Day 6: Dillwyn, Virginia: "There Is No Now Here"

Last night’s stay in Fort Pickett ended in just about the best way possible. One of our Jesse’s knows a good deal about computers and managed to hack the fort’s internet access. Following this, my fellow Louisvillian and LOST fan, Scott, found a site which was streaming the LOST series finale live. This. Was. Awesome. I was terrified that I’d have the finale spoiled for me somewhere between here and Oregon, but watching it live, on an illegal website, via stolen internet, was all kinds of satisfying. As for the finale itself, yes, perhaps it was a bit cheesy, but I liked it, and I like it more the more I think about it because each character’s individual story ends in a satisfying manner.

After LOST I enjoyed sleep in a real bed, and woke up with my knee feeling great and my body ready for the day’s work.

For a lot of people today was the worst ride, and I will agree that it was our most trying. We started wet, we got lost right away, we spent the majority of the day on the terrifying highways of rural Virginia dodging logging trucks, it was one of our longest days yet, and we were finally getting into some serious Blue Ridge foothills. All that being said, however, for whatever reason I had a great ride today. My energy was always up, and while my knee flared up frequently the views of the hilly countryside were breathtaking and the people I rode with made it a blast.

Also, if there’s one benefit to riding on the highway, it’s that those long stretches allow you to roar down the roads. We hit lunch, at mile 30, in just over an hour, and while eating we had the pleasure of talking with a Bike & Build alum who was stalking our trip. His name is Evan, and he works now for a newspaper outside of Farmville. He regaled us with some great stories from the Road and sized up our team, saying we were a really positive group, and stressing that that was all that really mattered at the end of the day.

Evan took our picture for the local paper and then after a good stretch to work the kinks out of my left knee I moved on with a group of about five others through the town of Farmville. On the other side of town was our Landmark of the Day: A train caboose which had been converted into a mobile office. We climbed the outside of it and got some great pictures, and the worked into Serious Hill Country. Crawling up an especially brutal hill one of our many Jenn’s, in lieu of profanities, screamed “I LOVE BIKE AND BUILD” loud enough to be heard from the next county. We were suffering but conversation never broke into serious complaining. When one of us was struggling the rest were there to keep them pedaling forward and up.

We stopped at a gas station to get a snack and I was challenged to go inside and get the manager to donate some Snicker’s bars to us. To the group’s surprise, I actually stepped up to this challenge and managed to talk the dude into giving us two bars for free. I gave him my spiel, and turned my Southern accent up just enough (from, like, a 2 to a 7), to work some generosity out of the guy. Grinning from ear to ear, I exited the station and chucked my donated bounty out to my BNB brethren.

After I knocked back one of those free bars I got a great little boost of energy and decided to solo the last 15 or so miles. It was great to be alone with my thoughts for a bit and to reflect on all the distance I’d covered thus far, and all the bonds I’d been forming. I was riding on a Bike and Build high for sure.

I stopped in a store 3 miles away from our host to get some advil and wound up having a pretty extensive conversation with an elderly woman named Anna. She said the internet was too confusing for her to try and follow us, but she was very excited with our team’s efforts.

Rolling out of the store I got a bit lost, but only for about a quarter mile, and then hopped back on the proper road to Dillwyn. I arrived at the church, washed my face, and took a serious nap with my earphones playing “Carboot Soul” by Nightmares On Wax, AKA the best napping album ever.

The nap was followed by trailer painting, since it was finally sunny enough again for our paint to not run. We got a great idea for our trailer and I’m excited to see how it plays out. The idea is that we get hosts and other folks we meet to sign our trailer around our ridiculously accurate map of the US, so that by the summer’s end we’ll have hundreds of small messages of encouragement from all the people we meet on our journey. The pastor of the church signed, as well as the twelve (!) brothers and sisters who were sketchily playing across the street on a rusty run-down van all afternoon. Cute kids, but it was kinda like something from a Stephen King novel.

At dinner I had a great talk with Americorps Jesse, Kristen, and Florida Jenn, three of the most interesting folks I’ve met on this trip. Jenn regaled her many travels out West and her dream of working as a Ski Bum in Colorado. Naturally I approved of all of this, and insisted that she tell me the secret to her life.

The talk was followed by an effort to play some guitar, but my fingers are shot from all the weight I’m putting on my hands these days. It was for the best, however, because I hadn’t talked to my family since I started, and decided to make a call. Got a chance to talk to Dad and Hank, unfortunately Mom was buried under a pile of laundry. However, all is well at home, and Hank is gonna destroy his last two exams. I’m proud of him.

Coming back inside, Derrick demanded a mandatory game of “Ha”, in which players lay down on the floor, with heads rested on eachother’s bellies, as we go down the line, saying “ha” and telling jokes. Naturally we all giggled a lot, and this naturally led to our heads bouncing around a lot. This led to more giggling, which created a positive-feedback loop of sorts. It was good times.

And that leads us to right now. As I finish this entry, everyone else is either fast asleep or quickly dosing off. I intend to follow suit, and get some good rest for tomorrow when I get into Charlottesville and get a chance to show my new BNB friends a little piece of my pre-BNB life.