New state day! Virginia welcomed us with blasts of fall color, big elevation gains in the Appalachians, coal mines, rain, and awesome thick misty fog on the mountain tops!
The Welcome to Virginia sign was not overwhelmingly exciting however....
Once we made it out of the consistent (and cold!) rain around noon, we began the climbing. We stopped at McDonalds for me to warm up my toes quick (too early for lunch though!) and met a guy who gave us some great back road directions to St. Paul. So we went for it. My intuition is that we climbed more than the normal roads would have, but we were in no-car country and it was a great experience. First we climbed Pine Mountain, then we climbed a few more smaller ones and another unnamed monster. The visibility was at most 50 feet at the top of the two big ones. The fog was sooo thick and it felt amazing! I know we missed some spectacular views with the peaking fall colors but the misty experience was one I will never forget.
On our descent from the second mountain we rode along a secluded creek, with a good amount of beaver activity, and passed some major coal mines. Red River Coal Mining Inc. I experienced a moment I will never forget. Now out of the foggy high elevation we could see the mountains full of bright trees surrounding us with the fog covering the tops. Then, there was a coal train, at least a mile long, right next to the river that started its engine and then proceded to get rolling. It seemed as if I could hear each car of the train locking into position as the engine pulled on it... Ching, ching, ching, ching, whooooooooot, whoooooooot! It was just one of those magical moments of riding a bike through the back country that I will never forget. Thanks Virginia!!
We finally found our place to stay tonight because we got in touch with the St. Paul police and they gave us a nice little piece of grass by the local river. What a blessing. Now it is 9 pm and I think it has finally stopped raining for the day. At least we are warm and dry in our smart wool socks, down sleeping bags, and waterproof tents. :)
The next two days are short riding days, but should be spent in some very memorable towns, Damascus, VA. And Boone, NC.
God bless
Tailwinds,
Mark
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