May 21, 2024
Stonewall, Turkeys, and Chef Boyardee - Fredericksburg to Beaverdam
Boy was I glad I took the hotel instead of continuing to the KOA campground south of Fredericksburg. I didn’t sleep all that well and breakfast was kind of meh, but I avoided ending my day yesterday with 15 miles of punishing hills.
After a one-mile downhill on the highway from the hotel, I spun through the University of Mary Washington to begin a painful climb.
After 18 miles I passed the KOA sign and could not believe how zonked I was. So much climbing! I pressed onward stopping to inhale an apple from the hotel. A few miles later at Guinea Station I went a bit off route to see where Stonewall Jackson died. The best part was there was a water fountain and a bathroom. Not for him. For me. Hell, he was missing an arm when he croaked.
Back on route, I slogged along unable to find any rhythm to my pedaling. Every hill seemed like Alpe D’Huez, despite the fact that my 2017 account of this section of the route remarked on how flat it was.
I was chased by my first dogs today. Two corgis made a valiant effort. I hope they weren’t angered by my laughter. Later, one of two roadside turkeys squawked its head off as I passed.
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Forty miles in I was totally discouraged and ready to bail to a hotel and maybe to cancel the whole tour. I sat on a bench at a churchyard and ate three bagel thins with peanut butter.
When I hit the road I could feel my energy level rising by the mile. I hadn’t been eating enough all morning and I experienced a classic bonk. My blood sugar had tanked.
I stopped at a garden nursery to get for some tap water. I noticed there were empty plastic water bottles strewn about the greenhouse. The staff told me the water they used on the plants was not potable. A Latina staffer kindly gave me a cold bottle out of a cooler. Her two-year-old was surprised when I said “Hola” and “Buenos Dias”. He was obsessing over dinosaurs and being totally cute. He followed me out to see me ride off. If he said, “Vaya con Dios” I didn’t hear him.
Back on the road I reached the turn off to the TransAmerica Trail, US Bike Route 76. I had been calling a Methodist church in Beaverdam just off the TransAm to see if they would accommodate me in their hostel (a community room with a kitchen and bath). They didn’t return my calls.
There are very few choices of places to stay and this was the best option. Mineral puts up bike tourists behind its fire house but it was 25 miles farther away, making for an 80+ mile day.
I was being passed by logging trucks for the last ten miles and I found out why. A tree farm was harvesting its wood, taking away my much needed shade in the process.
(Hard to complain though; the weather was splendid all day.)
Finally I emailed the church and continued past the turnoff for Beaverdam to get something to eat three miles further on.
I missed a turn and ended up adding four miles to my day. During my wandering my phone pinged with an email telling me the church would gladly accommodate me.
I returned to the trail and headed west, away from the church to buy some dinner at a convenience store with a grill. The grill was closed and the store carried nothing but junk food.
I bought some Doritos and washed them down with chocolate milk and Gatorade. Upon leaving the store the wife of the minister pulled up and told me the church hostel door was unlocked and that she’d meet me there.
I backtracked to the turn off for the church passing an enormous Baptist church in the process. God is good for business, I guess.
At the more modest Methodist church, Tina, the preacher's wife and her son John, showed me the ropes and dug a can of Chef Boyardee ravioli out of a box on the kitchen counter.
After they left, I showered and nuked the ravioli. It was nasty but I ate every speck of it.
Tomorrow I continue west to Palmyra and another camping opportunity. If I’m feeling my oats I may press on to the edge of Charlottesville and get a hotel room. My destination for Thursday will be the fabled Cookie Lady’s house in Aston. More on what that means in a later post.
Today's ride: 75 miles (121 km)
Total: 151 miles (243 km)
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