Our plan worked out for the best because it rained
almost every day and our total mileage was under 15 miles. Way to save some money! Here’s a breakdown of my trip.
Day
1/Saturday. I
drove to Breaks Interstate
Park and spent the night. I’d
heard about the park from friends who used to live in Virginia. It’s a bi-state park that’s partly in
southeastern Kentucky and mostly in southwestern Virginia, in the Jefferson
National Forest. Within the park is a
five-mile gorge billed as the “Grand Canyon of the South.”
After setting up camp, I hiked a couple of the short
trails (Overlook Trail and Ridge Trail) and saw The Notches. What are those? All along the trail, you see tunnels in the
rocks. Another tip from my Virginia
friends.
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| One of the notches |
This trip was my first experience camping alone and
making my own meals. I did my homework,
researching recipes and how to pack food.
I pre-cut all my vegetables. I
brought chicken breasts and pre-made brown rice/quinoa dishes. Also brought eggs, fruit, peanut butter and
jelly, nuts, bottled water, and the requisite utensils and supplies. I was proud of myself, and my first meal
turned out great! The campsite had good
showers, noisy neighbors and yippy dogs.
Day 2/Sunday. The next morning,
I drove on to Claytor Lake and found Steve and Deanna, who had already set up
our campsite. Want a great camping
experience? Stick with them. They have a pop-up tent, an outdoor camping
rug, a grill, camping cookware, and gas fire pit. You name it, they have it.
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| Steve cooking dinner. Yes, he is wearing shorts. |
I’m not a big Wal Mart shopper at home, but we’ve made
a habit of frequenting a local Wal Mart on our bike trips. Leaky tent?
Let’s go to Wal Mart. (I’m still
using that tent from 2014). Need some
snacks? Wal Mart. This time they wanted to buy some food to
cook. Dinner was fajitas and a Wal Mart
cherry pie for dessert. We even managed
to get in a quick swim in Claytor Lake.
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| I couldn't resist taking a picture of the man blowing up his inflatable chicken at the lake. It's not as dirty as it looks! |
Day 3/Monday. Rainy day.
Ate a hearty hobo breakfast (cook hash browns, green onions, and cut-up
link sausage in foil pouches, then add an egg and spinach to each pouch until
the egg is cooked). Afterward, we sat
around under the pop-up tent and decided to go for a hike in the light on-and-off-again
rain.
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| Hobo breakfast. Mmmmmm |
After lunch the rain stopped but it was still a bit
overcast so we kayaked on the lake. Our
camping neighbor JoAnn joined us. We
rented double kayaks so I shared mine with her.
That’s one of the things I love about these rides – meeting great
people. She was super nice and we had a
lot of laughs. She’s had a rough few
years (losing her long-time boyfriend to cancer four years ago). We had a lot of laughs trading dating
stories. At one point, she thanked me/us
for inviting her along and said, “I needed this.” Laughter can do wonders for the spirit. I’m glad I could help in a small way. Not only was she a fun person, but somewhat
of an inspiration. She’s 64, retired,
doing six bike rides this year (well, last year), AND is hiking the Grand
Canyon. I want to be her someday! I also love her because she thought I was in
my late 20s. Now, I’m not delusional
enough to believe her, but it’s still nice.
I made her laugh and she made my day.
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| Deanna and Steve |
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| JoAnn and me |
The rain came back later in the day, and continued
through the evening. We sat around the
fire pit and had leftover fajitas and pie for dinner.
Day 4/Tuesday. It rained all night and we decided biking was
a wash. We drove to Radford, Virginia
(not much going on there) and continued on to Christiansburg for lunch at The
Farmhouse. Did a little shopping at Wal
Mart (of course!), TJ Maxx and Dick’s Sporting Goods. It was better than sitting under the tent all
afternoon.
We had a short yoga/stretching session back at the
park, and even ventured into the tent area of Bike Virginia. All three of us participated in a demo of
Bemer, a wellness product that is supposed to help your circulation.
Back at our camp, we enjoyed a dinner of brats,
vegetables and garlic bread, and finished off the cherry pie. Another evening of sitting around the gas
fire pit.
Day 5/Wednesday. The sun came out! But the forecast still included rain, so we
decided to do the short route of 11 miles, throwing in some extra miles of our
own. Wow – a whopping 11 miles! An all-time low for any bike ride. We should have just gone for a longer route,
rain be damned.
Bike Virginia was a wash-out, and over, so we packed
up camp, had lunch by the lake, and drove on to our next stop – Hungry Mother State Park. Yes, that is the real
name. Set up camp and went on a six-mile
hike around the lake. There is a nice
beach area and some great trails.
Steve’s friend Gary drove from North Carolina to visit
and stay overnight. He’s a big hiker and
set up his hammock between two trees. I
tried it out for a minute – not bad. I’m
not sure how my back would handle hanging like that all night though.
Day 6/Thursday. After breakfast, we took a shorter hike before
leaving the camp and driving home.
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| See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil |
This was an atypical Bike Virginia; a renegade Bike
Virginia of sorts. Any guilt I felt
about not paying for the ride washed away with each day’s rain shower. By the end of our trip, I was thanking my
lucky stars I didn’t pay for the ride.
Who would have thought we’d hike more miles than we rode on a bike
trip? And you know what? I still had a blast. Sure, I would have liked to have ridden more
miles. But the hiking was a nice change
and the main point of our bike trips are to spend time with each other, see the
beautiful countryside and have lots of laughs.
Mission accomplished.
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| It's always party time when we get together! |
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