July 12, 2017, Wednesday. Harpers Ferry

 July 11, Tuesday, I wrote the previous blog post, covering the dates July 2 - July 10, published, and cross posted it early in the afternoon.  I decided to take off the remainder of the day rather than start a ride in the afternoon heat and also to attempt to put some protein on the dinner plate.  Thank goodness for small miracles.  The fish I caught wandered to the shoreline wounded where I caught it barehanded.

A hiker named "Bob" walked into camp late afternoon early evening with a fairly large pack.  We chatted for a while before the sun went down.

July 12, Wednesday (42km this day), I packed up camp at Bald Eagle Island, near mile post 49 along the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal and pushed my bike and trailer up the steep incline leading out of the camp.  The camp is about 8ft lower than the trail and lies between the trail and the Potomac River.  The protruding roots, exposed rocks, and the steep grade back up to the trail from camp made it necessary for me to make several trips just to assemble my bike on the trail to start this days ride.  After my ride was assembled and ready to ride on the trail, I said goodbye to "Bob", collected Daisy, and made my way towards Harpers Ferry, West Virginia.

Between mile post 52 and 53 I found my first downed tree blocking all forward progress completely.  Early on, during my first day on this long and meandering trail, I prepared my self well, mentally, for the eventuality of such a delay.  Up until this point I have been very fortunate for I've come across at least 3 recently cleared debris falls evident by the freshly cut wood chips of a chainsaw littering the trail.

This blockage was recent and quite large.   The other problem this blockage posed is that it contained a huge amount of poison Ivy.   After clearing minor tree limbs with a hatchet,  I levered the poison Ivy out of my path using the freshly cut branches from the tree, hopefully without being contaminated in the process.  My work revealed two remaining tree limbs with a 40" circumference or better.  I would definitely have to completely disassemble my entire rig and carry it over the obstruction piece by piece.

A fellow cyclist, out for a morning trail ride and stopping to carry his own bike across, offered to help carry my empty trailer across.

After thanking and saying goodbye to my new friend, I took advantage of the opportunity, while all of my belongings were easily accessible, to restock my daily containers.  I topped off my beans and rice containers that I use on a daily basis and replaced the unused portions in my pack box that I keep in the rear of the trailer.  This was a good time to inventory my food stores as well; I'm doing quite well!

In addition to reorganizing, I took the time to remove several lengths of bailing wire to secure trailer tire spares to the underside of my trailer.

Photo albums will have to wait for today I'm running into cellular coverage deficiencies.  I may not be able to post this one until coverage improves.

After reassembling my ride for the second time today, I continued on and came across Brunswick, Maryland.  I stopped in and shot a few photos before hopping back on to the trail.  I had decided to stray from the trail and visit Brunswick after catching a glimpse of it through a tree line and because the name Brunswick reminded me of the town just outside of St. Simons Island where my tour started back in Georgia.

At Weverton, Maryland exit along the C&O Canal, I found myself on the Appalachian Trail (Appalachian National Scenic Trail) on my way to Harpers Ferry.  I hopped on to Highway 340 and found myself quickly winded on a huge but deceivingly gradual ascent.  I had to look back at my progress along this grade to get a real grasp of how steep it is.  I crossed the Potomac River into Virginia, and then the Shenandoah River into West Virginia.

Upon my arrival, I was greeted with ridiculously steep grades through residential streets leading up to a Harpers Ferry where I was rewarded by beautiful views from "Overlook Of Old Town".

I wanted to visit the old church ruins while  in Harpers Ferry but the steep inclines would have destroyed my equipment or killed me.  Y'all can Google photos of the area.

While riding down Main Street, I may have burnt through my front disc brake pads.  I'll have to check them before hitting the hills again.  It was a constant battle applying both front and rear brakes to keep my ride from running away.

This day was hot and humid and my clothes were drenched in sweat.  The hill climbs along the way meant frequent stops in an attempt to cool down.

It was time to ride back to the C&O Canal and make camp.  It took a while to get to Huckleberry Hill Hiker-Biker Camp.  I set camp and opened up my pressure cooker for a quick dinner of foul smelling beans and rice.  I had made this batch just the day before out of the fish stock leftover from boiling the fish.  As much as I dislike fish stock, it does provide much needed nutrition.  Yuk!!!  Thank goodness it is gone!

Photo is of an old hotel at the lookout point mentioned earlier.  The other photo is looking back at where I had been just two hours earlier. 

