Weird, weird day. Slept in because I needed to go back to the bike shop, which didn’t open til 10. I forgot to tell them yesterday that my lights didn’t work anymore. Turned out I prob hit a button by accident that turns the lights on or off. A five second fix. Also, had them look at my tires. All good for now.

Then I finally made it to Monticello. I could see the mansion way up on top of a hill, and tho’t I really didn’t want to ride all the way up there. It looked like riding to the top of the Blue Ridge Parkway. When I turned onto the road to the top, it wasn’t bad at all, so I kept going. Soon, I was at the visitor center and found out I could not ride to the top. I had to take the shuttle. Yeah!

Vegetable gardens of Monticello

I took a tour of the house which had many things in it from the original house. I especially loved all the marble topped tables and stands. Most of the marble came from France.

After visiting Monticello , I rode through town one more time and headed north out of town. I headed toward a wine tasting area where I tho’t there was a motel. There wasn’t. I stopped at the first winery and found out I needed to ride another seven miles to the next town. So I aborted my winery visits and rode on. Once to Ruckersville, I could not find the motel. I rode up and down a very highly trafficked four lane road looking for the stupid hotel. It was not in the town but out in the boonies. I rode an extra seven miles back and forth, looking for the stupid place even after talking to three locals. I was so frustrated and frazzled that I was on the verge of tears when I finally found it. It was set way back off the highway with not very good signage and no easy access. And I had to pay a premium price because it was the weekend that students were coming to university. I’m on the second floor, which means I have to use the elevator, which is really hard with a fully loaded bike. Tomorrow might be a really short day after this fiasco. I had dreamt of moteling it near wineries and spending the day checking them out. Oh, well. One must live day to day and not make specific plans. They don’t always pan out.