Days 9, 10 - Near the Appalachians

This time I'll try to be concise. I know you got better things to do than read my "novels" and I also have to get to sleep earlier, because I'm changing the game a little.
Last days I kept waking up late (because I got to sleep late) and with breakfast and usual preparation (facebook checking) I started riding only around 10 or 11 AM. Guess what, that's when the wind starts blowing. It's been blowing in my face almost the whole way so far except the 3 days of rain. So that's the plan.

Since I left Lexington yesterday morning I rode some beautiful countryside, including an isolated stretch of road where I ran out of water. Few houses here and there but nobody in sight. So I knock at one of them, nothing. The cars are here so I think they are home. As I leave, two old folks get out of the house and cry out after me. I don't understand what they say but I show them the empty bottle and they get it. They are pretty nice, ask me how old I was when Ceausescu died, and the man says that was a good day.

At a gas station I stop for a cup of coffee and something to eat. Almost in any store they got coffee in some heated bowls, you just pour yourself some and then pay on your way out. This one had cups the size of a small bucket. I am not sure if I should use them for coffee but the store clerk says that's what they are for :)

Last night I slept in a Budget Inn in Christiansburg. Initially I was targeting a campground in Blacksburg (adjacent town) which turned out not to exist, but made me unnecessarily cross a big hill, a pleasure at the end of the day. At least I got to see some fancy houses. Rich people like to live up the hills.

Today I rode mostly on a highway with low traffic which goes along the interstate. Passed a few small towns. They all have a main street usually called Main St., with old colonial looking houses, small businesses, the library, townhall. Then there are houses nicely aligned, hospitals, pet beauty saloons and everything else a community needs. At outskirts near the interstate are all the motels, malls, Wendys, Pizza Huts, Burger Kings, and about one hundred more such places.

Mt Draper, a big hill actually, was a demanding climb with a nice view from the top. A middle aged man in a pickup truck, Carl, was hanging out at the top and somehow we started talking and he took me a photo.

The head wind made me realize a while ago that my estimates of constantly making more than 150km per day are far too optimistic. I knew they were because they did not take into account the wind, but I thought it would even out. Also I think that the real daily altitude gain is greater than my estimate on my website, where I sampled the elevation every couple of kilometers. There were tens of shorter hills so far.

Thinking that I cannot recover on the plan if the wind continues like this I decide to cut short on the original route by not taking a small detour in the mountains so that will gain me half a day at least.

At the end of the day as I was headed for a motel in Marion I see Carl by the side of the road in Atkins. It turns out he lives here and offers me a place to stay in a trailor close to his house. It's nice inside, spacious, it even has laminated wooden floor, a couch, kitchen. In his charming southern accent he tells me that he has 6 brothers and 4 sisters and they used to have a large family gathering each year on his mother's birthday, until she passed away few years back.

Even though he says he is "computer stupid" I hope he will read this blog post. Thanks Carl for taking me in! I hear some weird sounds though, you might want to check under the trailor if you have a small animal like a badger or something :)