I'll be offline for a while, connection is poor out here!  Thank Blogger for reformatting my text. 

June 20, 2017, Tuesday. Williamsburg, Virginia

June 18, Sunday.  I neglected to mention in my last post that I had arrived at Fireflies On Bennett's Creek the afternoon before (June 17), right around 4:40pm.  I was thinking of moving on further down the road, but my friend Katie said that afternoon showers were frequent this time of year and this day was looking like one of those days, not to mention that I had stopped multiple times to shelter from passing torrential thunder showers.  Additionally, I was a bit thirsty and considered riding a bit more to pick up a beer before seeking a camp.  I am glad that I chose to stay and seek permission from Fireflies On Bennett's Creek instead of the more frequent, ask for forgiveness.

I waited for the patrons to thin out -I don't want to interrupt business- and entered the store.  A lady had asked how I may be helped and as I handed a card to her, I asked if I may make camp in the corner of the property.  She consulted with another lady and the answer was, and quickly I might add, yes.  They both showed me where I may pitch my tent, offered me the use of the boat dock, and sent me packin' with two bottles of pumpkin spice brew.  Thank you Fireflies On Bennett's Creek for your kindness and hospitality.

After making dinner and drinking the pumpkin spice beer, I accessed the web and logged into WarmShowers.org, a community of bicycle tour enthusiasts that, when not on tour, open up their homes to those cyclists on tour.  I learned about WarmShowers.org from a fella while at the Smallest Church in America back in South Carolina.  Y'all might remember him, Jan, aka "The Flying Dutchman" (I may have inadvertently referred to him as the "Lost Dutchman")  Here is a link to my post documenting my meeting with "The Flying Dutchman".   I prefer to rough it while crossing the country and have made it a point to stick to that, for the most part. However, I enjoy the freedom of meeting someone online and asking for permission to leave camp and Daisy while touring and photographing historic locations more thoroughly than just riding through town.  Williamsburg, VA seemed to be one of those locations that I could use some free time without my load to visit and shoot photos.

I found a location that stated that I was 47km away (not miles, kilometers.  I decided, for this tour, I would track kilometers traveled.  It seems that the majority of the world uses this measurement, and I have some very special folks following me that use it too.  I have all of my devices set to kilometers...or so I had thought.).  I reached out, asking for a few nights stating my intentions and was welcomed and invited for the following evening.

Back to this post (June 18, Sunday), I did a little breakfast fishing prior to packing up camp at Fireflies On Bennett's Creek.  I think I may have caught the same fish twice, so I kept the little guy and cooked it up for my girl dog.  Daisy enjoyed the fresh protein.

I started this days ride thinking that 47 kilometers to my destination would allow me plenty of time to piddle around and take my time with videos and photos.  This days route was a recommendation from my new friend Katie.  I am most thankful for the direction she offered and suggested.

Along Highway 258, just north of the town Benns Church, I found a Historical Marker and pulled in to investigate.  In the parking lot of St. Luke's Church Museum, I found some information markers about the site (these may be found in my photo album that I will include somewhere in this post).  The parking lot was empty, tours are either by appointment or at a time other than when I was there.  Either way, I didn't have the cash to spend on a tour.  I took photos of the house and hit the road to look for a back road into the grounds to locate this circa 1600's Church for all paths to it were blocked and locked.  There is, apparently, a conflict about the exact date for which the structure was built, either 1632 or 1682.  Y'all will have to Google it and decide for yourself. Here is a link to Historic St. Luke's Church, a video I made to help put it in perspective.  Notice that it is set back far from the road. It is peaceful, quiet, and impressive!

I found a round about and out-of-the-way path to this historic building, and I am glad that I risked my neck on gravel paths and dirt trails leading up to it.  I managed to get quite a few photos and videos that you will find in the single photo album that is linked to below.

The next notable attraction was the town of Smithfield, Virginia.  Here is a video clip of Daisy enjoying the sights and smells of Smithfield, Virginia.  I stopped in at a convenience store to use the hot water spigot on a coffee machine to make myself a cup of ramen noodles.  I figure I'll need the carbohydrates later on and the salt would replenish what I have been sweating out.

I wandered around Smithfield for an extended period of time, in part because I had made a wrong turn.  From an overpass, looking down at the road below, I had realized then that that was the road I needed to be on.  This added a few miles to the day for there was no on ramp to get to my route below.  Photos of Smithfield will be found in the one photo album, "Williamsburg, Virginia; our arrival.", somewhere below.

