More hills

Not many miles today, but wild weather swings again. We hit our 500 mile mark & finished Virginia though, so it was an accomplishment.
It reminds me of the Haitian proverb...Beyond the mountains there are more mountains.

Rate the state-
Good roads, great signage, polite/smart drivers, BIG hills.
We'll see what KY brings.

Milestones

All our maps show us passing through little towns no one evre heard of, but we're really quite near some civilization. Williamsburg, Richmond, crossed 220 by Roanoake, Christianburg & Radford. Even if you look on a big map you can find I-81 & I-77.
Today's milestone was Mt.Rogers (no photo- my phone tanked) & the oh so famous (at least to A T hikers) Damascus VA.

Oddities

Lots of rocks hill- gotta love it. That dawg's for you Donna.
And the cool old PO in Christiansburg. Unfortunately, they only process general delivery packages at the new facility- out by the mall (wherever that is) The postlady called Wand Lou over there and had them forward our mail to Meadowview. Hopefully it will be there Monday when we pass through.

Whythe County (named for George Wythe, signer of the Declaration of independence) poor farm.

And the tractor pull and antique tractor competition held at the fair ground near our May 15 camping spot.

Mille Tetons

For those who read Bill Bryson's book about discovering small town America...check out the chapter about the Grand Tetons. What VA lacks in size, it makes up for in numbers.

Down in the "Valley"

Irises & roses are all over- sooo pretty.
We had more weather whiplash, going from hazy hot & humid one day, to fog & drizzle another. (The sign said Catawba, but I was sure it was closer to London!), to downpours again Sunday.
Valley is in quotes because it's really corrugated! We follow a creek for a bit & then go over a ridge to another one. We parallel I-81 (which is pretty nearly flat) on a rollercoaster frontage road. Nothing...I mean nothing is flat! I guess it will all average out by KS.

Our first Trail Angel

As you can see from the photos, we were able to actually see the Blue Ridge Mts, not to mention the road before us. Sunny, warm, & humid start with a great downhill to make up for yesterday's climbs. A beautiful ride paralleling some streams and a lunch stop in Lexington.
We lost 15 miles Tuesday, & were at a loss on how to make it up. Weather reports were calling for severe thunderstorms, but they seemed to be north of us...WRONG! About an hour after lunch, the skies unloaded in buckets. We decided to stop at the first barn. After a bit Mr & Mrs Connor saw us & came out. She went out on an errand & as the rain was letting up, he offered to give us a ride down the road a ways. Our first Trail Angel made it possible to get back on schedule!
Tonight we're in church camp cabins. Tomorrow, on to Christiansburg.

15 Yards...Piling on!

After a wonderful time with our friends in Charlottesville, we headed out for the Blue Ridge Parkway. We knew this would be a tough day with some REAL hills, Lynn! That would have been enough, but pile on-
rain, not too heavy at first, but it worsened.
Add fog to that at the top of the ridge.
Now, drop the temperature to 42 degrees!
So we shortened the day and splurged on a cabin for the night. What a treat, fireplace, kitchen, shower, electricity, beds. We're really roughin' it!
Not many pix. All the scenic overlooks made us laugh, since you couldn't see much past the sign!