So uh those mountains right there? Thats what we're doing eh? Interesting

So we just arrived in Lexington, VA home of VMI. After doing a swift 20 miles this morning we decided to get out of the heat and hit the library. The past couple of days have been pretty wild, the mountains kind of snuck up on us coming out of Charlottesville, and before we knew it we were headed straight up the side of one to the Blue Ridge Parkway. It was extremely hot out but we were all so excited and anxious to get to the top that we ended up biking all day up to about 3300 feet. It was by far the hardest day that we have had thus far. But while it was hard it was also just as satisfying to load ourselves and all of our own stuff up the side of and accross the mountains. Everyone made it that was with us in good time, quite proud of ourselves. Unfortunately in Charlottesville we had to leave Colleen, Zoe, and Chuck. However, we will hopefully be seeing Colleen soon, on the other side of the mountains.

The night before the big climb we stayed at one of the most beautiful sites yet. A family (wish I could remember their last name) let us stay in their back yard on a hill overlooking the valley with mountains off in the distance. There was a calm wind all night and few bugs, for the first time, that made it my most restful and comfortable sleep.

After descending from the top of the mountains at literally warp speed; last night we stayed at Gernie's convenience store just off the route. They let us in on a swimming hole where we got held up by a gun for diving. It was pretty awesome. This morning we got out a little late but I did find out that we are only about 115 miles from Christiansburg. So we can finally stop using a camera to guide ourselves. ha

Awesome Charlottesville visitors center... a big help to us

Beautiful campsite just outside the mountains the night before scaling them
Slow and steady
Almost lost Jonathan
Much of this, very beautiful