Its Hot Down Here

Coming out of the mountains, the change in climate was immediately apparent. It's so much hotter down here, which makes it harder to skate in the afternoon. For that reason, I got up at 5:15 this morning, and am now done for the day. The past two nights, I have been hosted by the Methodist Church in Jamestown, TN and the Baptist Church in Burkesville, KY. The people in both churches were incredibly welcoming and generous, and I gave a little talk to each group about what I was doing. The skating looks like it will get much easier, as the mountains are turning into very mild rolling hills, and I've heard it only gets flatter from here. The roads have been mixed in Kentucky, some with nice wide shoulders, and others with no shoulders at all. I've had to listen and watch for trucks, though I've had no real problems so far. Had some close calls with some dogs again today, and thankfully, the most threating one was just obedient enough that his owner's angry calls stopped him about 6 inches short attacking me. That's all for now.

Almost Over!

I've been in the Appalachians for long enough. I've managed to avoid the really steep climbs and descents, but I'm still ready to be done. Of course, I've been told that heat awaits me on the other side. The roads in Tennessee have remained excellent, as have the people. I had a great weekend with my second cousin Joey, and I saw a lot of stuff in Knoxville I haven't seen for a while on my day off. Monday's ride was very traffic-filled at the start, and I had to step off the road about every 5 to 10 strides, which made the day very slow going. After that, I started the uphill climb into the Appalachians which has continued until now(but I hear its downhill mostly from here). Last night, I stayed with the Jones, and I had a great time. Darryl and Mindy were more than hospitable and accomodating, and Mindy even drove me on most of the route that I took today, which allowed me to cut 15 miles! I played some playstation 2 with Dalton, who will be in 6th grade next year, and we spent a lot of time talking about his hunting and 4-wheeling interests(which both sounded really cool). I can only hope to meet more people like this along the trip. In terms of on-road events, nothing too interesting in the last two days, just a bunch of dogs who do not take kindly to me passing by their house. I may not see a computer for a while, so so long for now, thanks for reading.

Sorry for the Delay

Looks like its been about 6 days. I haven't been near a computer, and I apologize. I've decided to change the route a bit to maximize efficiency and comfort, as some of you may have deducted from the tracking website. Currently, I'm in Knoxville, Tennessee, relaxing after a gruelling 85 mile day. I say gruelling, but the 8 hours during which I was skating were actually pretty fun, much better than just sitting around. In the past 6 days, I've skated 4 days that were about 47 miles, give or take a few, a 33 miler that was rough due to 15-20 hour headwinds and a big climb, and the big one today. I've pretty much ridden between the ridges of the Appalachians on Route 11, so the past few days have been downhill. I stayed with a bunch of great people, including Scott and Elissa, who gave me the idea for this route and were extremely hospitable; Jan and Sam, who kindly put me up in a guest suite at Hollins College; Eric, who is an ultra-marathoner(he does 50 and 100 mile races), provided me with A LOT of recovery products and advice, and shot a ONE UNDER in the round of disc golf that we played at the Emory and Henry College Course(Congrats!); Wendy, who introduced me to Philip, with whom I hung out and played tennis; and my second cousin Joey, whom I will spend all day tomorrow with. I'm not sure I mentioned Bruce and Sunny MacDonald, who put me up for two days and were EXTREMELY hospitable. I've met a bunch of people along the road who have been supportive-two instances of guys in trucks giving me smiles and thumbs up. I'm figuring the best way to do this thing is to just go day by day, and taking the advice of Danny Dannels(the world record holder for inline skating accross the country), to celebrate every victory and to push through the pain. The roads have been great, my legs are pretty sore, yada yada nothing new on that front. The good thing is that they're holding up. I'm rambling...sorry for the length of this post-thank you for reading if you even get here, and I'll try to find more computers in the future so you don't have to sift through long posts like these. Also, Golden Corral is a fine dining establishment.

Feelin Pretty Good

I skated over the Blue Ridge Mountains in two days. The mountains were not too bad at the time, but my legs didn't have much kick afterwords. I took Sunday off. I stayed with the MacDonalds, who were very hospitable and with whom I had a wonderful time. My legs thanked me for the time off, but were a little stubborn to get back into the swing of things today, on which I made them travel about 47 miles. Road surfaces have remained generally good, and traffic hasn't been bad except for the tail end of today as I am nearing Roanoke. Tonight I'm staying with a very hospitable family at Hollins University, and they have a piano! I'm psyched, I'm going to go play that for a while now.

Long Day

75 MILES. I got to where I was planning to go, and felt good, so I did the next day as well. Lots of farms and the hills are rolling more and more as I near the mountains. To the old guy who told me on the first day that I would only make it to Richmond, you were clearly wrong. To Frank Glazer, who rollerblade across the country, you may still be right, but I'm feeling more confident each day that you are mistaken. The roads today were off the Adventure Cycling route, and I chose them because they were smooth. They had a lot of traffic, but it was manageable until about 5 pm, when it took me 2 hours to go 12 miles. A surprisingly large number of people go INTO Charlottesville during rush hour. My legs are tired, my lungs are tired, my mind is tired. I can't wait to go to bed.

Smooth Skating

I'm excited. The roads, with the exception of the very first one yesterday and a four mile stretch today, have been exceptional in terms of pavement. There has been some traffic, but nothing that has made me feel at risk. The temperature yesterday got up to about 101 and today was in the 90s I believe, so I've really been chugging the water. Last night I stayed at a historic bed and breakfast, which had been abandoned for the night due to a power outage. I gave a few people who showed up the tour of the grounds, and hung out with a mama-cat and her kittens. Tonight I am inside at my grandparents house, yay airconditioning. I'm already realizing that I'll have to change the planned route to roads that may be higher traffic and smoother pavement, and I'm not too worried about doing this. So far I've traveled about 90 miles, and my legs, though a bit tired have been good. I just have to remember to take it easy.

About to Start

I'm leaving tomorrow. Looks like its supposed to be about 100 degrees with a heat index of 104. Could be a pretty short day.