And again...

We set an alarm and slept right through it. Bruce and his family were trying to get out of the house and over to Ashland's Strawberry Faire. He apparently was also singing a Lion King number as part of the day's entertainment. Unfortunately, we missed both the strawberry shortcake and Bruce's performance. But Bruce was an awesome guy with a great house. The backyard was open with just greenery separating the yards. No fences like the Southern California walloff in Virginia.

We decided to go off the Adventure cycling maps and plot a route on Google so we could cut the day's distance from 94 miles to something more like 66. Didn't quite work that way. More on that later. Stocked up at Eukrop's grocery store - they were offering delicious peach cobbler samples. Then it was off to a truck stop nearby where we tried to buy some regional maps. The idea was to get something to help us if the Google map led us astray. None of them offered enough detail to be of any use so we decided to press on.

We got lost soon after but Jordan, Jeremy, and Charlie had the good sense to go into a fire station and get real directions. That set us on the right track and we took our lunch break a little bit later at a Wachovia bank parking lot. The majority of shirts were off. We pondered whether we'd be kicked out but decided our bicycles made us legitimate adventurers rather than freeloaders.

Hopped on Highway 250 and rode it 40 or so miles into Charlottesville. But not before the right pedal of Jordan's bike broke. The spring snapped and so the pedal had no tension to clip into. Some swearing followed. This is the third time Jordan's pedal has broken on him. He replaced two previous pairs. First we tied his right foot onto the pedal with a piece of webbing but that didn't really work so he rode with one cycling shoe and one regular shoe on his right foot. While we were sorting all of this out on the side of the road, Jeremy was electrocuted by a powered fence. He's OK.

The pace started to slow as we got into Charlottesville. Charlie said his knee was hurting him. Adam said his knee was hurting as well. The lights came out yet again as we made a late arrival in Charlottesville around 10.

But... but... all was totally cool as our host Jeff was one radical son of a gun. He lives in a house he built himself, has a vegetable garden, has a grass roof, tools around in a '66 Volvo, has exquisite taste, and suggested some very fine Mexican food that we ate for dinner. Burritos in Virginia. Who knew?

The other guys went briefly to a block party while I clattered away on the keyboard. Jeff also lives with Joey who was equally awesome. We have been meeting fantastic people and get asked about the tour all the time. Onward tomorrow.

Bruce and company.

Virginia.

View from our lunch break.

Jordan's pedal is broken.

A private pond.

Old barn.

Jeff and Joey.