This a journal post that I made for the official B&B site for Saturday May 22. I would fill in the blanks from day 1 and today (day 3) but they are not as interesting. Day one was a lot of city/suburban cycling. Today was long with a lot of hills. Very rough on the legs and making me wish I had gotten a better night of sleep and a bigger breakfast.
Anyhoo, here's the post from day 2...
Great day. Period.
Today was, to me, the true start of Bike and Build. After shrugging off the first day jitters, getting a feel for each other's personality and biking styles, and nursing a few opening day sunburns, things began to mesh. We were a true cycling force.
It was a day of transitions. The landscape had changed from suburban to rural, leaving the coastal by-waters of VA Beach for long stretches of farmland, forest, and cypress marshes. The roads became comfortably sparse of motorist, allowing us to ride two abreast for much of the time. The day started off cool and cloudy-- a good respite from yesterday's heat-- but the sun opened up on the rolling wheat fields as the day progressed. Pavement transitioned to a challenging but passable gravel roads back to and back to pavement. A friendly but misguided "Congratulations!" was chalked on the asphalt after the end of the gravel only to find that a few miles down the road it became gravel again. In the grand scheme of things, the gravel stretches were a minor inconvenience compared to the motor-free solitude meandering by old farmhouses through on weedy forest byways.
For me personally, it was a day of surprises. The stretches of open road were great for discovering the life stories of my new cycling family. Most exciting to me was the epiphany of being able to ride hands free for the first time ever with the coaching of my riding group. I'm sure the skill will be an asset to my butt for the rest of the trip. My final surprise was stopping at Brittles Mill Pond, not far out of Waverly, to take a quick dip in the deliciously cool spring fed water (not for drinking, though-- it's full of brown goo). Off the dock there, we met Howard and Brown Dawg. Howard was enjoying the day fishing and kicking back from his construction job during the week. When he heard what we were doing, he just busted with good-will. Our last day cycling is a day before his birthday-- he wished us well and said to have a drink on him once we were done.
Getting into Waverly, we explored the highlights of the small town-- McFlurries, chicharones, and sweet potato candy on the way to the Peanut/Folk Art/Wood Museum. Most of us were very charmed and very confused. The one elderly guide of the museum was overwhelmed by 20+ people and had to call in the reinforcements (her husband) to accommodate us all. Apparently the focus of the museum, the departed artist Mr. Carpenter, was one of two folk artists ever invited to meet the President (Reagan). Some of the pieces were on loan from the White House, apparently. Also-- there is no flash photography. Be warned.
Dinner was provided by Waverly UMC, and it was a small piece of heaven. Green bean casserole, Staufer's macaroni and cheese, pimento loaf, spinach salad, apples and caramel, and the crown jewel-- homemade fried chicken-- were there to keep us warm and happy that night.
The evening closed with a hearty round of massage train and card games into the evening. This day will be hard to top, but with the way things look they will only get better from here. Cheers!
(PS- no pictures for now. I'll post some when I get the chance.)
