Day 51 – Mineral to Glendale

Tues 27th July 2010

We thoroughly enjoyed our stay at Mineral but as always we had to get away early. But we left with some fond memories and met some great people while we were there. Today our destination was Glendale, over 80 miles further on where we were invited to stay at the home of Major Tom Labrano and his wife Anita. This was arranged at the last minute but was very welcome because our expected place to stay would have been roughing it without a shower or other facilities.

It was cool when we left and to our surprise it stayed cool (compared to the last few days) all day with some cloud cover. So it was a good day to cycle and the terrain was mostly flat. We made good time and had finished our cycling day by 2:15pm.

Sun over lake

Great views today as the sun came up

The highlight of today was seeing a flock of vultures on the side of the road. As I approached then I first thought they were wild turkeys but soon realised what they were. They were feeding on a deer carcass. Not too bothered by us they simply flew up into the trees above to wait for us to go.

Vultures

What'ch wanna do? I dunno, what' you wanna do?

The area all around Glendale is very historic with many civil war battlefields. It would be a good place to spend some time exploring.

Also today we met up with the Carnet family who are also cycling across the US on a similar timescale to ourselves. It was good to ride with them for a while and have a catch up. We last saw then in Damascus where Jim had to get a broken spoke mended. Today his rear wheel was very wobbly and it turned out another spoke had broken just an hour before.

Laura and Jim

Laura and Jim exited to be near the end too

The afternoon and evening spent with Tom and Anita were very enjoyable. We ate well and stayed up late chatting about all sorts of things. So close to the end of the ride I think we felt the most relaxed we have for ages so it was lovely to spend it in such good company. During the evening Tom O’Donnell, a retired FBI Special Agent, turned up to meet us. Tom has been busy in the background networking our journey through Virginia so it was great to meet him and be able to thank him personally.

Group photo

Alan, Tom, Tom O'Donnell, Chris (Anita behind camera)

One day to go now and just 60 miles to Yorktown.

Daily Mileage – 82.54 miles

Time in Saddle -6 hrs 17 mins

Total Climbing – 2,373 ft

Comments

  1. Vultures? Well i never! You probably dont have enough meat on your bones to concern them!! ha!
    Well done

    Love you
    Tracey
    xxxx