October 15, 2010 - Blue Ridge Parkway

Last night I “tweaked” my back but it was better this morning until I got out of the car to get directions. It “tweaked” again and I decided I better not try to ride today as we had a hard climb to do and climbing puts a lot of stress on the lower back. I dropped Dana off and killed some time in Lexington at a pastry shop, then went to check on Dana. By then it was raining pretty hard (our first rain of the trip!). She was about to start the climb and asked me to wait for her at the top which was where the route intersects with the Blue Ridge Parkway and then follows it for about 27 miles. We drove the Parkway and, while it was beautiful, we concluded that the very minor roads we had ridden the last several days were much more scenic. Riding a bike across country has let us see so much that most people never see; I’m convinced it’s the best way to go.

The road Dana rode up to get to the Blue Ridge Parkway

We stayed the night in a campground near Waynesboro, VA. A couple of nights earlier I had received a phone call from Steve’s and my friends, Art and Gill Jackson, who we know from a campground we stayed in about five years ago in Zihuatanejo, Mexico. We go to Zihuatanejo every year and have always enjoyed visiting with them when we are there. Art and Gill live on Vancouver Island in British Columbia but were spending several months in their motorhome driving around Canada and the United States. They had been following the blog and realized they were going to be in Virginia in a couple of days and asked where we would be. After figuring it out I gave them the name of the campground and was delighted to see them there shortly after we arrived. It was great to catch up with their travels and to see them and their dogs (Tia and Trekker) again. They are planning on being in “Zihua” again this winter so we will see them again when we are there in February.