He Said, She Said: Day 4-Over the Mountain

She said: Left Afton about 9 am and wasn't sure where I would catch up to Paul. He had a big day ahead-climbing 2000 feet in about 12 miles-he wouldn't be going at his regular pace. The Blue Ridge Parkway was beautiful. About 9:45 I caught up to him on the other side of the mountain-30 miles into his ride. We met up in Lexington about 11:15 the first time-but I'll let he said tell you about that. Spotted a biker loaded with panniers and found out he was eastbound trying to make Afton for the night. Good luck Carl-hope you made it. Got a hotel room for the night (living in luxury) and took a drive to the Natural Bridge (see pics below). It was nice to do a little site seeing. Another great day on the road.

He said: Got over the hill today-thought it would be worse than it was. Beautiful ride. A three mile downhill to Vesuvius-glad I wasn't going up that one. Much of the ride after that followed a river and it was pretty flat. It looked like there was wind damage from some of the thunderstorms we've had the last few nights. We've been really lucky with the weather, any storms we've had have been at night. Heading into Lexington, I got to go up the same hill 3 times. I came to an intersection, went to check my map, and it wasn't there. I had to back track-found it, turned around climbed the same hills over again, lost it, turned around, found it, put it in my backpack instead of my pocket, and was all set. Finished early and spent a pleasant afternoon site seeing and touring Natural Bridge. 58 miles.