Day 20 - 8/1 - Fancy Gap, VA

Bike riding doesn't get any better than this!

After days of clouds and rain, this morning it was blue skies and bright white clouds and the temperature was cool with no wind.

We were a little slow getting on the road as the packing/unpacking of the bikes when we travel requires some juggling of our bags, backpacks, and bottles between the bikes, car, and RV. The morning's search included a hunt for my bike shoes as I put them in a different "hiding place" after our last ride.

It was nice to be able to ride directly from the RV park to the Blue Ridge Parkway allowing our wives to sleep in..not that they did.

Heading south for the first time, almost immediately after getting on the trail we saw a familiar sight, a steep climb for as far as we could see. Fortunately this climb "only" lasted a couple of miles before transforming into a much more enjoyable series of rolling hills with a few nice flat stretches.

About 3 miles out we saw our first deer on this trip, 2 of them crossing the trail about 100 yards ahead of us. A few miles further 2 wild turkeys landed briefly on the trail before ducking into the brush out of sight.

At 13 miles we stopped at the Blue Ridge Music Center. The center is fairly new and they are still completing some sections, but the setting is beautiful and it looks like a great facility for planned outdoor concerts.

Five more miles down the road we crossed out of Virginia and back into North Carolina.

Not only was today's terrain different, the view and vegetation on this stretch of the Parkway are different. We were surprised when a passing car turned into a driveway directly off the Parkway. We passed several farms the Parks Department leases to local farmers along this section of the Parkway. The forests here have more oak trees and seem closer and more dense than at the southern end.

By the time the storm clouds started gathering and we called to be picked up, we had covered 34 miles, our longest ride since reaching the Blue Ridge. While it didn't have the same sense of accomplishment as reaching the "summit", today's ride was the most enjoyable of the trip (so far).

8-01 Day 20