At some point along the way, I thought to call my host and ask for an address.  After plugging that address into my phone, I realized that I still had over 25 miles (not kilometers...miles) to go to arrive to his house!!!  WTH?!?  I had already traveled a considerable amount of miles.  I still haven't figured out how I had in my head 47km to travel to my destination (perhaps it was due to a route other than the one that I had planned on taking).  For those of you just tuning in, here is a little back ground on biking with a very large load and dog in tow.  25 to 30 miles per day is good mileage on a day to day basis, that is, if I wish to continue on the next day for an extended period of time.  By the days end, I will have traveled over 50 miles, the most I've traveled on any single day this tour thus far.

Back to the tour, I left Smithfield and rode on, taking Route 10.  I had to cool down along the way and took the opportunity to do a Facebook check-in.  I believe it was here that I also called my host and informed him of my predicament, that I may not make it as planned, and at this point I was pretty beat up.  Side and head winds were becoming stiff and steady, and even though today's route took me in many different directions, it struck me as improbable that I would have little or no tail wind.

I continued on along Route 10 and spotted a Dollar General at the intersection of Route 10 and 676.  I bought a half gallon of milk, and two cans of condensed milk, of which I consumed the entire half gallon of milk to help prevent cramping and to replace electrolytes the old fashioned way.  It was here that an intoxicated motorist proceeded to lecture me about scooting over to the right of the lane so traffic could attempt to squeeze between me and oncoming traffic in the immediate opposing lane. (There was no shoulder of any kind on this stretch or road).  I took his suggestion under advisement, held my tongue, and continued hugging the center line at times that it was obvious that it was unsafe for following cars to pass me.

From the Dollar General, I took the route 676, to the 628, and then the 617.  This is when I came across Bacon's Castle.  See the photo album guys.  This place is ridiculously cool and even more so, historic.  It was at this time that I noticed that a storm was brewing up, and grew ominous in the short time that I had been visiting the castle.  We arrived just at closing time, just in time to see the caretaker high tailing it home.  Daisy had a moment to graze a little and stretch her legs before it was time to hit the road again.  Check out these photos and the videos at My Channel on YouTube .  You won't be disappointed.  Please subscribe to my channel on YouTube to receive updates on new videos as they are uploaded, and give them a "thumbs-up" if you enjoy them.

The head winds were stiff leaving out the drive of Bacon's Castle onto Route 617 but I caught a second wind hoping to put the wind at my back at the next turn just a short distance ahead which put me back on Route 10.  Although I now had a wind in my favor, I found some hills, some of them quite steep.  They were not so much hills as they were steep declines leading down to waterways such as creeks, and corresponding steep ascents leading out of.  I have some great videos of me riding down blind runaway descents.  It was quite stupid on my part, to go into any decent, no matter how steep, with just one hand to steer and attend the front brake.  You can hear the wind drown out my voice as I filmed some of these scenes.

At one point, for one reason or another, I caught myself in the wrong gear for which to pedal out of a creek depression.  In order for me to shift down to my lowest gear, a granny gear, I must free my right shoe cleat from the pedal, shift to the lowest gear with left hand while kicking the chain over to the smallest front chain ring.  Now, I find myself stuck with no momentum and rapidly decelerating, well into blind corner and very much on a steep ascent in the wrong gear.  I disengaged my cleats from both pedals, dismounted my bike just as it came to a stop and before rolling backwards, and pushed it as close as possible to the side of the road.  Absolutely no shoulder existed, and looking back, no more than 40 yards of visibility existed down the road behind me.  Drivers coming around this blind turn would have very little time to pull their head out as they approach from my rear, and in fact, two cars were near misses.  I reached down with my right hand, the left on the brake and left foot as a wheel chock to prevent my rig from rolling backwards, and manually placed the chain on the smallest chain-ring.  Getting started once again was a neat trick and thankfully I did it without turning around and using the downhill momentum to get me rolling.  I powered up the remaining incline at a snail pace, in fact, a person could walk up at a faster pace than I rode up.

A lot of torque is being applied to the rear sprocket and wheel assembly on ascents such as this, and great care must be taken while standing on the cranks to create a steady continuous thrust.  Merely standing on the cranks on the down strokes will create intermittent thrust and subsequently bounce the trailer, rocking it back and forth.  Daisy, sitting high over the trailer axle in her crate, will feel this pronounced rocking motion and stand up, making the trailer bounce even more compounding the effect.  I had to get short with her to get her to lay down to reduce this sometimes inevitable bounce. This rocking motion will create rapid wear and weaken an already worn trailer hitch. (This will make sense in a later post, for as I type this on June 29th, I am still waiting on a new hitch to arrive.)

