For Deidre's Big 50th Birthday (yay!) Deb L., Deidre, and I took a trip to Greenbrier County, WV for a two-part celebration, combining both self-imposed hardship (biking 30 miles then camping in the cold) and luxury (biking 30 miles and staying in an historic inn).
We left Friday afternoon and made it to Lexington in time for dinner at the Bistro on the Main. No pics, but we had bread that tasted like pound cake, grilled salmon for Deb and I and shrimp and grits for Deidre.
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| Photo courtesy Bistro on the Main website |
Then we were off to the Hampton Inn in Covington. We were up early, eating hotel powdered eggs and Deidre's delicious applesauce breakfast bars.
Just a few bags and paraphernalia packed for the ride!
Deb drove us to the trail so I could finish my Wordle!
The Old Steady ready for another voyage.
And the gang ready to go!
The trail was flat, smooth packed gravel, dappled, and beautiful.
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| One of Deb's pics |
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| one of Deidre's pics |
Deidre riding her new beautiful bike on its inaugural tour.
The trail had bathrooms about every 10 miles, water every 25 miles, and campsites at these locations and at a few additional in between. Here's my bike parked at the bathroom. A curious spot for me to decide to take a pic. But apparently, I thought it was a good idea.
I made a much more picturesque choice for Deb's bike and her pretty blue bags!
Some of Deidre's pics:
There were more than a few trees down, requiring us to go both under and over them.
Spring harvest.
Lots of bird activity in this lone open field. I saw a few indigo buntings on the way out and another on the way back. And Deidre spotted a red-winged black bird. There were also quite a few Monarch butterflies - one of which flew into my face and blinded me when it became plastered to my sunglasses. I hoped if flew off without being injured. After that, it seemed there were butterflies everywhere.
Deb pumping water for us. It was surprisingly good!
This amazing train tunnel was DARK. I couldn't believe how the tunnel was literally only the size of the train. No extra room at all in case it got stuck, trains grew in size, or something such as a human or an animal got caught passing through when the train came!
The tunnel turned, so for the first half it was pitch black, but once you turn the corner, you could see the light from the other end.
Deb Lane waiting for us on the other side.
The view on the other side looked a bit precarious. I'm glad I didn't see how rickety that looked before I went in!
I performed a erect-the-tent-in-the-rain simulation, which proved a good learning experience. Deidre observed and rated me with red Xs, but I thought it was a mediocre job. Meaning, my tent would have been moderately wet at the end of the exercise, but perhaps that was too optimistic. I did, however, put my tent away differently in hopes things will go better next time.
We started our evening with "cheese and crackers" ala Ritz prepackaged snacks and some boxed Cabernet Sauvignon. I was still in short sleeves, so the temperature hadn't dropped significantly yet.
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| Deidre's pic |
But by the time we'd eaten our impressively delicious dehydrated pad Thai, lasagna, and chocolate cheesecake something-or-other (thanks to Deb L. for the great food selection), we had begun to really feel the cold.
Nothing left to do but hit the hay at 7:30 in the evening! We all huddled in our single tents to battle the nights unexpected chill on our own. I think it was probably in the mid-40s overnight.
We were slow to get up in the morning and face the crisp air. But eventually the sun coaxed us out of our tents where we packed up in air so cold we could see our breath. Deidre and I wore our pajama pants all the way until we got on our bikes. Brave Deb L. was in shorts all morning.
Five miles down the trail, we stopped at the first water pump and made breakfast in a rare open warm patch between the river and the trail. I boiled up pot after pot of hot water for multiple cups of coffee, insta-blueberry crisp, and dehydrated breakfast scramble (that came out more like soup). We also nearly finished off Deidre's breakfast bars that were only getting more gooey and delicious by the day. I was so wanting a cup of coffee I drank some hot water with a splash of coffee in it--like a coffee tincture.
This poor little guy thought Deidre's bag was a flower and kept stabbing at it with his little nose--I mean "proboscis" as Deb L. impressively remembered! Poor butterfly. Life can be very confusing!
A few miles before the end of the trail, I just had to get off my bike to rest my neck/back. This was fortunate because we happened to stop at a beautiful little spot of river.
The rocks slope down to the water allowing us to cleanse our feet in the cold then let them dry on the warm rocks. We lingered here - taking it all in.
Love this pick of the helmet that Deidre took!
After 62 miles of riding in 2 days, it was finally time to spoil ourselves for real. Off to Lewisburg where Deb L. had made reservations at the Historic General Lewis Inn where we stayed in Room 101.
It was a really beautiful building.
The door to our room.
Deb and Deidre at the bar, right on time at 5pm!
The bartender was quite the creative - herb-infused everything with dehydrated citrus. I got a margarita called "Wild Horses" that had a spiced and salted rim. Quite spectacular, actually. Thanks Deidre for taking a picture of it!
We had our cocktails in the garden among the after-effects of someone else's wedding, which seemed like it was beautiful. Deidre has a lily Deb pilfered from one of the bouquets. It will make an appearance soon.
The creepy doll house and the lily--pics from Deb.
Deb's shot of the garden.
Waiting for dinner in the lounge.
Dinner was amazing - trout for Deidre and I and . . . I forgot what Deb had. We also had a bottle of pinot noir from the Willamet Valley. Amazing biscuits and salad alongside. Then creme brûlée and some kind of amazing toffee cake thing with melted butter and brown sugar all over it.
So, after all that eating and drinking, it was time for a walk.
A cool old building in Lewisburg - the "coolest town in the country."
The entrance to the inn upon our return.
They had this super cool buggy
I love looking at this stuff - imagining what it would be like to live then, and travel crammed into this little box on wheels instead of on my bike!
Monday morning, we stopped at the White Oak Lavender Farm. The lavender was beautiful. And there were some cute bunnies, some alpaca, ponies, and some missing ducks.
Very cute bunny pic from Deidre.
All very quaint, but there was also a strange undertone - like Watership Down? to the place. Or maybe it was just that the "discovery area" was more for children than adults. Or maybe for adults WITH children?
We decided to embrace the childish part of the day.
Great trip in so many ways. Happy 50th Deidre!
Distance: 62 miles
