May 24, 2019
Day 30 Norfolk, VA
Adventures in cycling, part II
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This was supposed to be a 53 mile day. Instead we had way too much type 2 fun and ended up with 74.
We left early this morning because our Warmshowers hosts advised us that the traffic would be really heavy coming through Virginia Beach on a holiday weekend. We wanted to arrive at their house between 2 and 3. That was the plan.... We arrived at 7:30. It was a long day.
When we got to mile 11 on our route, the road we turned on was gravel. I wanted to to turn back, but Kerry insisted that we go on. The gravel continued for four miles, then turned to a sandy trail. We went two more miles and the track just ended in the woods. Now, this was not just riding 6 miles and turning around. This was pushing the bike a lot and riding on that horrible surface at 4-5 mph the rest of the time. We didn't fall, but I was very apprehensive (nice word for scared) the whole time. We were out in the middle of someone's very large farm and rode through miles of corns and beans and some grain - I think wheat. When we got to the end of that path, all we could do was turn around and go back.
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Back at the paved road, we saw a house with roofers working. We stopped there and Kerry asked for directions to our next town on PAVED roads. We got some directions, but they were vague and based on landmarks and not street names. We followed them for two or three miles and Kerry decided he didn't trust what the guy had told him. So, we turned around again, went back and he stopped at a grain elevator and asked someone else. He gave the same directions, but was able to tell Kerry the names of the roads we needed to take.
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Now, we started back up the same way again and were on our way. In all this time, there were no stores or gas stations and our water was very low. It was also getting really hot. A few miles up the (correct) road, we saw a couple out in front of their house. Kerry pulled in and we met our road angel, Phyllis, and her husband, Will. She invited us in, gave us ice water, let us use her bathroom and we sat in her kitchen and talked while we cooled off. That was the saving grace of our day. THANK YOU, Phyllis!
I thought I had a picture of Phyllis, but it didn't come out. Trust me, she is beautiful inside and out!
By this time, it was almost 2 o'clock. We made it to the next town and I called our Warmshower host and let him know it would be at least 7 o'clock before we arrived. We finished the ride without any other "adventures". It was hot and we were tired, so we took advantage of the frequent stops available and made it here close to 7:30. Steve and Susan greeted us warmly, fed us a great dinner and made us comfortable in the apartment over their garage. It was a fun and relaxing end to a trying day. Susan and Steve are tandem cyclists and have also done long distance touring - we had lots to talk about. - Jeanna
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Just so everyone knows, right up to the point where the trail just ended in the woods, our Garmin's were giving us the correct turn-by-turn directions, including the distances to each turn (there were several). We could see the route in the display and the pointer was following the route, so the whole time, I figured that we would eventually reach pavement and everything would be OK. I figured wrong.
When I talked to the guy that was filling his truck at the grain elevator, he chuckled and said that I was not the first to routed that way by their GPS.
- Kerry
Today's ride: 74 miles (119 km)
Total: 1,144 miles (1,841 km)
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