Transamericaride 2023

This wasn’t in my plan, but it was nasty all morning and into the afternoon. Possible thunderstorms were forecasted, so I decided to stay put. Did laundry and watched TV all day. BORING. I didn’t have a book to read and no library close by. Tomorrow will be better.

Woke up to dense fog, so delayed my start til 7:30. The fog wasn’t too bad. Cool Temps again. Didn’t take my jacket off til 10:30. Didn’t even need to wipe my face. It was really pleasant riding. Very nice scenery again today. But I took two wrong turns again, and my worst nightmare happened. About 2 miles from my hotel, my battery died. So I rode (actually had to walk a bit) into a factory gate where they let me charge it enough to get to my motel. What a pain in the butt. I hate when my map says turn onto unmarked road.

The factory builds semi cabs, and those that leave here are on the road for the first time. Pretty cool. Some are electric, some natural gas, and some regular gas. This is a pretty big place.

I don’t feel bad for all the miles I rode. And I had a lot of hills. Short, steep ones and long, gradual ones. I prefer the short, steep ones. If I hadn’t made two wrong turns, I would have made it before my battery died.

The best thing about where I’m staying is that there is a Mexican restaurant only 50 ft away. I can’t wait to get a shower. I’m still waiting for my room to be ready. I can’t believe I rode 80 miles in 6 hours. And, remember, when I said I loved my 5th chain gear, well, since sometime in KS, I started using the 7th chain ring consistently, and now I’m using the 8th more. Guess I’m getting stronger. I was worried about being off my bike all last week. Tho’t I’d be starting over.

It rained last night pretty wide spread. The roads were wet almost all the way. I only made it 15 miles before I had to find shelter for an hour due to a heavy shower that just didn’t want to quit. That wasn’t in the forecast.

Somehow, I missed my turn in Bristol and ended up on an interstate, which is illegal in VA. So I had to back track. Pain in the but. Then, when I got to the town where I wanted to stay, I missed the turn-off to the motel. Back track again. It wasn’t far, but it’s the idea. My battery was getting low, so I didn’t think I should go to the next town. Not a fun day in the rain.

Roads were decent. And the scenery was nice. But, I couldn’t take pictures due to the fog and insistent misting. Hope tomorrow is better.

It felt really good to be back on the bike.

Deb left early this morning for the beach house in VA. I stayed home and did garden work for her, waiting for the storms to pass. Read a book all day and got myself organized. Plan to head out tomorrow.

Went to the garden as soon as we got up and picked green beans, tomatoes, Swiss chard, a pepper, and a watermelon. I can’t believe how fast things grow here. We just picked tomatoes and beans a couple of days ago. We were only in the house 15-20 minutes before it started to rain. It was a wise move to do that before breakfast.

She is leaving tomorrow to go to the VA Beach with family for a week, so she will be taking lots of fresh produce with her. I will stay behind and get on the road as soon as possible. They are calling for severe thunderstorms tomorrow, so I won’t be going anywhere.

Today was Deb’s birthday, so I took her to lunch. It was so good and lots of it that we won’t have to eat dinner.

It has been a fun and relaxing several days spending it with Deb, but I am anxious to get back on the road. We have played the game, SKIPBO, every spare minute we’ve had. I’m really gonna miss that. It is my favorite game. And playing games is so much more fun than spending the evening in a motel room alone.

Woke up to fog so thick we couldn’t see a thing. But it burned off mid-morning and turned out to be a really nice day.  We spent the day going to one antique mall and two wineries.  I got to see more of the countryside.  It is beautiful here with the heavily forested mountains and valleys.  I had no idea it looked like this.  The picture on the GPS is typical of the roads here.

I have heard of kudzu but had no idea it was as invasive as it is. It is quite impressive covering the trees.

I guess the doc was right.  All these rest days have made my leg feel much better.  I’m ready to take off as soon as the weather cooperates.  Severe thunderstorms predicted for Mon.   I’m in no big hurry to move on. Just need to meet my brother by the end of the month.

