May 19, 2021
Day 7 - Vesuvius, VA to Buchanan, VA
Petal power
Today we woke up dazily listening to the creek nearby. We didn't really get ourselves in gear quickly so we ate breakfast and packed slow. We had access to a bathroom in a house near Gertie's store that was being renovated, untill the contractor showed up, so I didn't make it in time for the post coffee poo time. Unfortunately I had to suppress the delivery. We were on the road around 930 and immediately had some trouble with marykesh's rear fender required a few stops and removal of the rear bags to fix it. I think the difficulty of yesterday set us back some; that and my latent poo. We were both a little frustrated and the headwind continued.
We arrived in Lexington and stopped at the bike shop so I could purchase a second bib with butt pad but he only sold shorts. Anyway, we carried on and found a veg bowl place called globowl cafe, which had amazing vegan food. After that pick-me-up we should have been good to go but the stress of making it to troutville was getting to us. We needed to make it to Buchanan by 430 to pick up Mary's gps charger at USPS general delivery but we stopped to talk to a local we met -Marylin- for a while and we realized we weren't going to make it in time. Marylin offered us a stay in her yard but it wasn't too appealing since there would be no bathroom and no running water that we knew of. She also mentioned snakes and ticks in her tall grass...
We decided to go to Buchanan in hopes we could stealth camp behind a church or something. When we arrived in Buchanan, Mary asked a policeman about sleeping in the park but he was a bit standoffish. I went into a river outfitters store to check for a fuel canister. They didn't have any, but I asked them if they knew of any campsites around. The guy behind the desk nodded and showed us to a place behind the building overlooking the river. It had a picnic table, bathroom, and covered area!
We washed off in the river and made dinner. The train tracks were across the road, but you can't always win. We didn't make it to troutville, but we should still be able to make it to our warm showers host in Blacksburg tomorrow after getting our package at 830 am.
Uphilliness: unknown still
Mileage: 46.5
Today's ride: 43 miles (69 km)
Total: 303 miles (488 km)
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