Day 2: Jamestown to Glendale (40 miles, 65 total)

Today has been a fantastic day. It amounted to a bit of a shorter ride than planned, but that was not without good reason.

We woke up in Jamestown (after a noisy night of scouts and cars zurning down the dirt road near our tent) at about 6:30. We broke camp and were all loaded up to roll by 7:45. We should get a bit faster at packing up as the weeks pass. Anyway, after a breakfast of PB sandwiches we were ready to roll. We ended up having to wait until the campsite office opened up again to refill our waterbottles. After a short wait, it was down the John Tyler Memorial Highway (Highway 5) where we passed several old and beautiful plantations.

Many of the plantation homes are open for tours, but most were closed today (Sunday) or for the season. We did pull into the Sherwood Forest Plantation for a water break. This plantation is famous for being the home of our former president, John Tyler. Since the place looked closed, we just rolled right up to the front gate and parked. From there we had a view of the house down the tree lined walkway.

We were just about to leave when a man rolled up in his car. His first words, "You guys look awesome!" After speaking to him for a few minutes, we learned that this man was Mr. Harrison Tyler, the owner of the plantation home and direct decendent of President John Tyler! He was very friendly and was sure to tell us several times to be safe. He was very proud to tell us that the Tyler family is the only presidential family to still take up residence in a home where the president once lived. "Not even the Kennedys," he said.

Next, we planned to go to Charles City for some food that didn't have peanut butter on it. The only problem was that Mr. Tyler told us that there hasn't been a city there since 1621. The place was still on the map, but it turned out to be nothing more than a gas station. I think Mr. Tyler was trying to tell us that pre-1621 Charles City had a lot more to offer than it does today. We continued on in search of food, chomping on sports bars along the way.

Later down the road we stumbled upon a tortise crossing the road. He was making good progress until we startled him and he stopped in his tracks right where a car's wheel would pass. We figured we had to help him now. Either that or he'd end up like the big dead snake we saw earlier. Besides, if a car drove by right then we would probably be wearing him!

We snatched him up and he went for cover in his shell. We sent him on his way, but after the move he wasn't so eager to pop his orange and black spotted head out of his shell again.

We did have one unpleastant driver honk at us today. It was sort of random and very uncalled for. We have been working hard to ride single file on the shoulder (not that there was much of one today), but I guess this driver didn't think we were far enough over. I'll never understand why some people feel a need to honk at cyclists. Despite that, every other driver has been very courteous. We also got the encouraging "beep-beep" type of horn, so that was nice.

Today's route took us passed Malvern Hill, a site of a large Civil War battle. We stopped in for a few photos with the cannons and rolled on to Glendale.

We have read that the Willis United Methodist Church in Glendale takes in cyclists for free, but a small donation is appreciated. It was a bit early to end the day (about 1PM) but the next available stop is 25 miles down the road at Mechanicsville. Mechnaicsville is a large suburb of Richmond, so there is no camping there. Since we are not yet ready to pay for another hotel, and we heard a storm was about to roll in, we decided to stop at the church and investigate.

We were welcomed by several friendly parishioners, the Pastor Joel, and his wife Kristen. They all were just finishing their big Homecoming celebration and invited us in to help eat some of the food that remained. After what has seemed like too much PB and the disappointment of Charles City, there was no way we could turn down this spread of fried chicken, rice, bread, pasta salad, potato salad, bean salad, deviled eggs, lemonade, cakes, pies, banana pudding... It was fantastic! We ate like royalty and chatted with the friendly people. They all told us that we certainly came on the right day!

After eating to the point of popping, they insisted that we take leftovers to enjoy tonight and tomorrow. The Pastor and his wife showed us this building behind the church that we could call home for the night. A.K. thinks Joel looks like a friend of ours from San Diego, Michael Hubbard, so that makes it feel even more like home. I think the building is used for Sunday school, but it is a very comfortable place to stay when the clouds darken.

We both decided that after that huge meal, and with the oncoming storm, we couldn't resisit the chance to stay the night with a roof over our heads. We moved our stuff in and got comfortable.

After a bit of rest, we biked down to the small grocery store in Glendale (one mile down the road) and bought a few things. It was small, but it was nice to see a store that is not boarded up.

We got back from the store just before the skies opened up and dumped. Since then we have been relaxing and listening to the thunder.

Anne Katherine spotted a tick in her stuff that she luckily noticed before it latched on for good. She must have picked it up at the campsite and carried it all the way here. That is my second tick encounter in two weeks... Lori, how is yours?

Ok, I am off to relax and clean up a bit. Sorry for the lengthy post, but a lot happened today! Be sure to leave us a comment below!
Oh, and the church website is www.willischurch.org - check it out!
Jeff

------------------------------
Sent via PocketMail
Email Anywhere
www.pocketmail.com