At this point in the day, I am amazed that I haven't started cramping up yet, and seriously consider making camp at the Chippokes Plantation State Park.  I still had ten miles or more to arrive at my destination and at my current rate, daylight would become an issue.  After remembering my disappointing stay at Chesapeake Campground, and the fact that my cash reserve has severely dwindled since that stay, I chose to push on.

I arrived at the Jamestown-Scotland Ferry at such a time that it seemed that they were waiting for me.  (Here is a video of my approach to the Ferry)  They closed the gates behind me and I propped my bike up against the railing and secured it.  I had a short breather while crossing the James River and shot some video and photos along the way.  Check out my YouTube video at Jamestown-Scotland Ferry and the others videos while you are there.

When the ferry hit dock at the other side of the river, I shot some photos of a young bird (huge bird) nesting on a huge pier pillar while the automobiles disembarked from the ferry.  I followed the line of cars heading towards Williamsburg, Virginia, when I noticed a "Welcome" sign.  I continued my break for I am still quite exhausted, and take the opportunity to shoot selfies with Daisy in my other arm.  Cars that were heading the opposite way to board the now empty ferry stopped, rolled down their windows to comment on our special moment and photo shoot.  Daisy, as you can see in the photo album, became distracted and nearly jumped from my arm while shooting pix.

I still had 45 minutes to travel, and after calling my host (Nick O'Connel President of Animal Rescue Flights A.R.F.) to inform him of my whereabouts and ask for shortest route in to his house.  He advised me to take the scenic route, a parkway, that would only add 10 minutes or so.  Immediately, that translates to 20 minutes or more of additional travel and I quickly set the recommendation aside and rode straight into Willimsburg on the 31 and the 5.

There were a few more hills and were dreadful after such a long day.  I suspect that I gained a third wind to arrive by nightfall.

I arrived and met with Nick O'Connel.  He promptly offered to allow me to put my entire rig inside a utility portion of his home. The trailer would not fit.  I parked my rig in the side yard, removed Daisy and we introduced her to Maggie and Enzo, Nick's beautiful rescued dogs.  After Daisy was comfortable in this new environment, Nick held the flashlight while I disconnected trailer and brought the bike, panniers, and duffel bags inside.  It was at this time that I noticed my rim rubbing against the brake shoes.  It was out of true and substantial drag kept the wheel from spinning freely.  OMG!  I have been riding for who knows how long with an untrue rim.  My heart sank. Here is the video of my wheel.  It was my intention with this video, to share how I struggled on this particular day.  Cross country riding is hard on equipment.  Spoke repairs and truing rims is part of the struggle. Just ask anyone who has taken on such a task.  Ask them also what they carry in their inventory for on the road repairs.  I carry a pound or glue, a pound of patches, and a pound of spokes.  ;-)  A spoke wrench comes in handy too!!

I want to say that I received a call, very quickly, from my sponsor, Intelligent Design Cycles.  They stated emphatically that normally they would replace the wheel free of charge within the one year warranty period, and offered to do so now.   They have never received word of any problems in the past with their "Stout" line of wheels, not one broken spoke.  Since I had already spent the money on the repairs, they offered to send me the money for the rim/wheel repairs in addition to the offer of a new "Stout Wheel".  I made it clear that I appreciate their sponsorship, and that I had been abusing this "Stout Wheel" from the start.  I have not met anyone towing a load even remotely close to the one I place on this "Stout Wheel" by Intelligent Design Cycles. The videos I have shared here on this blog of some of the runaway downhill descents clearly show irresponsibility and abuse on my part.  The one thing I can say, "After 1,500km of travel, nearly1,000 miles, this Stout Wheel is amazing and has far exceeded all expectations I held for it!!"  I have crossed the country before, and unless I become a greasy spot on the road side, I will do so again....on this "Stout Wheel"!  Thank you for your support Intelligent Design Cycles!

Nick and I sat down after he offered me a very cold beer in a very frosty mug.  What a delight that was.  We had a wonderful chat and shared touring experiences, my actual experiences, and from Nick, what he has experienced through hosting tour riders crossing the country or the state or both, for Nick is not a cyclist.

