Rest of Day 3 and Day 4

Well, a lot has happened since my last update! After making it through DC without much trouble, I ended up at a bicycle shop to get an extra tube (just being paranoid). While talking to the bike shop owner about conditions for biking on route 50, he suggested I use the local rail trail instead. I checked with him and he said it did indeed lead to Fairfax (my goal for the day). The following is a lesson about baaaad advice. It turns out that linguistics are a bit different from region to region. When I say Fairfax, I think city, when he heard it, he thought county.... So, I followed the rail trail for quite a bit, going through several very nice towns, but according to my map, I wasn't going in exactly the right direction. I thought it might just meander a bit, but chose to ask a friendly woman at the small village community center I was passing.

That's when I learned that it touched the county and not the city. Fortunately, with my handy dandy map, I managed to head back towards route 50, with only a little time lost. I checked again to get directions to make sure I could actually move the way I wanted to, and got detailed directions from a non-english speaker. This is now the segment on when you should listen to advice you get! I followed the directions to a point, but was sure I needed to turn left and not right at a given road to get to Fairfax. Clearly I was wrong, as I discovered the next time I asked somebody which way it was to Fairfax. I had already gone about 5 miles and was entering Falls Church, which I had passed though an hour ago on the rail trail. Turning around, I retraced my steps and ended up in Fairfax by going the direction I was initially told to go.

Given the rain, I was planning to get a hotel room to clean up my bicycle, etc. I figured Fairfax would have expensive rooms, so I went on to Chantilly for the night. When, quite tired, I asked about room rates, I learned that the cheapest rooms in the area were $100. Being the cheap college kid I am, I decided to forget that and kept biking until I could find somewhere to camp for the night, not far past Chantilly.

Day 4 had a goal of Winchester, but I was already fairly close. After passing through, I decided to keep going and try to hit WV by the evening. Right as I got the to border, it started to rain.. There was a small store right at the border, so I ate a meal and chatted with a motorcyclist who was also seeking shelter from the storm. I also learned that the nearest hotel was in Romney, quite a bit further along. Off I went, figuring I could make it just before it got dark. The hills quickly got much larger than they had been as I finally started moving into the actual Appalachians. Exhausted from my long day, I finally had to give in and walk my bike up Bear Mountain (2 miles at a 7% grade)

This section explains why WV is a truly great state! At the top, a young man in a truck asked where I was head, and told me that his dad tends to put up bikers for the night. This is how I met Mr. and Mrs. Streisel - retired teachers from Hampshire High (yay teachers!) They lived about 10 miles further on, and their son (the man in the truck) told me to give a call when I got there. I had no signal, so he actually caught me after I had passed by, and gave me a ride back. Less than 20 miles into WV and I already had been offered a place to stay and given a home cooked meal - the first offer of any kind like this in my trip. The Streisels let me do laundry, dry out my gear, set me up with snacks and discussed possible alternate routes, as the next part of route 50 isn't pleasant, in terms of both hills and shoulder size. With the offer to make myself at home, I was given a room with a bed and asked what time I'd like to wake up. WV is really a great state! :)

Mr. Streisel is quite a character. Apparently he likes carpentry and construction. Despite a teacher's salary, he has a heated pool and greenhouse attachment to the house, all constructed by him (including the house itself) The room I'm in has doors he built, a pendulum clock he constructed (buying only the mechanical parts) and a standing mirror with bent wood laminate supports. He heats the water for the pool with solar energy from the roof of the pool building, and I gather that he also writes for a newspaper. Very friendly people!

Given that there is no ideal way to get back to 50 if I leave it, I suspect I will be following it tomorrow and just not making much distance, walking my bike in areas were safety is a concern. If all goes well, I'll be able to make it to Gorman tomorrow.