John Henry and his Great Bend Tunnel he dug by hand.
I made a new friend along the road.
Greenbrier River passing through Alderson.
Lewisburg, West Virginia.
The Greenbrier.
I've stayed in some real dumps during this adventure but not tonight!
This is very important. When in the Appalachians one should know how to pronounce it properly. What do you say? They call it "Apple-at-chuns" here. The "Apple-ay-shuns" are also here but it all depends from where you come. It's a regional thing.
Spent all day riding up and down and up and down mostly very quiet back roads and through the most beautiful scenery, river valleys, and woods a cyclist can imagine. West Virginia is, so far, my favorite riding experience crossing the country.
The forecast for morning rain and wind never happened and it was a perfect day..dry, no wind and not hot. Weather is always a major issue. My Nebraska/Tornado Alley crossing was in May/June..the worst time of year for severe weather and tornado. I missed them all. Now approaching the Atlantic and it's hurricane season here. What's left of Hurricane Harvey is headed my way but I think I can outrun it and there's a tropical storm working it's way up my route ahead but should be clear by the weekend when I get there. So far so good.
My route today mostly followed the scenic Greenbrier River. I didn't ride much along the busy (and flat) river road as I'm always on the hunt for those random and more interesting back roads. The extra effort was well worth it.
Stopped to visit the John Henry historic site in Talcott. I remember hearing the legend of John Henry when I was a kid..goes like this: While working to dig the Great Bend Tunnel Mr. Henry challenged the new fangled steam shovel to a race to see who could dig the tunnel faster. John Henry dug faster than the steamer that day but then collapsed and died on the spot. The legend was born.
As I said, the West Virginia riding has been wonderful. Mostly rural country roads with a town every couple of hours. The towns are all neat and tidy with flower pots hanging from the lamp posts on Main St and everyone super nice too.
I had some trouble today with my navigation which is all pre-planned from home using maps. I don't nav with GPS. Perhaps I should. Turns out many rural roads here are not marked, or worse, have a different name from the map. I'm pretty good at maps but still got turned around today and went the wrong way 3 times which added many miles and lots more climbing. Good thing it's such a nice place to ride. I convinced myself that it was all a happy accident. I asked for directions from a few people and all so nice and helpful. The old men at the tire shop helped too but hard for me to understand them. They waved arms a lot and pointed so I got most of it.
It all worked out well and arrived at White Sulphur Springs, WV and The Greenbrier...the most palatial hotel I've ever stayed. It's an old and historic resort where all the local Southern richies come for golf, horse drawn carriage rides, fancy shopping and spa. Dudes all wearing dinner jackets and expensive shoes in the afternoon. I only have shorts, t-shirt and $5 ABC store flip flops. My money is still green though. Not my scene at all but very nice and they let me in the door..bike too, so I will stay. Its a fun change from the usual.
Tomorrow another 80ish miles and 6000'+ climbing up and down the Appalachians (no matter how you say it it's still gnarly) to Lexington, VA. At mile 5 we leave West Virginia. WV has been good to us, I hope to come back and ride again.
I'm glad you are having excellent weather and such a great last week of riding!
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