Wytheville, VA: Two full rest days

Wednesday:

We woke up Wednesday morning and had the complementary breakfast at the Comfort Suites.

After a mid-morning nap, we heard back from one of the Message therapists and scheduled our appointments for early afternoon.

Linda cooked Gluten-Free macaroni and cheese for lunch on a retaining wall next to the hotel parking lot.

We then spent some time deciding what items we could part with and send home just like many other touring cyclists end up doing to lighten the load.

Later we rode our bikes downtown to get our massages.  We each got an hour long deep-tissue massage and it was wonderful.

After our massages, Phil wanted to check out the park where cyclists are allowed to camp for free.  When we got to the park we met a couple from Europe who were camping for the night.  We found out that the self-supported Adventure Cycling group that left Yorktown one week after we did, was camping next door at the church.  They caught up with us and now we felt the pressure to pick up our pace if we were going to make it all the way to Florence Oregon by the beginning of August.  We were beginning to feel a bit discouraged about the low mileage we were biking.

We chatted with the other cyclists for a bit and then headed toward a shopping center.  We saw a frozen yogurt store and went there first before getting a few things at Walmart.  We then went back to the hotel to get another shower and got packed up and ready to ride the next day.

Thursday:

Thursday morning we ate breakfast at the hotel while we monitored the weather.  It was raining hard while we were eating.  We waited for the rain to lighten up before heading out.  We stopped by the park and met two sisters whom were touring across America together.  There was another young man who was taking a rest day there at the park as well.  The couple we had met on Wednesday was getting ready to start their day.

 

The weather was crummy and we were still tired so we decided to take one more rest day in Wytheville but this time at the park.

 

Linda took a walk down Main street and found the Birthplace and Museum for First lady Mrs. Edith Bollard Wilson, second wife of President Woodrow Wilson.  Linda found it quite interesting that her genealogy went back to Pocahontas!

 

Phil then met up with Linda  at the world famous “Skeeters,” in town.  Phil had a couple chili-cheese dogs and then took two to go.  Linda got a hot dog without a bun and a loaded baked potato that was huge!

We then went back to the park and took a nice afternoon nap.

After we woke up it had stopped raining.  We took a walk down to a dollar store and grocery store about 4 blocks away and got some food.  Linda also stopped at the liquor store on the way back to get a couple mini bottles of liquor, including one of Fireball Cinnamon Whiskey.  One of our fellow touring cyclists used it in their hot chocolate and Linda tried it and liked it!

Soon after we got back it started pouring hard.  The very small creek that runs through the park swelled over the high banks almost instantly!

 

We heated water for hot chocolate and then cooked dinner.  We worked on our blog and plotted our course for the next day.