There is something to be said about day 1...something magical. The nervousness and excitement...the wonder and a little fear of the unknown...all good stuff.
We got up and decided that we were going to scrap the camping portion of our trip. After much discussion we just felt like for this trip it would be easier (and WAY lighter) to hotel it. Once the decision was made we both repacked and rearranged our gear and we rolled out of Salem at 9:01 am.
It was just drizzling when we started out, but I must say I was so incredibly excited to NOT be cold that words couldn't adequately do it justice. The rain wasn't bad at all. As we were making our way through downtown Roanoke, I heard someone yell my name and say, "Hey Melissa! Where you headed?" I yelled back, "Florida bound baby!" It was my friend Linda! What a perfect way to start the day! Seeing someone that I know and who was excited for us! I'll tell you that it just about brought tears to my eyes. This trip has been a LONG time in the making and it just felt fantastic to be on the way!
By noon, the rain had stopped and the sun was at least trying to come out. At 12:20 I looked up, realized we were surrounded by the most beautiful scenery, out in the middle of no where, with perfect weather and I thought. This feeling right here...this is why I do this. Knowing that we got here under our own power...there is something so fulfilling about it.
The terrain wasn't that bad all day. We ran into a couple of showers, but it was so hot that they felt great! A lot of hills...some steep...but no mountains. We decided when the day began to get to AltaVista before we stopped. We were 65 miles into the day and we were both exhausted. We knew there was only a few more miles before we got to town and dinner, but it was 7:00 and our legs were screaming! We passed a guy working in a field and I asked him how much further to town. I knew it wasn't going to be good when he said, "What town?" I said AltaVista. He said we had turned right when we should have turned left and it was 6 and a half miles the other way. Now normally, six and a half miles is nothing. But our legs were done. The sun was going down, a huge storm was coming, we were hungry...and we had just come down a HUGE hill. The thoughts of climbing back up that were a bit overwhelming. We took a 5 minute break to try go gather some strength and we were off. As we started I thought that it wouldn't be too bad for me, because at least I could walk if I needed to. But dad's bike is a recumbent tricycle and he had no choice but to pedal. I felt awful for him. But we were both good troopers and made it to town. The wind from the coming storm was fierce and nearly knocked my bike over once, but we made it to the restaurant before it hit. Once we left the restaurant it was 2.9 miles to the hotel and the rain had stopped. We checked in at 9:30 and I'm sure I've never been so happy for a shower and a soft bed in my life! :)
All in all the day was very good. I like the feeling of looking at the odometer at the end of the day and seeing the progress. Knowing that we did that distance ourselves.
Tomorrow will be a shorter day and shorter hills...we are headed to South Boston.
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