Day 6 - Love, Virginia to Lexington, Virginia

Tuesday April 26, 2016, 36.5 miles(58.7 km)

My day started on the Blue Ridge Parkway with a few more ups and downs.  It really has not greened up with spring up on the mountains yet. The climbs were not so bad today and in one case I could see what it would be like long before I got to it.  

Interesting Folklore

View Over The Cliff

Route Preview - Line Across Mountain Is Parkway

Again I saw many wildflowers along the way.  For those that are wondering why I take so many photos of wildflowers it is because they are quite visible to me sitting only a foot off the ground and as slow as I move up hill I get plenty of opportunity to see them :-).  There is a disadvantage of sitting so low to the ground and that is road kill, I get a real nose full of that. (no photos of that though)

Wildflowers

Wildflowers

After 27 mile on the Blue Ridge Parkway my route left the Parkway and descended to the town of Vesuvius, Virginia.  The 3 mile or so descent was very step and winding.  When they post signs saying all vehicles use lower gear you know it is steep, only problem is I don't have a lower gear on my trike that would slow me down.  I stopped three times on the descent to let my brakes cool down.  I have metal disc brakes that don't wear down much, not sure how bikes with pad brakes get down with brakes intact.  

Soon after leaving the small town of Vesuvius my route followed a small river and was quite.level.  It was nice to finally pedal and keep a nice even speed.

Stream Along Route

Along the river I came to my first waterfall of the trip, with a smaller stream flowing into the stream I was following.

First Waterfall

After leaving the stream I had a few hills to go over and then came to the city of Lexington, Virginia, the home of the Virginia Military Institute and Washington and Lee University.  The two college campuses are adjoining.  On the campus of  Washington and Lee is Lee Chapel where Robert E. Lee is entombed. 

Virginia Military Institute

Washington and Lee University

Lee Chapel

Robert E. Lee Tomb

After leaving the two colleges I sought out a grocery store to stock up a little.  I picked up several items and I think I ate about half of them in the parking lot, I guess I was hungry.  After studying the maps I decided to find a hotel on the west side of Lexington as there were not other options further along my route that were within the distance I wanted to cycle with the remaining time in the day.  It ended up being a good decision as it rained quite hard overnight.