The hills have become steeper, the headwind strong, the miles go on forever, it has gotten quite cold, but the people in the south make it all so amazing! After we descended the Blue Ridge Parkway, our maps told us that we could find a place to camp at the Troutville town baseball park. We called the number listed and the woman at the town hall informed us that Cecil would be waiting for us at the park. Not only was Cecil waiting for us at the park, but we would escorted into town following a fellow cyclist named Greg who is retired and rides his bike at least 96 miles a day. He showed us where to find everything. He spoke to us of his dream of riding cross country, but that his wife wouldn’t let him. He is retired and she is not. Anyway, Cecil showed us where to pitch our tent for the night and proceeded to take us to Country Cooking an all you can eat buffet for dinner. He had already eaten, but drank coffee with us while we scarfed down all we could eat. We spent the next 3 hours with him at the park. Like the cookie lady, he has let people stay in the park since the seventies, meeting thousands of cyclists each summer. He told us a milllion stories and even gave us a tour of the caboose train musuem (a very special privilege). We had such wonderful conversations with him. He told us of his time managing McDonalds back in the fiftees when they still used real potatoes for the French Fries. He even went to Hamburger University, a real place, in Illinois. He told us of his cross country motorcycle adventure, he told us just about everything. Cecil is so cool. He even told us we would be staying with the Lee family tonight.
Like the Cookie Lady, and Cecil, the Lee family has also been taking in adventure cyclists for many years. Dr. Lee and his two sons Daniel and Peter did the Trans America Route (which we are now on and which was made popular in 1976 when it first was created) in 1998. I am writing this blog from their house. They are also famous around here like Cecil and the Cookie Lady. When Anthony talked to them last night they told us to just come right in the house even if they weren’t here and to make ourselves at home, to do laundry, take showers, use the computer, whatever we needed. We arrived here just as they were getting home from work, we showed, looked at photos of Dr. Lee’s trip, swapped stories, as Sarah made us a beautiful dinner, with desert, to boot! They told us to sleep in, and asked Anthony to please play the piano. It has been so sweet. The generosity of the people we have met in Virginia this week as been overwhelming and beautiful. Today was a hard ride. Cold, hilly, with a strong headwind, but to know that we were headed to a hot shower and a bed was a great feeling. And indeed we feel right at home!
