The amount of daylight is noticeable less now than it was when I started in early June. I could start riding shortly after 6 am when i started this journey if I wanted to but now it is closer to 8 am. I wait until the sun is higher in the sky so a driver coming from behind me has a chance to see me before they nail me.
Today is another of those days where I wanted to get some serious mileage in to set me up for the next day. But of course this is Virginia in August, which means serious heat, high humidity and daily thunderstorms. I stopped under the awning of a Baptist church to see which way a storm was going. It was in front of me but crossing my path but did not rain on me.
There was really no place to stay so I choose to stay at a hostel that caters to Appalachian hikers in Catawba. The place was a 6 car garage converted into space for bunk beds, one bathroom, a kitchen and numerous couches. There were no hikers stopping by during this time of year but the place was a mess. At peak hiking times there could be 70 people staying there either in the building or camping outdoors. I am not sure what they do about the lack of bathroom facilities. The two resident hosts were a trip and not the cleanest people. Even though there is a sign that says people should do their dishes when they are done these two did not and the sink was loaded with at least 2 days of dishes. The bunks were dirty from all the grubby hikers so I ended up sleeping on one of the couches because it seemed the cleanest but I still felt very dirty when I left. Let’s say that I was happy to leave.
Today’s stats: total mileage 84.1 miles; average speed 13.2 mph; max speed 37 mph; elevation gain 5430 feet; elevation descent 6006 feet.