Day 4
Palmyra VA, 46 miles
”Man is harder than iron, stronger than stone and more fragile than a rose.”
— Turkish Proverb
I’m feeling more like a rose than a stone after these first four days… But I’m just getting started, at least that is what I am telling myself. My health has been great, but I have a bitch of sunburn so it’s going to be cover-up these next couple of days.
It dawned on me today as I started to tire, why I was able to make 45 miles the first day, because it was all flat. I started getting into the hills today, It won’t be too long before I reach the top of the Blue Mountains and cross the AT! I’m actually looking forward to that. I shouldn’t admit this, but I had to get off the bike and push a couple of times today. You gotta do what you gotta do…
I was chased by weather all day. About a half-hour after arriving in Palmyra, the thunderstorm hit. Fortunately for me, I was safely ensconced in the Palmyra United Methodist Church. The folks here run a cyclists hostel and it’s a very comfortable place. A parishioner named Ann met me on the front steps and gave me the cook’s tour. After the storm blew over I was planning to go down to the E. W. Thomas grocery store and get some fried chicken. I heard the fried chicken there is excellent. I mentioned that to Ann and she informed me that her maiden name was Thomas and the store uses her mother’s fried chicken recipe! The bad news is the storm knocked out power to half the town and the E. W. Thomas grocery is closed until Monday. No fried chicken for me…
The Rivanna River runs through Palmyra. Thomas Jefferson played a major role in developing the waterway as a means to ship agricultural goods to Richmond. It is affectionately referred to here as the “Mr. Jefferson River.” Jefferson was born on the shores of the Rivanna. It is a major tributary to the James River which is the largest river that flows into Chesapeake Bay.
I was chased by weather all day.