Day 31 Daleville, VA - Bellemonte Fishin

Day 31 Daleville, VA - Montebello Fishing and Camping Resort, VA
Miles - 72 miles
Turtle Rescued - 1
Train tracks - 2

Its the normal routine. We get up before 5am and get the van already. Even though the time for folks to have their luggage out by the van at 6:15, we are always there by 6:00 am, cause there will inevitably be someone needing a glove, shirt or whatever. But we are happy to be there to help there. Usually, Glenn is cleaning out the trash from the day before, and I get into my "junk drawer" which is under the first row of seats. It this junk drawer, we have scissors, pens, paper, and my whiteboard. I have habitually been taking the "day" picture at the beginning of each day. This has been very helpful for me to recount this stuff for that particular day.

We have breakfast at Cracker Barrel in Daleville. Daleville is like a northern suburb of Roanoke. I think I had breakfast with Jeff that day. Glenn didn't eat breakfast as he was helping the riders get ready for the day. I did order biscuits and gravy for him and we got that in a "to-go" bag. At the end of the day, the gravy was thrown away, and I think Neil had the biscuit at one of the breaks.

The cyclist was ready and left on their RidewithGPS course. The first stop was the Appalachian Trail. Vela and I got out. She made a video of her actually "walking the Appalachian Trail". She started in Daleville and ended in Daleville.

This particular day was beautiful. We followed the Bike 76 route. We came to a train trussel and I took some pictures. Then we continued on, it wasn't until 10 minutes later that I realized that we were "off course". Just after the train trussel, the 76 sign turned left, and we missed it. Ugh. We finally made our way back to Jeff and the camera car and the cyclist. Then the cyclists had a photo opp and Jeff told us to stand back. Hold back. We pulled over into the shade. And waited and waited and waited. We never heard a call. We were out of cell phone coverage and definitely out of two-way walkie-talkie. Finally, Glenn backed up and we got a text message from the camera car for us to come on up. I think this was one of the darkest times in our journey, where there were some miscues and unfortunate circumstances that we couldn't hear the camera car and we waited maybe a little bit too long. The ride was beautiful once we started going.

We stopped in one town that had a swinging suspension bridge. Vela, Jeff and I walked across it and the vehicles came to the other side. At this time, the weather was getting pretty hot, I remember.

We rode into Lexington, Virginia. This is the home of Washington and Lee University (where Wynn B) went to college. Glenn and I remember having a picnic lunch with him several years ago while visiting him. We had lunch inside at Macado's Restaurant. Great place. Glenn and I shared a Ruben sandwich. Most of the folks ate lunch outside on the porch.

As soon as lunch was over, there was a crowd waiting to talk to Neil. One was a gal. Another was a guy sitting on the porch steps. And then the last was a mother and son that I struck a conversation with and they were just curious about what was going on. Neil talked to all 3 groups. He later recounted that there were no conversations as they were eating lunch on the porch, but rather once they got their bikes out and were ready to roll. I think Wes talked mostly with the young gal. Again, I don't know the conversations, but it was neat how these 3 groups of folks all came together. Divine Appointment. Glenn, Vela and I talked with the mother-son.

As we drove out, we drove through and under the Virginia Military Institute campus. Quite impressive. The ride continued on to Vesuvius, Virginia and here the cyclists took a water break. Glenn parked under the tree and we filled empty water bottles and replenished their thirsty mouths. I walked to the 1 room US Postoffice and struck up a conversation with the Post Master.

I said "So you are the Post Master" and her reply was "No, I'm the Post Mistress". I laughed. I had a lengthy conversation with her. She grew up in the area. Married her high school sweetheart and has only been a few other states. Never been on an airplane. It was fun to talk to her. She only had 1 postcard stamp, but she had several postcards with stamps on them. Glenn and Vela rode 3 miles up the road to a lonely mom and pop's place, Girdys to buy some much-needed ice. I stayed in a small store and wrote 3 postcards. One to mom and dad, one to David, Emily, Lucy, and the baby and my final card to Brighton and Violet. I quickly drove a picture of the USA and x marks the spot for California and X for Maryland. Glenn came back after having passed up the hole in the way.

We got up to Caroline. The guys were on ahead. Man, this was a steep climb. Ugh. Several times on the curves, I would yell out the window to Caroline to encourage her along the way. Sometimes it looked like she was standing still. But faithfully, she would climb and climb and climb. I don't know how she did it. It was impressive. She rode up to the top of the Blue Ridge Parkway.

We finally get to the Montebello Camping and Fishing Resort spot. A cute store that stocked all the supplies you need. Vela, Jeff and I realized that we needed to cook out for dinner. We bought all the supplies to make hamburgers, pickles, tomatoes, even charcoal to cook out on. I walked across the street to the pond where Wes, Caroline, and Neil sat - totally exhausted. They wanted ice-cream. I can still picture them in my mind, sitting on the bench in front of the lake and the ice cream in their sweating hands.

Once we got the cabins, Neil started to put the food on the grill. However, just before that, he decides to cut his hair. I think he was very tired at this point. Then we realized that we forgot to pick up the charcoal at the counter. Glenn drives down to the store to see if anyone is around, talks to a stranger and brings back a cord of wood. In the meantime, Jeff walks down the gravel road and talks to a family that was camping and returns with 1/2 bag of charcoal that we could use. In exchange, I think we gave them some shirts and maybe some other food items.

For dessert, we all wanted smores. But we didn't have any marshmallows. However, we had a bag of small cinnamon cake donuts that I bought several days ago. Neil put the donut on the grill topped with Hershey chocolate and I layered that on top of a granola bar. Pretty delicious. Afterward, we sat around and shared some experiences so far on the trip. The journey was coming to an end soon. Jon and Christine had to drive to Charlottesville to get a battery or something, so they were not around. Glenn and I had our own cabin. Cute and very tasteful and adequate. Just not enough time to enjoy it fully.Read more