Day 34 (6/25/09)

Life is good! I’m writing this blog entry on the patio of the Christiansburg, Va. Hampton Inn, listening to Bob Marley on my IPhone and consuming adult beverages imported from Ireland. Today was an “easy” day of 83 miles crisscrossing I-81. Again, the sun was shining and temperatures barely made it out of the 80s. We arrived in Christiansburg about 1:30, giving us an opportunity to rest the legs and mind after the past three days of playing mountain goat. We are becoming mentally fatigued with the routine, so we have to be especially cautious of what we are doing and not get complacent. We have ridden nearly 3,500 miles without incident, often within inches of each other to afford maximum drafting; we don’t need an accident now due to inattention or lack of focus.
Today’s riding was especially interesting for me. Our route took us through the town of Radford. My oldest daughter, Sarah and her husband, Dan both graduated from Radford University in 2004. My other daughter, Rachel graduated in 2007 from Appalachian State in Boone, N.C., 2 ½ hours south of Radford. Both Sarah and Rachel played volleyball for their respective universities and I frequently traveled the route I-81 corridor to see their collegiate athletic careers. I spent many of nights in Radford and Christiansburg during volleyball (and football) season. I was always in a hurry to either get to the schools or home, never really getting the opportunity to enjoy the surroundings. Today I finally had the opportunity to get off the interstate and see up close the beauty of south western Virginia. (Previously, I drove the Blue Ridge Parkway between Radford and Boone with the convertible top down, playing Bluegrass Gospel on the radio. That was one of those “Life Is Good” days too.)
We are still passing a trickle of riders heading westbound. We haven't passed anybody heading eastbound since the couple riding the tandum recumbant bike in Missouri. Today, we passed a guy carrying a guitar on his bike. He’s probably only a week into the Transamerica ride and has no clue what he’s in for. I bet he’ll lose the guitar before he gets out of Virginia.

Tomorrow’s destination is 92 miles to Lexington, Va.. as we continue to play hide-and-seek with I-81. The forecasted weather is a 50% chance of rain. That means we’ll have a 50% chance of riding in the sunshine!

P.S. I wore the FSU jersey today and nobody tried to run me off the road, or honked their horn or gave me a hand gesture. Tomorrow I’ll wear my Air Force Jersey as we ride into Lexington, home of V.M.I. (Virginia Military Institute). By special request I will wear the FSU jersey again on Saturday as we head into Charlottesville, home of U.V.A. (University of Virginia Cavaliers – another A.C.C. rival of FSU).