Warm Springs. No Warm Shower.

Day 33  -  Marlinton, WV to Craigsville, VA  -  60 Miles

It is always fun to cross another state line.  There is just something about it that makes the ride that much more exciting.  Fortunately for us we have been riding through Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, W. Virginia, and Regular Virginia, and really haven't experienced a dull moment. The trees blanket the roads with looming shadow, the brisk country temperatures contain our energy, the birds sing softly in the deeps of the forests, and there just aren't as many cars to worry about!  

Just thought this was cool.  

Just in case you were wondering: 

The George Washington and Jefferson National Forests are U.S. National Forests that combine to form one of the largest areas of public land in the Eastern United States. They cover 1.8 million acres (7,300 km²) of land in the Appalachian Mountains of Virginia, West Virginia, and Kentucky. The forest extends along the entire length of the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Alleghany Mountains to the North Carolina border. Just over one third of the forest is actively used for timber harvesting, with the bulk of that used for furniture manufacturing and pulp for paper products. Approximately one million acres (4,000 km²) of the forest are remote and undeveloped and 89,862 acres (363.66 km²) have been designated as wilderness areas, which eliminates future development. (www.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Washington_National_Forest)

Marlinton, WV, is about 10-15 miles from the Virginia border, so it wasn't long before Les and I looked up and remarked with triumph, "another state down!"  Breakfast was warm oatmeal with honey and bananas (we're getting really good and making ends-meet, if I can say so myself!), and it was just enough to energize us through the first leg of today's ride.

A good friend of ours told us that pictures are ALWAYS better when there is a person in them.  (Thus, we are going to try to do more of this--thanks Tommy Kirven!)

It was a good climb!

After finishing the climb of the day (this one: Warm Springs pass) we took some pictures, made some lunch, rested briefly, and were off and careening down the other side of the mountain--a much enjoyed and rewarding experience for us here on aaronandlestourtheus.blogspot.com...

Here I am pointing at the sky...good one Aaron!

It would still be another 25 miles, or so, until Craigsville would come around, but we didn't fret because our Ginormous (recall Day 30 for the definition of this word...) mountain pass was behind us and everything seems to be downhill after climbing a mountain!

Just an ordinary town-entrance sign, right? Wrong! If you look closely it says, "Craigsville corporate limits."  You might be saying, "so what?"  Well, the majority of town-entrance signs say, "unincorporated," meaning there really isn't much more than houses, hay-bales, and ecstatic dogs.  Anyway, we were excited to be staying in a town that was corporate because this would at least mean that we could find a place to eat.

And we did!  (see next picture...)

Yep.  Its bad for us, we know, but we don't really care (see les' ice-cream cone?)

I got an ice-cream too!

We milled about for a bit and finally settled down for the night at a local churchyard.  The pastor was really nice and even offered us a great bathing location: back down the same road we came about 3 miles in the river.  "Eh, no thanks Reverend, we're tired and we'll just clean up in the grocery store bathroom," we both thought!