A much better day...

Our first priority for today was for Chris to see what he could do about replacing his glasses. Looking in the Yellow Pages we found a place that makes spectacles that was only a few hundred yards down the road.

The people there were able to get the prescription from Chris's tinted glasses. "Yes", they said "they could make me some glasses by tomorrow". "What time tomorrow?" I asked. "Late afternoon". I explained how we were travelling around and asked could they be done sooner? They went back to check their stock of lenses and found they had the lenses in stock (Fortunately my lenses are only single correction rather than multifocals) "So, when can you have them ready?" "Oh, in about 15 minutes". How good was that! It took me longer to choose the frames.

Our start this morning was a bit later than usual, but we didn't care because a major problem had been solved.

Rather than retrace our steps down Skyline Drive, we took off down VirginiA 522. to the east. It was still incredibly hazy as we rode past farms and houses and churches.

We don't mention the churches much, but they are everywhere. No matter how poor the area and neglected the houses, the churches are always freshly painted and immaculate. Some are fairly modest like the one above, but most are large and dominate the lanscape.

At Sperryville we switched onto VA 231 and then Highway 20 through Barbersville, Charlottesville and on to Scottsville. Here we stopped for lunch. We threw our jackets across the bike and walked off to the nearby diner. As we did so, it started to rain. By the time we reached the store it started bucketing down. We were resigned to our jackets getting wet. The locals were all smiles, as it's been a while since they had rain

The rain stopped before we left the diner. As we stepped out it was as if we were in Bali - hot and steamy.
Checking the bike's computer showed it was still 92 F (down from 94 when we arrived). So much for cooling rain!.

The neat thing though was that as we rode, our jackets dried out, cooling us as they did so.

Our scenic route continued on winding back roads to Schuyler and Shipman.

Our aim was to pick up on VA 56, a road that winds up into the mountains. This is one of those "magic" roads that motorcyclists dream about. Several signs leading up to the road proclaimed "THRU TRUCKS PROHIBITED" - always an encouraging sign. Notwithstanding this, we saw several big trucks coming down - which 'kinda' spoilt the magic a little.

At the bottom of the climb we stopped for a break. Wanda took the opportunity to wade in a cool, clear, mountain stream to soak he shoes and socks and cool her feet for the rest of the journey.

The road wound and twisted up into the mountains to Montebello where we stopped for drinks.

A few miles further up 56 we reached the Blue Ridge Parkway and turned south. The extra altitude made the ride comfortably cool.

It was an enjoyable 20 mile sprint to the Buena Vista exit, where we descended 1500 feet in 4 miles to the town of the same name.


A further 6 miles on was Lexington, our destination for the next two nights. We found a motel that was very negotiable on price: first a discount for AAA (American Automobile Association) membership which we have through the NRMA (National Roads and Motorist's Association) in New South Wales. Then when we said the price was still a bit above our budget we were offered a further discount. We were actually pretty tired and were ready to accept almost anything - but must have managed to conceal it.

We found a nearby supermarket and bought dinner. It was  a long but much happier day than yesterday.