West Virginia Part III

Day 4

I woke early at 6:30 am. This is typical for me during the work week, I was following my natural rhythms. I used earplugs the night before for a restful sleep and they worked great. In these types of campgrounds your fellow campers tend to be noisy as this is considered cheap accomodations. The twenty-somethings with limited funds for lodging but seemingly unlimited funds for beer are attracted to these surroundings. On this morning, I realized that I had not brought camp fuel and thus no warm breakfast or hot tea. Looks like a trip into Bob Evan's for breakfast and tea. A Spral-mart was located nearby as well and I could resupply my larder and my forgotten camping supplies. What would do in this day and age without a big box store nearby?

While at the Spral-mart I picked up a pair of Suspenders for my riding pants. I got tired of the John Wayne look and decided to hitch up my britches. These work great - my riding pants are a bit heavy and the suspenders provide a lot of support. Wish I would have thought of this sooner. Ocean needed breakfast as well and I supplied her with 5 gallons of 87 octane. This morning tour was Greenbrier Valley, according to the tour book this is moderate hills, mostly valley touring along routes following rivers. I started out on 41 and quickly had my first deer sighting - that put my on ultra-alert. Babcock State Park and it's gris mill was my first stop. The gris mill is assembled from several other gris mills and restored here in this park and it still churns out flour and corn meal. It's beautiful scenery and a great photo stop. Lots of good hiking in this location.



The ride through 41 to CR31 meeting up with 20 was beautiful, intense and exhilerating. The destination was the overlook for Sandstone Falls. Took a picture from the Overlook but did not go to the falls themselves. I had more time on my hands that I was aware of - the day was one missed location after another. Hinton was up next and was supposed to see the rows of old company houses but the traffic was 'heavy' in the 'downtown core' and being hot, I just moved on after a few failed attempts at locating this landmark. Looks like a nice enough town once you got to know it. Near Hinton I saw another deer in someone's driveway - they are all over. Had several locals riding my tail all morning - added to my stress levels. I understand that these are their roads and I'm just a tourist down here. I feel the same when they come to visit Niagara Falls and I have to ride behind them at a snails pace.



Missed the John Henry statue as a road crew had taken over the parking lot. It would have been a nice stop for a photo and water. But, felt like I had to push on. Arrived in Lewiston in the afternoon but this town wasn't as quaint and picturesqe as the guidebook had suggested - it was traffic clogged and congested. I almost got wiped out by a cell-phone packing soccer mom in her SUV. This town is close to 64 and is becoming like many towns today - taken over by franchises, strip malls and big box stores.

This day felt like a bust and I came back to the camp site at around 4:00 pm and logged 300 kilometers on the odometer. I was deflated a bit and a little depressed. Still getting used to the pace and learning to work with the locals and their idea of traffic laws.