A day of disasters...
4 May - Charleston WV-Gallipolis OH: sunny, 60s to over 80?; 8:15/10:15-5:00, 67.4 miles
...thankfully not OUR disasters. The fire trucks and ambulances roared past us, sirens blaring, as we neared Nitro. Then we rounded the bend and saw the huge column of inky black smoke billowing from the tire storehouse, forcing officials to evacuate the town and close the school. Ten miles later, fire crews had closed a lane of traffic, and a cement truck sat in the grass just off the road, its driver-side front wheel and fender sheared off.
Though the temperatures must have hit 80 this afternoon, it was a good day. For the first fifty miles, our two biggest climbs were the bridges over the Kanawha River. We followed the Kanawha to the Ohio River, where we crossed into our fourth state. At one point I decided to see what I could hit in high gear, so I left Tim eating my dust and kept it at 21-23 mph for the three miles between towns.
Two talks - the kids at Bridgeview Elementary in South Charleston enjoyed my visit there. Typically for the younger kids, they had endless questions, some I've heard before (like, "How old are you?") and some I haven't (one girl asked, "What kind of music do you like?"). This evening I talked at the library in Gallipolis to a small but enthusiastic crowd of three. The small audience let me transform it from a lecture into a conversation.
Now I look forward to tomorrow, when I get to ride the road where both the best and the worst moments of the walk occurred -- in fact, where the walk almost came to an early end...
...thankfully not OUR disasters. The fire trucks and ambulances roared past us, sirens blaring, as we neared Nitro. Then we rounded the bend and saw the huge column of inky black smoke billowing from the tire storehouse, forcing officials to evacuate the town and close the school. Ten miles later, fire crews had closed a lane of traffic, and a cement truck sat in the grass just off the road, its driver-side front wheel and fender sheared off.
Though the temperatures must have hit 80 this afternoon, it was a good day. For the first fifty miles, our two biggest climbs were the bridges over the Kanawha River. We followed the Kanawha to the Ohio River, where we crossed into our fourth state. At one point I decided to see what I could hit in high gear, so I left Tim eating my dust and kept it at 21-23 mph for the three miles between towns.
Two talks - the kids at Bridgeview Elementary in South Charleston enjoyed my visit there. Typically for the younger kids, they had endless questions, some I've heard before (like, "How old are you?") and some I haven't (one girl asked, "What kind of music do you like?"). This evening I talked at the library in Gallipolis to a small but enthusiastic crowd of three. The small audience let me transform it from a lecture into a conversation.
Now I look forward to tomorrow, when I get to ride the road where both the best and the worst moments of the walk occurred -- in fact, where the walk almost came to an early end...
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