By complete chance, I asked Nick if he knew my friend and East Coast Tour rider, Jan aka "The Flying Dutchan".  What do you know..."The Flying Dutchman" stayed a night or two with my new friend and dog rescuer Nick O'Connel!!  What a coincidence!!  Here is a link to my post documenting my meeting with "The Flying Dutchman"  We sat down for a dinner that he held off for my arrival and we had a delicious ravioli with vodka sauce, side of asparagus, and generous portions of red wine.  We had such a great time chatting and sharing touring experiences and dog rescue missions, it was after 1a.m. that we finally retired for the night.


June 19, 2017, Monday.  Nick offered to let me take his spare vehicle to the bike store, where I decided to pay for spoke replacement, and have the rim trued.  The spoke that broke, most certainly due to overloading, and excessive and abusive down hill speeds, was on the drive side, or the side with the cassette which requires the removal of the cassette for replacement.  While I was at the bike store, I replaced spokes that I had used up for earlier repairs.  See my Vanceboro post where I replaced two trailer spokes and inadvertently damaged one of my trailer wheels.

I returned to the house and and spent some time on the computer writing, posting to social media, and reaching out to local media, both paper and TV.

If you have not yet noticed, I have not posted mileage for the past two days.  This is because the wonderfully expensive cycle computer, my brand new Catyeye Padrone, has failed completely.  I have since purchased a replacement computer, I only have to locate the new computer in my belongings and install it.

June 20, 2017, Tuesday.  Today I woke up early and assembled the photo albums, links, and wrote the previous blog.  I finished it around 2pm if memory serves me correctly.

I put my bike back together, removed my very expensive and non functioning Cateye Padrone cycling computer and installed my new WalMart Bell Brand computer.  I am very pleased with this arrangement.  I can't imagine where I will have to ship this non-functioning computer to, to have it warrantied or how long it will take to get returned, and not to mention if they will even warranty it. I am having little luck in finding ANY bike store that will exchange it.

My tour and subsequent photos of Williamsburg will be on the next post!  Subscribe to my blog via email and receive it in your email when it is completed!

Here is my photo album for this time period.
PHOTO ALBUM: Williamsburg, VA, our arrival.

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June 12, Monday. Chesapeake, Virginia

June 10, Saturday.  I arrived to Elizabeth City late in the previous afternoon (here is my photo album for Hertford, North Carolina.  I may have forgotten to upload it in my last post), a total of 50 kilometers traveled this day.  Seeking a safe camp, I decided to call the local VFW and try my luck.  It seemed quite a distance to the VFW from where I was at the time, but having permission has its own peace of mind and I was dedicated to catching a second wind to arrive there if I was granted permission to stay.  

I rang VFW Post 6060 and spoke to a lady that I had assumed was tending the bar and phone, asking for either the Post Commander or the Quarter Master.  She politely informed me that neither was in and offered to take a message.  I gave her a brief description of my mission, what I was seeking (a place to make camp for the night, behind  the VFW building and out of sight), and my contact info.  After she wrote my information down, she asked me to hold.  The person that picked up introduced himself as "Bill".  Again I stated my mission, what I was seeking, and received a firm "No".  This is a response I am familiar with, though in recent history I have been very fortunate to find welcoming and hospitable folks at various VFW's and American Legions along the first part of this tour.

Along the way I spotted some park benches at a church next to Jeffry's Florist and stopped to hydrate and scan my maps for a likely location to "stealth camp".  As the sun was dipping down, I rolled my ride to the treeline where we would stay the night.

From this tree line, I packed up and policed the area to assure that the spot remained as I found it after preparing Daisy's breakfast.   Since deciding that today was a touring day (not making forward mileage progress) I put WalMart on the agenda.  WalMart in relation to where I had camped was a long way away, in fact I actually had to back track quite a few miles, and then that would put me even further from Elizabeth City.

The route I chose to get back to WalMart, turned into a gravel road after three quarters of a mile.  I let Daisy out of her crate to let her jog beside me for the first time this tour, to save me the energy needed to drag a weighted down trailer through this loose gravel, and because she enjoys getting out, something she is not always able to do due to the heavily traveled roads I have been riding on.  After Wal-Mart, I rode towards Elizabeth City, North Carolina for a tour of this beautiful area.  Along the way, I found a bike route that abruptly came to an unannounced end.  What I mean to say, is that there was no "Dead End" sign indicating that a dead end was to come.  I turned around, and about 200 meters back, I met a fella on a motorized wheel chair with an umbrella.  I stopped him and warned of the dead end just ahead.  We talked for a few minutes and before parting ways, wished each other well.  After back tracking and getting back onto Church Rd into Elizabeth City, I found my recent friend was ahead of me.  (I will include a video of this later, in a separate post, for the video shows me passing my first vehicle on this tour.  My new friend in his 4x4 wheel chair.)  He had cut across the lawn to get back on the road, something that I was unwilling to do with my trailer behind me. It is a bitch to back up, even if only for a few yards.

