Sunday 3/4/05

Got up early and spent the morning drying everything we owned, which was a drag. We eventually got off about 11am on our way to Mineral, a place with a population of about 400 according to the map but it wasn't as rural as we expected, it had two gas stations. Anyway to get mineral we rode 49 miles(ish) through rural virginia where there were houses dotted about although where these people worked was beyond us, we were litterally in the middle of nowhere. Stopped at a store (Eds conveiniance store), the only store in about a 15 mile radius where we had a suprise, the family who ran it were actually sophisticated New Yorkers who had just moved there from the city 3 days ago and had big plans for the place including gormet food (good luck guys, you'll be needing it as the folk around those parts want only two things gas for their oversized vechiles and beer).
The days riding was really hard going, we had really strong head winds the whole day which made it feel like riding uphill, our speeds were drastically reduced. When we got to Mineral, we were absolutely cream crackered, there should have been a camp site but none of the locals knew of one except the one seven miles down the road. We got offered lodging though by two 'ladies' who were building a log cabin nearby to live in together, but for obvious reasons we decided to ride the seven miles to the camp site arriving there just before sunset. When we arrived there the office was closed and elderly couple who were heading out stopped and directed us to their neice's camper and she informed us that the place had opened just that day, phew! We cooked our canned sweet and sour chicken which we couldn't eat the night before over an open fire then hit the sack for 12 hours.