We were able to get started pretty early this morning, since we had little packing to do. Of course it didn't rain...we had a roof over our heads! It was a foggy morning, but the sun was shining, and this was going to be our last day! I had enjoyed the trip, but was ready to be at our destination. It didn't take long to ride out of the fog...there was just a pocket of it...
Right away we had a mountain to climb...but it wasn't too bad. The first few hundred feet were steep, but
the rest was quite manageable. There was very little traffic, and that made it that much more pleasant.
The stripe across the mountain was our road...
Shortly after that mountain, we worked our way into mining country. We ended up taking a mining road over a mountain....lots of trucks, and a narrow, worn-out road. Thankfully the way up wasn't steep...just long. It felt like we were climbing that mountain forever! We had some moments of confusion right before the extended climb...and weren't sure if the road was the correct one until we reached the top! According to the way my map was drawn, we should have turned left to get to Good Spring, but road signs and a passerby both said to turn right. We turned right. It was the right way to turn!
Here is a photo of the destruction from strip mining...
The quick descent was pleasant, but we had to stop a few times to cool our brakes. We were becoming more confident at higher speeds now...and allowed ourselves to nearly hit 30mph at times. It was exhilarating!
We had one more mountain to cross....and we both were dreading it. It was bigger than any we had scaled yet, and Route 645 took us straight up one side, and straight down the other!
The town of Pine Grove was right before the monster, and we stopped at a gas station to fuel up before the climb. We had used up the last of the cookies we had brought from home, and had no snack food of any kind left. I bought orange juice, gross pastries, gross jerky, and some other snack food. We ate most of it there, so Tuck sent me back in to get stuff to eat while riding up the mountain...then we pedaled hill-ward.
We couldn't ride up it. It was incredibly steep, so steep that it was impossible to ride. We walked all the way up Blue Mountain. I had never sweat that much in my life! The trip down wasn't much better, since our brakes heated up so quickly we had to stop frequently to cool them.
Only a few miles to go after the mountain....what relief!
A view of the beast....
Another view of the same beast....
We arrived around 6:30...and our dear friends were surprised to see us! I had told them to expect us in a couple of days....but the trip had gone more quickly than I expected...
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