July 15

Hey, y'all,

Sorry that we haven't been more on top of things with our posts--mostly we've just had time for eating, sleeping, and riding bikes.

Still riding, by the way, which is good news; Virginia is hilly. Our route has been really pretty so far, lots of shade and green and some swampy parts that look like Louisiana. Those parts are usually hot like Louisiana, too.

We've met some nice folks, too: This morning, another rider, Rich, who gave us directions and wished us luck. And this afternoon, too, when we stopped in Ashland, the two ladies at the visitors' center (I didn't get their names) were lovely. So was Ashland, and one of the bumper stickers inside billed it as the "Center of the Universe". Although it was quite nice, I noticed that Amtrak runs straight through, and noisily. But who am I to disagree?

There have been nice people at our campgrounds, as well, although they are, as a rule, much more energetic and better-showered than we. This is our third night camping since Matt and Emily Braud hosted us in Washington (thank you!). It's really not too bad, but if you know someone along our route (we'll post the towns we'll be passing through and our expected arrival dates on the website soon) who wouldn't mind sharing a floor and/or shower, we'd be delighted.

We're going to try to make it a little bit past Charlottesville tomorrow, which means another early morning and fairly long day. Hope to write some more when we get there--it wil be my off day on Tuesday, so I won't have to worry as much about bedtime. But it's mine now, so off I go.

Thanks for keeping up with us!
Will