I started out the morning in Raleigh with a quick coffee meeting with Kelly, another former co-worker, and one of my Simon Business School buddies. She was tightly scheduled in between meetings and we didn't get a long visit, but it was still nice to catch up.
I also got a nice reward because the hostess at the restaurant complimented my suit: "this guy knows to dress for the slide, not the glide!" It was already hot at breakfast time.
Today's drive was shorter than the last few days, so I took my time and was a bit more leisurely, both with the route (a bit less interstate) and with a few extra stops. I noticed that a cosmetic panel was missing on my bike and asked the shop in Miami if they saw it sitting around... I tried to hide a phone charger switch behind it, and it didn't fit as well, so I might have just knocked it off at some point. 😖🤷♂️ I saw that there was another shop that wasn't entirely off the route between Raleigh and St. Marys, so I went there. They didn't have it (as I expected), since it's not a wear item. I was near there last year, because the town is right off the Blue Ridge Parkway.
My ride through West Virginia was gorgeous and fun. I saw some cows on some hills — which was pretty — and it reminded me that I forgot to remark on noticing cows and horses in what seemed like flooded pasture in Florida. I'm not used to seeing animals near standing water -- maybe a pond, but this didn't look like that.
Otherwise, the views were remarkable and I wished that there had been more scenic vista stopping points than just this one. Sometimes seeing so much space around the rugged terrain makes me think about how much work it must have been to engineer and build the roads through this country.
I also got a nice reward because the hostess at the restaurant complimented my suit: "this guy knows to dress for the slide, not the glide!" It was already hot at breakfast time.
Today's drive was shorter than the last few days, so I took my time and was a bit more leisurely, both with the route (a bit less interstate) and with a few extra stops. I noticed that a cosmetic panel was missing on my bike and asked the shop in Miami if they saw it sitting around... I tried to hide a phone charger switch behind it, and it didn't fit as well, so I might have just knocked it off at some point. 😖🤷♂️ I saw that there was another shop that wasn't entirely off the route between Raleigh and St. Marys, so I went there. They didn't have it (as I expected), since it's not a wear item. I was near there last year, because the town is right off the Blue Ridge Parkway.
My ride through West Virginia was gorgeous and fun. I saw some cows on some hills — which was pretty — and it reminded me that I forgot to remark on noticing cows and horses in what seemed like flooded pasture in Florida. I'm not used to seeing animals near standing water -- maybe a pond, but this didn't look like that.
Otherwise, the views were remarkable and I wished that there had been more scenic vista stopping points than just this one. Sometimes seeing so much space around the rugged terrain makes me think about how much work it must have been to engineer and build the roads through this country.
On the down-side for me, once I got into VA, the temperature started swinging and trending down, and by the time I was in WV, it was mostly in the 60s or lower. It was in the low 80s before breakfast, so I think I got a bit of a shock to the system. It was also nice to spend some time in a more comfortable temperature! I was going through a lot of water trying to stay comfortable and hydrated (keeping up the sauna suit's sweat saturation?).