Trans-Am Day 2 - Jamestown to Glendale, VA
December 15th, 2007
I had a good night’s sleep last night, despite the temperature. I thought about not bringing my 20 degree bag and purchasing a warmer weather bag. I’m thrilled that I didn’t talk myself into it. I needed every bit of that bag to stay warm last night. I woke up just before 7, refreshed with my headache gone. I’m sure that drinking water throughout the night helped counter the dehydration and altitude effects. I immediately went to get my $20 worth of hot shower. Seeing my campsite for the first time in the light assured that I didn’t do too bad of a job picking it out. The layer of pine needles added a nice soft accentuation to the air mattress. I setup the laptop and AA batteries to start charging in the outlets along the all of the restroom.
The sky was hard overcast in the early morning, so the first thing I did after the shower was tune in a station on the weather radio. The small radio I brought along with me can receive all standard NOA weather radio, FM, AM, and TV audio. The report kept using the phrase “unseasonably cool”. Yep. I’d agree with that. The forecast was partly cloudy with a chance of light showers. I switched to Morning Edition on NPR and started oatmeal on the stove. It was a cold morning and I didn’t move very fast, because I didn’t relish the thought of adding a 12 MPH wind chill to the current temperature when I started riding. The oatmeal and raisins were good. Their addition of heat inside me was even better.
I pre-packed some oatmeal in the snack sized Ziploc bags, before I left. This was about the right size for a morning meal. As I left to clean up the pot, one of these bags full of oatmeal sat on the picnic table. I spent at most 3 minutes in the restroom. That was enough time for a crow to peck into a bag and start eating my oatmeal. Glad I still had the first bag, I dumped the remaining oatmeal in there and chuckled. A very fast opportunistic scavenger.
I gradually finished breaking down camp and getting ready for the day. I left the campground just before 10, starting my first real touring day.
Most of my route followed highway 5 towards Richmond. There was a considerable amount of dump truck and semi-truck traffic along the road in both directions, but all drivers were courteous. A couple people passed when it wasn’t really safe, but a few always do. I waved at all the truckers I passed, trying to build up my trucker karma for those nasty coal trucks I keep hearing about in eastern Kentucky. I’m surprised that I haven’t seen a dog yet. In 80 miles of cycling that is pretty strange. I guess I will have to wait for those infamous eastern Kentucky dogs.
I need to learn something positive about eastern Kentucky, as those are the only two things I know about it: terrible trucks with bad drivers and terrible dogs. That is the only thing bicycle tourists riding through there talk about. I’m determined to find something nice about the area.
I had picked up some snacks at the campground store before leaving, but I was happy to see the sub shop at 11:30. I devoured a pretty good hot turkey and cheese sub, fries and a Pepsi. I told myself I would eat better on this trip, but it was really good! With each stop, the basics are always handled. Fill up your water bottles and get rid of the water you drank during the last couple hours.
This morning was the first time I noticed the 76 bike route signs, marking the Bikecentennial route I was riding, started in 1976. I started taking some pictures of the sign when I spotted them.
Next stop was Sherwood Forest Plantation in Charles City County. This is the first of 4 major and many minor Plantations within 14 miles along highway 5. It holds a few distinctions, such as the only private residence having been owned by two unrelated presidents. William Henry Harrison inherited the property in 1790 and sold it in 1793 without having every lived in the house. This is where John Tyler, the tenth (1841-1845) President of the United States retired, after purchasing the property in 1842. The plantation name was changed from Walnut Grove to Sherwood Forest, a name Tyler picked to signify the outlaw he was now considered by the Whig party.
The house originally had two separate out buildings, because doing wash and preparing food required fire. It is much nicer to have a kitchen or laundry burn down than lose the entire residence. These three buildings were eventually joined with great halls. Unfortunately, no photography is allowed inside the home. The tour contained many interesting artifacts, beautiful furniture, and grand rooms. Half of the home is currently an actual residence, so you are not allowed to see the entire building. However, one hall is part of the tour and you can see how it was laid out to accommodate the popular dance of the time: the Virginia Reel. Due to these halls joining the home into one structure, it has the distinction of being one of the longest private residences in the country at 300 feet.
I was passed by a father and daughter team, also doing the Trans-Am. They were running light for the first day, with no bags. They mentioned that a vehicle was bringing them. I didn’t gather if they were heading all the way unloaded, or just for the start. Either way, I will probably never catch back up with them.
I then stopped at Berkley Plantation, directly on the James River. This land is home to many of America’s firsts, including the first Thanksgiving on Dec. 4th, 1619. There is a monument and ship diagram down at the James River where the 38 English settlers landed on that day. Jamestown, established on May 14, 1607, is about 20 miles upstream of this point.
Benjamin Harrison IV built the mansion on the land in 1726 and married Anne Carter. His son, Benjamin Harrison V was a signer of the Declaration of Independence. During the Civil War, Union troops occupied the plantation. The architecture is original and the furnishings are of the period when it was built. The basement contains a mini museum, with painting and exhibits describing the history of the plantation. This also was a tour worth seeing.
I left the Berkley Plantation after 5:30 and headed to Glendale. I stopped on the way to pick up some food for dinner. This has been an interesting transition already. The grocery stores available are a far cry from the huge supermarkets we get used to in modern life. Tonight’s dinner was plucked from a small gas station and grocery. The selection was poor, but the cyclist was hungry. Hunger makes anything taste great.
I should point out to anyone wanting to try this route themselves that the 1/2 mile ride into Berkley is TERRIBLE. You see the sign that asks you to enjoy yourself for the next 1/2 mile of authentic Colonial road, and you get to try as hard as you can to keep the bike upright. That is one of the toughest roads I have ever ridden on. It is a gravel road with perfectly round rocks. But the rocks very in size from sand to 4 inches. Did I mention the 5-15 degrees of slope for drainage? That is good for flipping your back wheel out whenever it feels like it. Yee-haw, I have now surfed a bike and am immensely impressed with myself for not going down once.
I stopped at the one of the locations for the Seven Days Battles, en route to Willis United Methodist Church. It is quite amazing how much I am seeing of historical places and even more amazing the vast number I am missing. While riding a bike, it is a simple thing to pull off and read a sign noting some historical significance. I have no doubt that nearly all of these would have been missed in a car and that the small paragraph on each sign doesn’t come close to covering the historical significance of the location.
Pastor Manning Harrell was a wonderful host, when I pulled into the Church around 8:30. We had a chance to chat, while I was setting up camp. He is retiring at the end of this month, and he has really enjoyed meeting all the cyclists in the five years he has been at the church. Apparently the new pastor is also excited about hosting cyclists, so this fine overnight stop on the trail will be going strong for some time.
Glendale, VA
Tent Site: 37 deg 26.112 min N, 77 deg 14.193 min W, elev 270 ft.
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