Ride Map Day 22: Wytheville, VA to Christiansburg, VA

The road into Wytheville (Wythe pronounced like Smith... old english) last night and with some 5 or so miles left to KOA and it being 1930hrs already it didn't take much twisting to get me to pop my head into the Travel Lite motel to ask about a room. Jay was super nice and she let me have the room for $33. The room is clean and comfortable and convenient to restaurant, pharmacy and c-stores. I showered and walked across the street for dinner at the Log House Restaurant. The log house was built in 1776 and its latest addition completed in 1889. The food was awesome and I thoroughly enjoy my Virgina ham, stuffed yellow squash, parsley potatoes, garden salad and fresh bread with fresh churned butter. Afterwards I was stuffed, sore and tired and ready for some much needed sleep.

The ride to Wytheville was very long at over 70 miles. I've learned that there are no straight roads in Virginia and everything is up hill! You want a c-store...up hill. You want a motel...up hill. You want food...up hill. And so on and so forth... U.S. Hwy 11 in Virginia is not quite the same as it was in Tennessee. It is definitely not constructed with bicycle travel on the blue prints. In fact, where ever the road had been repaired or resurfaced, only the driving lanes were completed leaving the shoulders, or what little of them there were, in very, very poor condition. Still, I got to see some beautiful countryside and meet some neat folks.

Awoke this a.m. with very sore back and legs. Slept in until 0730hrs and took hot shower to loosen up. I'm not feeling too bad now. It is actually cold outside by Texas coastal standards and some pants or legwarmers will be needed to keep my knees warm enough to work without getting torn up. Going to make short ride, ~50 miles, to Christiansburg where I will rest at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains. I suppose the mountains and I will have a little stare down but hopefully we won't end up in a Mexican stand off as I'm sure that Theresa would not want to have to pack up and move to Christiansburg now that school has started! ;o)

So, here's what I want everybody to do today... go to the bookstore or amazon or wherever you purchase your books from and pick up a copy of "Faces of Freedom, Profiles of America's Fallen Heroes: Iraq and Afghanistan" by Rebecca Pepin. Read it. Think about it. Then take that book and donate it to your local school library of choice. At one point Ms. Pepin donated ALL proceeds from this book to Wounded Warrior Project. I'm not certain if that still holds true but, the book itself is a must read to give everyone a better understanding of our Troops' experiences in the Middle East conflicts. Nobody can ever completely understand a combat Veteran except another combat Veteran but maybe these stories will help you to understand just a little bit more. OK, you have your orders... MOVE OUT! :o)

Here is today's route map. The "Map My Ride" software is very powerful and easy to use. I like the "Show Elevation" feature as it gives me a good idea of what I'm going to get into today much better that a topographic map. Check it out!