walking 6 miles is harder than riding 100!

Day 36: Resting in D.C. & Baltimore

Well, resting is a bit of an understatement!  After waking up late at Paul's aunt's house (and having an excellent breakfast!) we pulled our stuff together and made for the Capitol.  The drive was great (no traffic!), and there was simply SOOO much to see.  We walked a lot (probably close to 7 miles) and got to see most of what we wanted to.  After our great adventures of seeing the sites and waving the invisible American flags we held in our hands as we read the historical markers and signs, we went to "Ben's Chili Bowl" (explanation below), for lunch...read on!

Les holds the Washington monument up with one hand...that's what cycling across the country enables one to do!

I stand gawking in front of Lincoln...and..umm, this is also what cycling enables you to do?

So after a loooong walk (which, really, because we haven't quite exercised some of the muscles one does when walking or running, seemed harder than doing a long ride!  I'll bet the semi-foot blisters and sore feet afterward helped out in that though) we went to Ben's Chili Bowl.  As you can see from the picture below, this doesn't seem like anything too out of the ordinary, right?  Well, this is actually one of Bill Cosby's favorite places to eat and there is a sign inside (see picture below) that states that the only person who eats free at Ben's is Bill Cosby.  There were pictures of him everywhere inside and we, obviously, hoped he would walk in and get angry at us and tell us to move out of his seat or something!  Didn't happen though...

Ben's Chili Bowl

We were tired from walking, but the chili was good!

I love this sign.

After a late lunch we slowly made our way up to Paul's place in Odenton to drop off our stuff, meet his roomates, and see his AMAZING pool house (ask us more about this later!).  Then we set out for Baltimore where we'd be going to an Orioles game at Camden Yards.  

Oh yeah!

Seeing a game while on a bicycle trip was highly unexpected, but it was really cool, AND, the Orioles won in the tenth inning because of Luke Scott's walk-off solo homerun!  It was exciting.  Also, three of Paul's military buddies (Brad, Giovanni, and Pedro) joined us for the game and it was cool to get to hear their stories and hang out with them too.

It was a long day and we did a ton of different, non-cycling type things, which was refreshing and a little odd too (because we're so used to the eat-sleep-ride mentality), but it was great fun!

just...keep...pushing...almost...a...rest...day!

The sunset in D.C.

Day 35: Charlottesville to Fredericksburg, VA 

(then to Odenton via Senior Airman Switz)

The previous four days held their banner high and mighty, waving and daunting: "WE ARE THE APPALACHIANS HILLS, AND WE ARE MANY!"  But the fight was fought and after the dust had settled, Aaron and Les (tour the US!) took home the victory cake (which was in the shape of Senior Airman Paul Switz), but not before one last day of beautiful, but tiresome, Virginia country-side riding.  

Just put one foot in front of the other...up, and down, up and down... By now our thoughts were one in the same.  This all-t0-familiar process was, well, all too familiar, especially for our hill-ridden legs that had seen four long days of hill-battle.  Needless to say we were ready for our rest day!  After we broke out of the Charlottesville rolling-hill country, we made East for Fredericksburg, VA.

"Civil War Trails"

kinda cool to think that our route used to be old marching grounds.

This was in "Wilderness Battlefield"

Here, Les re-enacts his own end to the Civil War--"This is the end, General Lee!"

We rode right through "Orange County" VA, and this particular city was Orange, as you can see.  Just thought that was neat/funny.

We pulled into Fredericksburg and called Paul and found that he was already on his way down to pick us up!  So we read, played Sudoku, and the like.  (For all who do not know Paul, he grew up at EV Free Fullerton with us and went to Jr. high and high school with Aaron, and continues to be a really good friend of both of us.  Currently he is stationed in Odenton, MD in the service of the United States Airforce)  And then he arrived...

A warm embrace.

...and another!

SRA Switz's GPS.

Paul drove us up the road to his aunt's house just south of D.C. where we were able to catch a shower and drop our bags off (we'd stay there tonight and then head up toward Odenton/Baltimore to stay at Paul's place for our rest days). 

We browsed a food magazine that held hundreds of the best places to eat in the D.C. area and for some reason we ended up with Ethiopian food!  Honestly, it was much better than we thought (despite our curious looks).

It is basically a really think, sticky pancake with an assortment of foods to be picked up with the pancake.

This bite was really good!

After we stuffed ourselves we cruised back to Paul's aunts for dessert and a little TV, but before we knew it we were "out" like the lights. 

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.

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!

National Forest. National Mountain Climbing.

National Forests are the best

Day 32 - Summersville, WV to Marlinton, WV - 62 Miles

As noted in yesterday's post, we expected some dew to be with us during the night.  It was.  It even decided to stick around until morning.  Problem for Aaron and Les: we do not want mildew to develop on our sleeping bags, tent and tarps.  So, we had a little sun & air drying experience, which set back our departure time until 9:30.

Yard Sale? No. Drying out our belongings.

Scaling the mast to alert other ships of pirates...or hanging up the tent.

Following the dry session, Walmart and the Dollar Tree gladly accepted our currency in exchange for road treats and sunscreen.  Before we knew it, we were on our way to a forest of national proportions.

Into the mountains

This made us want to swim so bad

Refreshing ride

About half way through our ride (both in distance and hours), we pulled in to a rest stop that had a picnic table, outhouses and a well.  We made use of at least two of those.  After lunch, we got really tired and decided to lay out on the picnic tables for a nap.  At one point, we looked up to see an elderly man taking a picture of us.  "Why is that guy taking a picture of us?" we deliberated.  "Maybe he's going to turn us in to the forest ranger for sleeping on the tables."  Then we realized, how often does a man see two crazy young guys sleeping like sarcophagi next to bicycles with huge loads on the back?  Only once.  So what does he do?  He takes a picture.  So what did we do?  We hit him over the head with our cooking pot and stole his camera.  Just kidding.  Instead, we stole his great idea and staged this shot.

Taking a nap at the rest stop

When Aaron makes sandwiches, he means business

We woke up from our nap, sleepily climbed atop our steeds, and pressed on.  Then, it happened.  The road started to construct itself in a vertical fashion and we began scaling the most intimidating climb since the Rockies.  The video below should concisely chronicle the experience.

Can you feel the cool air?

Marlinton welcomed us with open arms, gave us a place to use the internet and get some coffee, and tip us off to a park in town that has free camping available.

Love the hippy coffee joints

Sleeping on concrete to avoid the dew

Today's ride was surprisingly difficult, but sprinkled with fun little memories nonetheless.  Tomorrow, we ride to Craigsville, Virginia.  Another state line, another incline.