May 29, 2001 - Mike and Marilyn's 2001 TranAmerican Bike Tour

Buchanan to Catawba, Virginia. (40 mi.) Mile 413

Taking an easy day.

Yesterday we decided we needed to make some changes. Marilyn is still nursing some sore muscles from the push into Charlottesville, so we decided to take another easy recovery day. We started by completely emptying all of the panniers, switching things around, redistributing the load, and mailing 4 lbs of stuff home. The result was better handling bikes and the best day of riding yet. We took our time, stopped for ice cream, and chatted with a number of other cyclists.

The weather today has been perfect, and to end it, we are now free camping on the freshly mowed grounds of Home Place Restaurant, a vintage farmhouse style mansion, where I am typing this as I sit on the oversized porch. This place is only used 4 days/week as a fancy restaurant. When not in use, the groundskeeper allows cyclists to camp behind the house, where there is an outhouse. Cycle touring doesn't get much better than this, but tomorrow we need to pick up the pace.