Day Two / Day Three

This is Travis. Travis is an extremely magnanimous bike mechanic who took pity on three weary travelers and housed them in the room off of his parent's garage. Travis was the silver lining of a rather rough Day Two. We rode about 30 miles on Saturday morning to a convenience store in Charles City, where we met a woman named Dee who gave me a recipe for spaghetti squash and wished us luck.

Jon ended up kicking his bike in a misguided attempt to dislodge his stuck chain, which, of course, caused the chain to snap. Iris and I were already out of sight, so he called Iris's cell phone, and told us that he would be hitching a ride from Dee into Mechanicsville, our ultimate destination for the day. Iris told him that if he planned on cutting 30 miles off of his day, he better find us a place to stay for free. Enter Travis, who works at the bike shop in Mechnicsville where Jon went to replace his chain. He lives with his parents, Bob and Donna, who were absolutely fantastic and made us feel completely at home. They even bought us food for breakfast this morning, and Jon made eggs. Eggs, like sandwiches, always taste better when someone else makes them for you.

Iris and I ended up riding close to 70 miles on Saturday. We passed a group of people celebrating the anniversary of the Battle of Cold Harbor, and we heard some cannon fire. By the time we located Jon and Travis, we were absolutely exhausted, but the promise of food and entertainment kept us from going to bed at 7PM. Travis took us to a Chinese buffet, and then to a great bar in Richmond with the most extensive beer list I've ever seen. We tried so hard to convince Travis that he should join us on our trek, but the logistics weren't in order. He did, however, tune up all of our bikes this morning, and rode with us for a few miles. We're hoping he'll call us in a few days and ask where he should be dropped off. We'll see.

Right now we're sitting in an ice cream shop in Ashland. It's the only place open on a Sunday, but they have delicious blueberry cheesecake ice cream. It's late in the day, but we want to keep riding. We're hoping to end up somewhere near Bumpass, VA, by the time it gets dark.

Riding today felt great. I'm definitely feeling the effects of six weeks of inactivity, but riding a loaded bike puts everyone on a more even field. Having music on the road is pretty helpful. I really, REALLY could use one of Val's mixes, filled with obscure European techno. As it is, I'm listening to a lot of remix albums, and also a lot of hip hop. Pavement and Nada Surf are great too. Send music suggestions.