Last hill ever in (the) life (of this trip)!

It epitome of our final week of riding...all about 'nap time.'

Day 34: Craigsville to Charlottesville, VA

Exploring the cellar.

After our disappointing exploration of the surrounding non-catacombs, we scarfed down some of the best pancakes ever created from a camping stove.  It was all thanks to a $1 can of non-stick mystery chemical.

Pancakes! A complete success.

This stuff is magic.

Fully fed, we thought we were ready to attack the road.  Instead, the road attacked us, and our muscles screamed.  Today was our forth day in the Appalachians, which possess powers not of height, like the Rocky Mountain Range, but of never-ending climbs and falls.  In all, we probably climbed as many vertical miles as we did during our time in Colorado.  But of course, we are happy to do it, because life has ups and downs.  And that's what this trip has been: training for life.

Trying to pick flowers for someone special. Maybe 1-800-Flowers will be easier.

Watering the van.

For a break, we stopped in a cute European-looking town and then proceeded to our final mountain pass, which developed into more climbs and falls until Charlottesville showed up.

Denmark. Or maybe Staunton, VA

A final mountain pass.

Destination 34.

Charlottesville, Virginia is a town to write home about...so, here goes.  Oh my!  What a place.  Rich in American history, with a hip downtown art and culture, and probably most significantly, it is bike friendly.  We showed up at our host's house (which he had just finished building himself!) and had a documentary screening about architecture in town recommended to us.  We grabbed some pizza, learned about the building of the 2008 Olympics' stadium in China, called the Bird's Nest, and explored the downtown walk way.

University of Virginia.  Founded by Tom Jefferson.

Tasty Pizza.  Hip Town.

No kidding, Jeff even had an indoor 3-story rock climbing wall.

Tomorrow we ride until 3, then wait for Paul Daniel Switz to rescue us from riding and will spend two full rest days living it up in Washington D.C. and Baltimore.  Then on Monday, we begin our northern bound 2 and 1/2 day trip to New York City.  The Atlantic is so close, we can taste it.