Rosedale, Virginia, to Wytheville, Virginia -- 70 miles

We woke at 6 am and started biking at 7:15 am. We said goodbye to Rich and prepared for the ascent of Clinch Mountain. It turned out to be 2 miles up and 4 miles down – we were expecting a longer climb! We took the recommended shortcut on Route 11 North to bypass the hills around Damascus and cut about 25 miles off the trip (today’s route was actually 95 miles). We stopped in Chilhowie and ate our lunch on benches in front of a store. The road varied between 2- and 4-lanes, with local traffic and gently rolling hills.

We stopped at Williams Orchards to buy fruit and talked to the owners about our trip. We crossed the 4,000 mile mark today – less than 1,000 miles to get home! In Wytheville, we stayed at the Motel 6 and had dinner at Bob Evans restaurant. We considered buying a whole pie for dessert tonight and breakfast tomorrow but controlled ourselves and just had one slice each of raspberry and coconut custard pie. Around 8 pm, the wind was blowing like crazy and rain was coming down in sheets. Lorraine was glad that we didn’t camp tonight!