The Bike Goes on a Road Trip

This past weekend, my cousin Larry graduated from Law School. Since he goes to school two hours up the road, part of me kind of hoped to be there. So when Percy asked if I wanted a ride out thataway, it made my day. He was staying the weekend with family in a nearby resort and would pass through Larry's school on the way.

We decided to leave Friday afternoon and take the bike through the mountains, camping one night in the Blue Ridge mountains. The original plan was to bike part of the Blue Ridge Parkway, a plan which seemed exciting until we entered the parkway. The road surveys some utterly gorgeous parts of the mountains -- from two narrow, winding lanes along some pretty spectacular drops. With safety in mind, we decided to find somewhere else to pull out the bike.

We found our way to Lake Sherando without maps, though with the help of street signs, and picked out an empty campsite in Washington National Forest. After taking the bike for a quick spin and making friends with a caretaker, we set up camp.

I've posted before about lighting fires in a fire place. Well, I got a campfire going with one match! Our neighbor saw our fire and came to ask to borrow matches. Percy and I had a brief moment of fire-envy when our fire started looking shaky and his was blazing. But eventually his lighter fluid (something we did without!) burnt off. Our fire picked up, thanks to the excellent fire-maintenance skills of Percy.

We cooked chicken and rice over the fire and stayed up watching it burn until long after everyone else had gone to bed. Since we had no service and I refused to take out my travel clock, I have no idea how late we finally turned in. I do know that we slept too late and had to vacate the premises before we had time to make breakfast. We had about an hour to take the bike on the mountain and get used to the lowest gear before we had to be on the road again.