Day 10

I left Stanardsville the easy way, by car. My friends hauled me and my bicycle up the hill to Swift Run Gap. Here they are with my bike near the Skyline Drive Swift Run entrance. I was so lazy I didn't even ride the last 30 miles of the Skyline Drive. Instead I headed downhill on 33 to Elkton. That is quite a downhill! In Elkton I headed south on 340. It was good to be back on the flatlands, but now I had a headwind. I still managed to maintain a much better average than I could on the Skyline Drive.

I rode south on 340 through Waynesboro, where I stopped for lunch, and on till 340 ends where it runs into 11. I stopped at a convenience store at that intersection for a snack. The afternoon had grown stormy and I had been watching thunderstorms move near me since Stuarts Draft. When I got to Greenville , a few miles south of where 340 joins 11, I had to take refuge in a shopping center as an intense storm dumped heavy rain on the area. After that storm has passed I rode on south on 11. 11 was good riding and it got better as I rode through Steeles Tavern and headed towards Lexington. Near Steeles Tavern I saw my first Bike-76 sign. After Steeles Tavern 11 is mostly down hill to Lexington. It is also quite pretty. This part of 11 is a four lane divided highway with light traffic. Here is a shot of flowers looking north alongside the southbound lane of 11.

I stopped again for a snack at a service station at the cross roads in Fairfield. While I was there I visited with a guy who was going to school in journalism and wanted to be writer. Then I rode on to Lexington for supper. As you enter Lexington on 11, the road splits into a bypass and the road through town. There is an Italian restaurant just beyond that fork that had a Monday night all you can eat special. Just what I needed after a long days ride. While I was eating there I visited with a couple that had recently moved to Lexington. They were recreational bicyclists and she had lived in Asheville. After supper I rode on up some good sized hills (Lexington seems to be a low altitude point on 11) and past Fancy Hill Estate to a motel the couple told me about. The Fancy Hill Motel is a small motel and restaurant located about ten miles south of Lexington on 11 just after it crosses under I-81. It had been a long day of riding, but a great day.

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