Vesuvius, Virginia, to Charlottesville, Virginia -- 61 miles

We woke at 7 am and began biking at 8:15 am. We climbed the remaining very steep 2 miles to reach the Blue Ridge Parkway. The terrain on the Blue Ridge Parkway consisted of long, slow uphill climbs and long, gradual downhill coasting. Surprisingly, there was very little traffic, which made the riding more enjoyable. We stopped at several scenic overlooks to take in the views and to take photos. We met Kevin Yates from Atlanta who was biking the Northern Tier route to New York City and then continuing from Washington DC down to Atlanta. He was trying to catch up with some bikers who had a Winnebago sag wagon; he said they shared great food with him, so he wanted to continue feeding on the gravy train!

As we got off the Parkway, we stopped at a regional visitors’ center to get a Charlottesville-area map and directions to Ruckersville. Lenny’s godfather, who he hasn’t seen in more than 30 years, lives there, about 20 miles north of Charlottesville, so we were planning to take a detour and visit him. We stopped in Afton to visit June Curry, the legendary “cookie lady,” but she had gone out for groceries, so we missed her! We went off the route to take a more direct road, and spoke to Dave in the town of Crozet. Lenny told him more about straight chiropractic and about our trip.

When we began riding on US 250, we decided it was too busy with cars, so we turned back onto a smaller road. At an intersection, we met Jim and the boys, who told us which back roads to take to get into town. The roads were still busy with commuter traffic. We stopped at Vinny’s Italian Restaurant for dinner. The food was mediocre and expensive. Lenny picked up a FedEx package with more brochures, which Karen had sent to a local motel. We checked in and relaxed for the evening.