I toured Elizabeth City (here is ...My Photo Album of Elizabeth City, North Carolina) for the rest of the morning when I came across the Elizabeth City Water Front when out of the blue, a fella introduced himself as Chris Day of 'The Daily Advance" asked me for an interview.  This is a first for me...on this tour and the last.  We sat and chatted for a good long while, and before parting, told me about Muddy Waters Coffee shop and gave me the change needed to purchase myself a coffee.  My Facebook friends saw the result of my visit to Muddy Waters.  Thank you Chris Day of "The Daily Advance" for the coffee and the interview, for sharing our story with you readers!  Here is my photo album... Arriving In Virginia .)

I sat at the Water front after another tour of the town.  As the sun was going down, around 7:45, I left to seek a camp.  As I was passing the afforementioned, not so hospitable, VFW, I ran across a Catholic Church with a huge lawn.  I took pictures of the VFW's back lawn from the church property, then proceeded to the very back of the property out of view from early church arrivals.  Here I made a simple dinner of packaged rice and noodles with a can of tuna.

At the end of this day, I traveled over 38 kilometers.

June 11, Sunday, I rolled up my bed roll for we slept under an open sky.  I haven't used the screen tent or its rain fly for quite a while.  I have been opting for quick camps and fighting bugs with DEET.  We left the Catholic Church, next to the VFW Post 660 and arrived at the Citgo,  north along Highway 17.  Here is where I learned of Chesapeake Campground.

This day would mark my arrival in Virginia, leaving the wonderful state of North Carolina behind us.  Surprisingly, there was no "Welcome to Virginia" sign.  Here is my photo album... Arriving in Virginia .I did find, three miles into Virginia, a welcome to Chesapeake County, Virginia sign (should be included in photo album attached).  I also found a bit more roadside shoulder for which to ride on, separated from the highway by continuous rumble strips (a form of vehicular Braille to wake up drunk drivers or those unaware of where the road ends).  

This day would also bring me to the Dismal Swamp Canal Trail, a wonderful and beautiful trail dedicated to bicycles, hikers, walkers, and runners.  I should have some videos uploaded soon to share with y'all!  Along this trail, I stopped to make lunch, a bag of ramen with a half cup of par boiled rice.  I made two glasses of milk from my powdered milk supply to keep the cramps at bay.  I also threw a hook in the canal, hoping to catch anything that would jump on it.

In the late afternoon, I arrived to Chesapeake Campground ($21 per night to pitch a tent).  I arrived to my campsite then thought better...food.  Before setting camp, I rode to and from the Food Lion Grocery store down the road.  I brought back a dozen eggs, a gallon of milk, a 5.25 pound chicken, and a couple cans of beer.

I arrived  at camp and quickly carved up the chicken, see photos, and boiled the whole thing in one of my larger pots.  I ran to the showers and scrubbed off at least a weeks worth of grime, DEET, sweat, salt, and sunblock off.  I went back to camp with my washed laundry, two riding outfits and 3 pair of socks and hung them to dry.  I set up my tent screen, and Daisy and I started working on that chicken.

This day, I traveled 69 kilometers.

June 12, Monday was a down day...all day.  I woke, or should I say Daisy woke me, and prepared an awesome Daisy meal with chicken stock, milk, an egg and dog food.   She loved it!  I had lots of milk, eggs, and oatmeal in my coffee. Raw.  Here is my photo album... First Days in Virginia .

I researched local media outlets, made calls and followed them up with emails.  I went to the camp office to pay for another night, to utilize WiFi that is only available at the office and not at the camp sites, and to work on my blog post.  I was able to upload most of my photos since my last post, but the videos have yet to upload for the WiFi is slow.

For lunch I dug out a package of lentils, split peas, alphabet noodles, rice, barley and other grains.  I seasoned this, added some chicken and had a huge lunch.  (see photos). 

I made a pot of beans for later and with the leftover chicken and chicken stock made a rich chicken and rice soup.  Between Daisy and I, none of this chicken went to waste!

2 kilometers traveled this day.