Day 63 – One Last Dog Story
Today’s bike ride was 80.3 miles from Wytheville, VA to
Catawba, VA. It was another great
day. Scenery was beautiful, but cannot
compare to the Appalachian’s of the past couple days. Weather was good. Road conditions and traffic were good. I biked through a couple small cities
(Radford and Christiansburg), so that slows me down a little. There were hills, but a gentler kind: shorter
and not as steep as previous days. With
that said, I did climb enough hills today to accumulate 5,213 feet of ascent. That marks the eighth day in a row I have
climbed more than 5,000 feet, or a mile straight up.
It was just a really nice peaceful ride today. I love the gentle (gentler, ok, not quite as hard) hills, and the
scenery. It was about as stress-free as
it gets.
It has been bothering me that I spent so much time in my
previous blog posts complaining about the dogs of eastern Kentucky. I love dogs; in fact I have been missing our
black lab (Tess) while on this long journey.
Yet if you read my blog, in 63 days of travel my only mention of dogs is
my grumbling about the scary dogs of Kentucky.
While on my peaceful ride today I came across a young couple
biking the TransAmerica route from east to west. They were resting in the shade at the top of
a hill, so I pulled over to talk. Their
names are Wyatt and Jessie, and it was a pleasure to talk with them. They actually started their journey in
Pennsicola, FL and then traveled up to Yorktown, VA to catch the TransAmerica
route. Once they get to Oregon they are
continuing their bike trip along the west coast. Whereas my trip will be around 4,100 miles,
by the time they finish they will have biked around 6,500 miles. This trip is part of a move for them from
Florida to the west coast. What an
adventure! They are completely
self-supported, so their bikes are loaded down with all the essentials required
to make the trip. But the thing that
really impressed me about this smiling adventuresome couple was they also had their
dog along. Not a small dog – a large dog
patiently sitting in a two-wheel cart attached to Wyatt’s bike. His name is Indie. I could see his great personality in his
reactions. It was a joy to be able to
pet a dog that is so friendly and shows so much appreciation for a little
attention. After the dog hassles of east
Kentucky it was great to have a chance to connect to a good dog owned by great
owners. Good luck to Wyatt, Jessie, and
Indie in their travels! And thanks for
giving me a good reason to write one last dog story.
Indie - a great dog. 6,500 miles across the U.S. behind a bike. |
Looking back on the Appalachians. |
Crossing the New River as I enter Radford, VA. |
Typical road biked today. |
Another road biked today. |
Nice pic of the dog in the trailer! Keep up the hill climbing -- 5000 ft for 8 straight days. Also, great pics from today and yesterday....the VA roads are very scenic.
ReplyDeleteThanks John. I can't get over the dog in a trailer. Can you imagine pulling that up mountains?
DeleteYou must be on your last map or close to it!! Enjoy the day:)
ReplyDeleteThanks Jacki. I am indeed on the last of twelve maps. Jill says you are a "mapster" like her!
DeleteThanks for sharing your blog with us! Much fun reading what lies ahead from someone else's perspective. And Indy says "thanks for the all the pets and head scratches!" Looking forward to seeing you cross the finish line! Good luck!
ReplyDeleteJessie
Thanks Jessie. It was great to meet the two of you (and Indy) yesterday. Enjoy the journey and safe travels.
DeleteI loved the Indi pic! How cool to bring along your companion! Mark, I used to travel for work at least a few times a year to Radford (Radford Army Ammunition Plant - part of ATK) and we usually stayed in Christiansburg - college town, more to do. It's a beautiful area and the people are so friendly. Crazy dogs though it sounds!
ReplyDelete