Day 5: Blackstone, Virginia: "Not Honey Bear"

This morning we woke up 30 minutes earlier than usual in the interest of beating the rain that was rolling into our part of Virginia. We cleaned the house, packed up, and were on the road by 7:30, ironically right when the rain started. This was my first serious ride in the rain and, honestly? it was a great time. One of the pearls of wisdom that I picked up with my 10 Summers at Camp Carolina is that skin is, in fact, waterproof. This was definitely put to the test. I was pretty much eating the watery rooster tails thrown up from the bikers in front of my all morning. What was awesome though is that no one complained. In fact I think today was the most talkative day I've had on the road, and there was heaps of cheering and encouragement.

The rain clouds baked away after about an hour and we starting rolling into our first real hills. Today's route actually called for us to turn left out of the church, turn left at the first intersection, and stay on the same road for 42 miles. The clouds cleared and I was humming along, having a great conversation with one of our many Jenns when the morning got a little more interesting. In a split second I saw something shiny, dodged it with my front wheel, and then heard my back pop and immediately run flat.

I dunno if you're aware of this but littering is REALLY cool. It's convenient, it's rebellious, and it makes you more attractive to the opposite sex. This is clinically proven.

One wise individual, knowing this, had decided to discard his/her glass bottle of "grape drink with assorted liquor" right out on the side of the road. Right where, say, a biker might run over it.

I immediately made sure I cleared off the other shards and proceeded to change my first tire on the side of the road. That shard in one fell swoop had bitten right through the space-age rubber tire and into the tube, meaning the entire thing needed to be replaced.

I and a few other team mates chilled on the side of the road and waited for today's sweepers, Emma and Mark. Eventually they rolled up and I successfully changed my flat, albeit at an embarrassingly slow rate. I'm sure I'll get really good by the end of the Summer though, especially since littering is, like, cooler than sky-diving into a fireworks, pillow, puppy and candy factory.

So we proceeded along our route, got to lunch, and I refueled. After lunch we rolled on, and about 7 miles later found ourselves stopping, briefly, at the Hungry Bear Country Store. Jesse wanted to buy some honey for future lunches, but the women standing out on the porch smoking her cigs told us that it was the Hungry Bear Country Store, and gave us a look, for a brief second, which seemed judgmental of our reading ability. A gentlemen leaning against the rails asked where we were headed, and we proceeded to give our spiel. I gave the woman, Sharon, one of our cards and she couldn't give enough praise to our efforts and cause, since she herself was struggling with finding an affordable home and explained that it was a problem that plagued the entire area.

I think that's one of the coolest things about this program. Affordable Housing is something everyone, and I mean everyone, can get behind. The means by which this goal is accomplished our open to debate, but I think you'd be hard-pressed to find a person who didn't agree that a secure home can make all the difference for a family, and can transform the entire nature of a community.

We had been climbing a pretty serious hill right before the Hungry Bear, but it all paid off in the downhill that followed right after. We roared into the next valley, maxing at about 30 mph (!)

I think something really cool about this adventure as well is that, when I thought about it, I realized that, since we're going from sea-level to sea-level again, every inch we climb up is gonna be answered with an inch back down.

Anyways, we rolled along the countryside, and my knee started acting up until I got creative with my stretches. Blazing down another huge hill Mark and I somehow got on the subject of Pokemon and started singing/screaming the themesong to stay pumped after mile 50. I suggest you look it up right now. Is it mega-cheesy? Yes. but does it get you moving? Ohhhhhhh yes.

We rolled up into the last leg, which would lead us to our host tonight, which is a military base actually larger than the town. Whether or not a person is excited by the military, I think it's easy to agree that they certainly do a lot from the standpoint of improving a towns infrastructure. Those roads were smoooooooth, and the "Tank Crossing" signs made us chuckle, even if they weren't meant to be jokes.

Let's talk about our host site tonight as well. To summarize, we each have our own private room, we have a laundry machine, and we don't have to drive anywhere to go bathe. I never thought I'd say this, but these army dudes have the good life.

There's not a whole lot to do on the base but I expect more jams, more cards, and more ice-breaking for sure. For now, I'm gonna go enjoy my actual bed and get a sick nap in.