More antiquing and sightseeing. Got home and decided to pump up tires in anticipation of leaving soon. My pump only worked on the Presta valve and the last bike shop that changed out my rear tire put in a Schrader valve, which my pump doesn’t handle. So I’m in Deb’s garage getting frustrated because her bike pump didn’t work. What to do! Dang, I had let all the air out of one tire, closest gas station to pump up was 5 miles away, and it was getting late. We tried to find a close bike shop, but to no avail. Then she tho’t of her neighbor who has a compressor. Yes. Success. So I think I’m pumped up enough to make it to a bike shop 30-40 miles away. I hope anyway. It has been traumatic trying to figure out where I’m going and how to get there. We were talking to her neighbor, and he is a firefighter and told us of how an 84 yr old lady was attacked by a dog just real recently. The dog tore her arm muscle off and ripped off two fingers. I am freaking out. So I have decided to take a major route north from here and not go to the ocean. I’ll still be riding thru VA, so that’s ok. I don’t need to see the ocean. I hope if I go north a bit, I can miss some of this wet weather, also.

I saw the regional weather this morning, and there was some severe flooding recently in KY right where I had been. I have been lucky so far to have missed the major weather issues like severe thunderstorms and flooding . Hope my luck holds out.

I’m going off route and taking major highways (truck routes) to meet my brother near the PA border. I just can’t handle dogs, and hopefully, I can handle trucks.

Tonight after dinner, Deb and I picked all her cherry tomatoes and made juice. She also harvested her onions. We are just the little busy beavers.

Woke up to rain at 4 am, and it rained all day. Nice, gentle rain. Just constant. Deb said she has had over an inch and a half by mid afternoon.

Yesterday, we harvested tomatoes and basil. Deb made pesto and tomato sauce, and today, she picked peppers and is drying them. We’ve been very productive. In between working, we played scrabble and upwards, and she beat me horribly. However, last night, I beat her at skipbo. Guess we are even.

6 pm, and it is still raining, and I beat Deb at skipbo again. Fun day.

Another half inch this afternoon.

Deb and I spent the day touring the area and hitting every antique shop we could find. I got to experience the winding roads of TN. There was one that is known as the “snake,” and there were only short stretches of straight road. Short as in maybe 300 ft. And hairpin turns that were so tight it made me nervous. When we got to the bottom, a long trailered semi was heading up. I tho’t, “there is no way that guy was gonna make any of those hairpin turns.” We are waiting patiently to hear on the news of his fate. There was no place for a car to turn around, and he certainly couldn’t back down those switches backs. For all we know, he may be stuck up there. There were signs at the bottom warning of the miles of switchbacks, so either he didn’t pay attention or tho’t he was macho. Hope we hear of his outcome.

When we got home, I pulled grass out of her front flower beds, and then we harvested tomatoes and basil. Deb made pesto, and tomorrow, while it is raining, we will make tomato sauce and freeze it. She found a much needed Foley mill in one of the shops. Perfect for processing tomatoes. Her garden is so productive. I really am jealous of how many tomatoes she harvests off one plant and of the size of her basil plants. My garden produces but nothing like hers.

We drove part of the way on my intended route (Adventure Cyclings), and it was beautiful. But oh, there were so many places for dogs to hide out. I was glad I made that decision not to ride ‘Dogville’. Yesterday, when I was in the ER, they knew I was a cyclist, and they told me about a cyclist who had just been in there with a dog bite. Not going there if I can help it.

We drove through part of Virginia to get to where Deb lives in TN. All beautiful country.

The weather has turned decent, and even though her air conditioning went out, it’s much more pleasant here than on the road. I’m loving it.

Deb moved here from ID a couple years ago and has done a fantastic job with her landscaping. I am so impressed. And she can grow things I can only dream of.

When the air conditioning guy came, we talked for a while about cycling and gardening. He tho’t we were both in our 50″s. Love that guy. Although he was in his 20″, so what would he know. Made us feel good anyway.