Bland County

Day 30 Wytheville, VA - Daleville, VA
Miles - 102
Turtles rescued - 1
Black bear and baby cubs spotted - 3
Emergency repair on Wes's bike - 1

Down to just a few days left in this amazing adventure. People are getting gitty, anxious and nervous all at the same time. Its been a L.O.N.G. 30 days. It has gone bu fast - and it has gone by slowly.

This morning, I woke up at 4am to finish my blog. Last night, I could barely type and decided to finish up this morning. I finished up around 5:30am just in time to get ready for the day and then go down and help Glenn load up the van.

It was kinda overcast in the morning but cleared up before breakfast. We all went over to the Cracker Barrell for breakfast. Glenn and I shared the Old Timer's breakfast. Just before we left, I checked to see if there were any letterboxes in the area. There was one at the Best Western Parking lot - and that was on our way out of town. So, with Wes's permission, we followed the clue and did a letterbox. Very easy. Glad Glenn did this for me. We also drove by a tiny tiny church. I got a picture.

About 20 minutes up the road, one of Neil's friends that lives in North Carolina drove up so he could cycle with the team. What a kind friend to do that. He was all decked out in the cycling outfit and he rode probably an hour or two before he has to ride back and get his vehicle.

Just right after this, Wes' chain on his bike kept breaking or was creating problems for him. He would ride for 3 minutes, then stop. Do that again several times, til finally, he had some screws out and was really working on it. It looked like he had it repaired. And we started to drive to meet the team. They had only gone 1 mile up the road where they started to have a conversation with a man and his wife or girlfriend. They were in a Sprinter van. Once we rolled into them, Wes decided he needed to find a bike shop. He searched the internet and found one just 20 minutes up the road.

We asked the other bikers to get their stuff that they would need like food items. Then we quickly left. Glenn drove on I 81 towards Blacksburg. Then off the interstate to a bike shop in a Kroger's shopping center. While they were getting that repaired, I walked over to Kroger and bought a case of water. I think we were there for 45 minutes. And then we called Jeff and they were just sitting down to eat lunch at Fatz.

25 minutes later we were at the restaurant also. I had soup and salad. Glenn had chicken. Now it was time to roll again. Heading North on the side streets on the rolling hills through farmland. We didn't seed corn like we used to see in Kentucky and Missouri.

We went through one tunnel and I saw one covered bridge. We stumbled upon a barn and Jon took some photos of the blue bike against the old barn.

As we were driving towards the Super 8 motel tonight, Neil saw 2 ladies trying to get a couch through the front door. Glenn, Wes, Matt, and Caroline helped this family. Then afterward, Neil was able to have a conversation. Glenn and I went on to the hotel to get checked in. Tonight, Glenn and I are together.

We met Neil's cousin, Monty. He lives several hours from here and drove down to see them. We went to a Chinese restaurant for supper tonight.

We got back to the hotel room by 9:45pm. Another late day. We get to sleep in 30 minutes later tomorrow.Read more