The Nicest Road Ever:

Another hot day in the high 80's but for about 20 miles we had the nicest road I every ridden on. We pulled out of Hagerstown and there is a sign says construction ahead. Oh! Great as that usually means rough road, no shoulder and congested traffic. However the pavement is brand new may be only a week. There isn't a seam or ripple in the pavement. It added 5 mph to the speed and the ride was so nice just sailing along without having bone jarring bumps, pot holes or cracks. The slight tail wind added to the pure pleasure of the moment. In fact I had thought that although we had head winds of 10 mph it wasn't hurting that much but to have the same winds as a tail wind added immensely to the enjoyment. The 85 miles down to Richmond was just a great time.

I picked Tom H up at around mile 30 and we cruised along for a bit and then stopped under the shade of a large tree to enjoy an energy bar. It was an old home site but the house was long gone, however you could see what a beautiful place it must have been. The SAG stop was just down the road at 39 miles. But what a stop it was! Lisa who lives in Indianapolis had arranged for donuts from here favorite bakery to be delivered for SAG. These were the great big bread donuts with just a ton off glazing on them. So I would like to think that I know my donuts EH! and I would like to tell you that these were definitely top drawer donuts. None of the chain store stuff. These were the real deal. Thanks Lisa! So I woofed down two donuts and was back on the bike, with 46 miles to go and the temperature winding up it was time to make some miles.

The donuts were great, the roads were wonderful, the tail winds were terrific, but the real highlight of the day was riding though Centerville. Now I am sure that a lot of you are aware that this is the town, that the movie "200 Motels" focuses on, as being a "Nice place to raise your kids up". The movie is about life on the road. It is about this musical group that is on tour and as the band travels from motel to motel they begin to loss their sanity. They are trapped going from mildewed motel to mildewed motel and getting crazier every day. It is almost exactly what we are doing. Can't remember our room numbers, trying door keys in locks from yesterdays hotel in the door, hanging laundry on fences, wondering why we can't get beer in gas stations (because it is Sunday), complaining about the motel waffles, etc etc.

I arrived in sixth today with Jim, my roomie who is now the only Jim. As we were in really early I thought I would walk over and get some beer from the gas station next to the hotel. To my surprise in this county alcohol is only sold in liquor stores. A local who was filling his pick truck up with gas informed me there was one about a mile back (always ask guys filling up pickup trucks where to get beer). As I walked up to get beer I realized there were going to be a lot of hot thirst people tonight (remember it is in the high 80') so I picked up an 18 pack. Jim and I started a lobby party and before you could bat an eye the beer was gone. So Randy got the bar tender from the restaurant where we were going to have supper to drive him up and he picked up another 2 dozen. We had a great time drinking beer and eating microwave popcorn.

Today's picture is of the water tower in Centerville. I put it in just to prove that there really is such a place and that we did really ride though it and that I am not really making this all up. It has been a long and crazy trip and maybe the part about getting crazier is true as well. It is hard to say.

Now if you are one of the lurkers who has been reading my blog and not leaving comments what you need to do is press the comments in the lower right hand corner. When the dialogue box opens type your message in the upper right and corner and hit the Anonymous button. Then you don't have to register. In any any case, Thanks for visiting my blog and thanks for all your great comments. If you have been leaving comments like my friend Ken C, who wins the award for comments a special thanks.

Head out on the highway!

Terry