let me just tell you. virginia goes on FOREVER and has so so many mountains. these mountains are too steep (I mean SO steep!) and should not be biked over. yet, we’re biking over them.
we are in the middle of nowhere, appalachia. I’ve always taught my 4th graders that the southwestern most region of virginia is a plateau– the appalachian plateau. I’ve looked on the map a few times at where we are and if we’re not in that region of Virginia then I’m not sure it exists. and then I look around me and see no plateau. I only see beautiful, green, rolling mountains. the mountains we have to bike over.
we had one of our toughest days today. a few days ago, outside of chartlottesville, we climbed afton mountain and spent 26 miles on the blue ridge parkway. it was beautiful! but it was also really hard and we were excited to have those miles under our belts. our pep talk to ourselves is that, “we climbed the parkway! this hill won’t be bad!” however, today, the hills were worse.
these past few days of steep hill climbs have crushed us. we’ve had to ask for help from a lot of people- our friends, families, strangers. it’s really hard to let people help you– especially when you really need it. and we’ve been amazed at how excited people are to help us.
we’ve been anxious that we’re pedaling too slowly and that we might not make it to the end in time. we’ve had to swallow our pride a bit (a lot) and decide that it’s about the journey and pedaling each day. we’re lucky to be able to spend all day every day together on a bike meeting new people an seeing new places. of course we still hope to make it to the west coast in time but we’re not worried about that yet. we’re focused on tonight and preparing for tomorrow.
today, as we rode into council, va (in a kind stranger’s pickup truck with our bike in the back) and got dropped off at the pool and park where we’re camping tonight, it was a lovely moment of hope. hope that we will have more pools at the end of hot days. hope that kind strangers will continue to help us when the hills are too steep. we’re full of hope each day that we will have fun together, pedal some miles, find a place to sleep, and meet people along the way. thanks to everyone who has helped us on our trip so far!
tomorrow we hope to leave VA and cross into KY! knowing very little about kentucky topography, I am hopeful that it has more flat land (or just more gently sloping land) than virginia does.
my version of the real world 