Day 36 - Sponsored by Paul Jones

The morning came way too soon. I had laundered, showered and enjoyed a good night of rest in Winston, at Paul and Mary's home. After a hot breakfast, some delicious home baked apple pie, and a morning of blogging, it was time to get back on the Parkway. Mary had made me a care-package of Clif bars, two large size zip-lock bags full of mini cheese rounds, a generous portion of home made cake and some handpicked figs from the back yard. At 3:30 pm, Paul dropped me off at the Blue Ridge Parkway, at the exact same spot we had stopped cycling the night before.

My goal for the day was to ride fifty miles to Rocky Knob before dusk, and for a while it looked like an achievable objective, as the terrain was rolling along gently. With all the additional groceries and Mary's spare laptop borrowed for the rest of the trip, I had definitely reached my maximum poundage. The trailer was heavy and vehemently protested the load. It was harder to control, especially on the down hills and it slowed me down to a crawl on some of the steeper up hills. I could also now feel my knees burn more and more, under the heavy pedal pull and push.

By eight o'clock, after a glowing red sunset, it was dark and still a six-mile uphill away from my destination. I turned on both taillights, my headlamp and two flashers on my helmet and vest, and must have looked like a Christmas light parade. On approach, deer grazing on the side of the road, disappeared into the woods or darted across the road, propelling themselves forward with ease and grace. A beautiful spectacle to see them almost in synchronized flight disappear without a sound, side by side, into the abyss. By nine on the dot, I reached my destination and found a spot in an an almost empty campsite. The sign at the campground entrance stated that it was unlawful to feed all wildlife, and to put food items and cosmetics safely in the car with the windows and doors shut. Not having that luxury, I took the bob trailer and parked it safely inside the men's restroom. After setting up camp and having some munchies, without wifi, phone or email signal, and no one to talk to, what better thing is there to do than to get a good night of sleep.