Monday, August 7, 2000

Today was a rest day??? We got out of bed about 8:00 AM instead of the usual 6:15 AM. We ate a leisurely breakfast and then decided to ride our bicycle 10 miles to Haysi, VA. We packed everything on the bicycle and were just getting ready to start when the rain gods let loose. It started as a sprinkle and we quickly put the bicycle back into the motel room. When we looked back outside, the rain was coming down hard. After 20 or 30 minutes the rain stopped and we got the bicycle out of the motel room. We were just starting and the rain began again. We put the bicycle under a large covered porch and waited for another 30 minutes for the rain to cease. Finally the rain stopped again and we began our rest day ride.

Our 10-mile ride was very difficult. In the first 26 minutes, we rode 2 miles and climbed 550 feet. Before the day was finished we would ride the bicycle for 2 hours, travel 13 miles and climb more than 1900 feet. We climbed up 4 hills and came down 3 hills. On two of the climbs, the road was so steep that we had to walk part of the way up.

Just after we started down after the first climb we came to the entrance to the Breaks Interstate Park. We did not want to climb any extra hills on our rest day so we asked the gate attendant if the road was level. She assured us the road was fairly level so we paid $1.00 and entered the park. We rode our bicycle around a curve and the road went straight up. We ended up in the lowest granny gear and still could not make the climb. We were next to a viewpoint so we stopped, parked the bicycle and went to see the view.

The view was quite spectacular. After taking some pictures, we continued on, walking the bicycle until we got to the top of the steep area and could ride. We ate lunch at the restaurant and then went to the visitor center. We took some more pictures of the displays at the visitor center and then headed back down the hill.

We left the park and stopped at another viewpoint. I took some more pictures and we headed for the motel in Haysi.

In Haysi we asked where the motel was located and were told that it was at the very top of the hill on highway 63. We did not want to climb another hill but if we were going to have a place to sleep we would need to go to that motel or go back to the one we left in the morning. We did not even need to go up highway 63 because our route out of Haysi was on highway 80. The very good news is that tomorrow, we will be starting the day going down a hill instead of going up a hill.