Part 2

Overall I would say things are going great.  I'm on schedule, the scenery is so beautiful and the people are super friendly and hospitable - the Kentucky dogs on the other hand, well that's another story. I'm pretty exhausted at the end of each day, but I'm trying to stay fueled as best as I can, eating anything I can when I can, and sleeping around 9 hours each night. I'm drinking around 80-100 ounces of water a day at bare minimum.  I've teamed up with a fellow cyclist and North Carolinian and we're clicking through the miles as best as we can. Here's a tid bit about my last few days:

Day 7 - things went pretty well today. I made the trek from home over thru Damascus Va. all the way to Rosedale Va. I spent the night in the sanctuary of the Elk Garden United Methodist Church. The people there were super friendly. They actually host cyclists passing thru the area almost every night.  At first I was a bit anxious about this being my first night away from the comforts of NC, but about an hour or two after I showed up at the church I met a fellow cyclist, Dre, who is also making the trip to San Fran - and actually, by chance, I already know Dre - he's from Burlington and I actually met him on a training ride about a month ago passing thru Elon - small world, huh? We decided to team up for now, as it looks like we're on the same schedule. We were in for a treat tonight, though - the church had a concert with a group of world renowned musicians from New York. They played selections from artists/composers such as Faure, Brahms, and Schumann among others - it was incredible, but I'm still trying to figure out how these folks ended up on Rosedale, Va.

Day 8 - today was a 'blah' kind of day. It was my first time riding with Dre and it was pouring rain pretty much the entire day.. at least until we stopped - go figure. It was nice actually having someone to ride with but Dre was killing me - he is a master climber and would put a 50 meter gap on me in no time. Fortunately, though, I'm a better descender so it evens out. Oh yeah, and the guy never eats - he eats like one meal a day and seldom snacks. But it's been nice having a riding partner for sure. We made it about 65 miles to Lookout, KY to the Freeda Harris Baptist Center. They offered us a place to sleep on their gym floor on some cushioned gym mats. I also got my first shower in two days today - two actually, if you count all the rainfall. We're hoping to get in about 85 miles or so tomorrow and about 75 the next day which should land us in Berea, Ky. 

Day 9 - Dre and I hit about 85 miles today. We finished up in a small town called Chavies, Ky, about 80 miles from Berea, Ky. Today's ride was pretty tough, starting out with a big climb only 10 minutes in. We were rolling along pretty well though despite the hilly terrain - only 6 hours in the saddle. Once again we'll be stayin at a church - this time at Chavies First Church of God. I can't stress enough how generous the people are out here - this place wasn't designated on our map as a potential place to stay like the previous two churches were, but as we were passing by we figured we might as well stop and give it a shot and not only are they allowing us to sleep in the basement of their church, but two girls (who I'm guessing are the pastor's daughters) just brought us vegetable beef stew and water - it's like they could read our minds. Oh, and the weather today - warm with a slight breeze - perfect!

Tomorrow will hopefully be our first experience with warmshowers.org once we arrive in Berea. To be continued.. 

http://www.ridewithoutlimits.org/goto/Eric_Johnson