My New Buddy, Grimace

I don't know if you've noticed or not, but I lost the alligator I picked up in the swamp some time back (see ya later, alligator).  Always keeping my eyes open for another rider to "rescue" I found this little guy on the side of the road just before we got into Troutdale.  :)  Now, I know he's just a teenie beanie from McD's but for some reason when you find one lying on the side of a beautiful road, it's different than getting one out of a Happy Meal.  I think he's the cutest:

And when we're not on the road, he has a second job:

Makes me giggle just looking at him.

Larry and Lu

We had a surprise visit today from my parents' dear friends Larry and Lu!  They drove 75 miles to come have lunch with us and we really enjoyed their company.  It was so nice to meet them after hearing such wonderful things about them over the years.  We went to Quincey's, a local favorite, and all agreed it was quite good!

Larry doesn't look too happy in this picture.  The rest of us do, though.  :)

He looks happy here!

Lu's legs were a little too short for my trike.

Simon actually let Larry hold him!

They were both eating cake when Ken took this picture.  

But I wasn't.  *wink*

Laurel Valley Community Church

At the bottom of a really fun downhill near Konnarock, we came across this church.  Ken tried the door and found it open.  Inside we read an article about the history of this church, including how it had been vandalized and burned.  The local artisans got together and rebuilt the church and their work was clearly a labor of love...
The church doesn't have a congregation at this time, but keeps it doors open to anyone who wishes to stop and spend a little time there.

A little building out back.  I wonder what's in it??

Snicker.

Bells!!!  :)  Smoochy smooch smooch smooch!

Troutdale VA

In Troutdale we stayed at the Hostel behind the Baptist Church, sharing the house with some VERY interesting AT hikers named Mike and Gary.  Mike is blind and is hiking the entire trail in an effort to show the world how capable a person with visual impairments can be.  His friend Gary is filming the entire event, including people they meet along the way (like us!).  I was already in awe of the AT hikers, but after putting on one of their heavy packs and walking around some, and trying to imagine doing that BLIND...  wow..  hats off.  I am in total awe...

Me, Ken, Mike, and Gary.

Genuine happiness on that face.

Mike says if the film makes life easier for one person, all this will be worth it.  They had hiked over 500 miles starting in Georgia when we met them.  They are from Minnesota.  We can't wait to see their film and we admire very much what they are doing.

This is the Pastor - named Ken.  We sure appreciate his hostel!

Rural Retreat

Heritage Hall, the hostel where we stayed.  Thanks Granny!

Ken leaning on Dr Pepper's grave.  We didn't know that he and his wife and sons were buried here until we got to the Hostel and read about it there.

After our short stay, we got back on the road and headed towards Troutdale.

Random Stuff

These are some shots of things I've taken in the last few days...  Hope ya like em!   :)

Upstairs near the Heritage Hall Bike Hostel in Rurual Retreat, VA.
(Quite possibly my favorite pic so far)

Simon meets his first cow.  You had to be there..  it was so funny!

A Virginia hill country farm.

Horses trying to figure out what we are.  Right after this shot, they all started running.  That's got to be one of my favorite things to see out here.  I love it when they run with us.

For my Dad.  :-D

If you zoom in on this you can see that this place is called, "Mom's Curiosity Shop," and you can also see that it is closed.  Two days after we've passed it and I am still curious about what was in there.

Taken by some nice people who wanted to take our picture.  I regret not taking a picture of them taking a picture of us.  I did take a picture of Jim though:

Jim has ridden a bent trike before and seeing us on ours makes him want one even more.  We gave him all the info for TerraTrike and sent him to Wayne Oom and Jeff Yonker.  We hope to see you out riding soon Jim!

Big coastal mailbox in the mountains.  Someone miss the beach perhaps? 

When you're really hungry, these flowers look a lot like fried eggs.  Yes, they do.

This is a centimeter long worm crawling on the computer case.  See the pollen on him? 

My boys sleeping.  (deep happy sigh...)  I love them so much.

Waiting for Parts and the Lake

Due to a faulty Shimano gear shifter I had to get a new one so TerraTrike shipped one to Radford Bike and Paddle and while we waited for the part to come we checked out this hilly little college town.  
This is what we looked like waiting for the Shimano shifter to come from TerraTrike:

We walked through a tunnel that led to a path through the park.

We followed the sign to the Flutterby Garden.

And we looked out over The New River.

I waited some more, this time on a bench near the water.

Simon tiptoed through some tulips...

We discovered some urban art near the college.  Peace is still cool.

This is Johnny, Denise, McKayla, and Jude.  They are the owners of Radford Bike and Paddle and they were so kind as to let us pitch our tent in their yard while we waited for the part to come.  The new shifter got there in NO TIME (thanks TT!) and we were back on the road the next day around noon.

Johnny and Stacey at the bike shop.  Stacey worked on the trikes and did a GREAT job!

Johnny rides a TerraTrike!

My new shifter - hooray!

We got back on the road and were less than a mile from the bike shop when Ken got a flat.  There was a BIG nail in his back tire.  Ken got right to work and fixed it in no time FLAT.  :)

We rode to Claytor Lake State Park and there I met a camp host named Linda. Sometimes you just click with someone and that was certainly the case with Linda and I!  I value the conversations we had very much and I wish we'd had more time to share more stories.  She is a true hero and I look forward to getting to know her more via emails, and who knows, maybe one day we will run into each other again.  Hi Linda!

Linda and Bill.  HUGS to you both!

A broken HOME.  Sigh.