Day 13: Salem, VA to Radford, VA

Friday, June 27th, 2008

Today we woke up late... again. We got caught up watching some episodes of Law & Order. Tony kept claiming he didn't like the show, but after 1 episode, he was hooked. Eventually we found our way out the door.

Under an overpass.

Storm clouds that we avoided.

On our way to Radford today from Salem, we encountered thunderstorm clouds... again. I spotted an overpass on a side street and we escaped the rain for 20 minutes.

Resting on the side of the road.

The hill in to Christiansburg.
A mile and a half of pure steepness.

Christiansburg, VA is the end of our first map. A real milestone for us. There are 12 maps total! It has taken us a couple of weeks to get through the first one, so to get through all 12 it will take ... oh whatever! The longer the better.

Storm brewing outside of Cracker Barrel.

On our way up the monster hill to Christiansburg I heard on my handy dandy weather radio that a bad storm with hail and 60 mph winds was coming through Christiansburg and Radford, VA. So we pedaled on as fast as we could, but still got caught in some rain. However the worst clouds were still ahead so we took cover from the rain - again - inside the Cracker Barrel and had some pancakes and Chicken Fried Steak.

Whooping Tony at checkers in the CB.

East-bound Australians.

We met some east-bound cyclists on our way to Radford after the skies cleared up. There were 3 of them, and 2 of them were on a tandem. They were coming from San Francisco. Always nice to talk to others who are doing the same thing.

Waiting out the rain a third time.

Just a mile outside of Radford, we got caught in the rain for a 3rd time. We waited under a large tree. It's not the best place to wait out the rain, since the water gets through the leaves eventually, but it's all we had.



Finally we crossed the beautiful New River into Radford. We checked in to the Executive Motel and called the only cab in town to take us to some microbrewery restaurant that Aaron had heard about. It turned out to be so new that it wasn't even opened yet. So the cab brought us back to the motel. I asked the cabbie earlier if the gas prices were catching up with him and he said it didn't affect him at all. Now I know why. He passed the cost on to us - a $23 cab ride for nothing! On the bright side, some Thai chef for some reason decided to settle down in Radford and open a restaurant across the street from our motel, so we had a great Thai dinner. Hits the spot after such a hilly day. And the hills won't end until mid-Kentucky...