Ashland VA to Mineral VA, Hilly terrain, approx. 46 miles

After 3 days in captivity at the Sleep Inn and Suites in Ashland VA, we were back on the road.  We left around 7am.  It was initially raining when we woke up and the forecast called for intermittent rain so we had put our rain gear on to start.  We were not far out of Ashland when we started pulling off our rain gear.

The terrain definitely had become a lot hillier.  Early on in our day as we were riding down a hill, we came upon a creek that was seriously overflowing.  What was supposed to just be a little creek looked like a river with class 3 whitewater rapids.  The water was almost touching the bottom of the bridge!  We stopped to watch the spectacle ourselves and to get some pictures and video.  It really was cool to watch.  Phil struck up a conversation with a few locals that were standing by the bridge talking.  It turns out that one of the locals Phil was speaking with had biked across the country as well along with some other long tours under his belt.

We continued on our way and came to the town of Bumpass, Va.  We do not know how to pronounce the name but will leave that up to our readers to figure out!

Around lunchtime we stopped at B&L Country Store at 1205 Fredericks Hall Road in Bumpass VA and filled up our gas tanks (ate some beanie weenies)!  We met Ted the really nice owner and his daughter (Pictured below with Linda).  They serve hot and cold deli items, pizza, and groceries (Ph: 540-872-3844).  From all the wet weather there was overflow water flowing along side the road like a stream and the locals were finding “crawdads” in them!

Shortly after our lunch stop we came upon Lake Anna and saw a sign on the shoreline that said “Casual Waterfront Service.”  We pulled over to the entrance, leaned our bikes against the guardrail and walked to the lake to see the really cool outdoor worship area.

We arrived in Mineral VA at the Volunteer Fire Station where we set up our tent on their fair grounds area.  They allowed us to use their shower and the bathrooms are always accessible.

After we got our tent setup, we went to “Sabor A Mexico” only one block away from the Fire Station.  The food was absolutely amazing and the family that owns it/working there are very friendly.

As we were walking back from Sabor A Mexico we came upon an ice-cream shop that was still being renovated and not open yet.  Phil saw a man inside and knocked on the window.  The man opened the door and spoke to us for a while.  Mineral Shakes LLC plans to be open for business by Monday May 5th.  I believe he said they will have 32 flavors of Hershey’s ice-cream and shakes.  He told us that smoothies and also a coffee bar will be coming soon as well.  We were a little disappointed that the ice cream place was not open yet future Cyclists will be happy.  We got some ice-cream at the convenience store next to the fire house.

He also told us that a friend of his is soon opening up a restaurant across the street that will have many other options if you do not like Mexican.  Good things are happening in Mineral, Va.  We enjoyed our stay in Mineral.