. I roasted a marshmallow and had a piece of apple pie. The conversation was great and so were the mountain views. I hope this is the only first of many nice people I will meet along the way.

Afton, VA
The Cookie Lady’s Bike House: 38 deg 02.016 min N, 78 deg 50.350 min W, elev 1449 ft.

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Once the dough is ready, it doesn’t really matter if you roll out the dough or hand toss. I like keeping a little thicker edge on the dough to give you a breadstick to eat after you finish the piece.

To slide a pizza into the oven, you need some ball bearings. Flour or corn meal are common. I prefer cornmeal. Sprinkle a little on the peel over the area that the pizza will cover. It makes the most sense to position the pizza as close to the front edge as possible. Shake the peel and make sure that the pizza dough moves around easily. Now make the pizza as quick as possible. The cornmeal will take moisture from the dough and will start to stick. Before trying to put the pizza in the oven, do another shake test. If it doesn’t move, you didn’t use enough corn meal. Get under the dough with a spatula or turner and sling some more cornmeal in there. You want to find out now, not when you are shaking the toppings onto the hot stone, with no pizza dough. It is better to error on the side of too much corn meal at first. However, the corn meal will burn when left on the stone.

Do not try to get the pizza off with a quick jerk. This will also distribute toppings onto the stone. Put the peel in the oven at a 25 to 30 degree angle and touch down on the stone where the edge of the pizza should go. With small easy shakes, ease the pizza onto the stone.

Getting the pizza out is where the aluminum peel really shines. It is 1/8th the thickness of a wood peel. The allows you to slide the peel under the pizza without kicking the pizza off the back of the stone and into the back of the oven, This makes a lot of mess and a lot of smoke. Getting the pizza out is where you want a quick action. If you did everything right, the pizza should not be attached to the stone at all.

When it all goes wrong. Well, I’ve found a long metal turner made for outside grilling very handy. If you pizza sticks at all, you can scrape it off with this turner. It also help clean all the cheese that is on the stone from where you put on too much cheese and not enough corn meal and the first shake just tossed cheese and toppings onto the stone. It is gonna happen, just have fun.

When messing around and cleaning the stone, it is a good idea to wear some oven mitts. I’ve managed to hit the oven rack or something a few times and a 500-550 degree oven makes burns happen fast.