Day 19: Thursday, April 28, 2011

49 miles to Honaker, VA (including a 9 mile detour to bicycle around tornado damage)
Our stay in Calleb’s Cove last night was very fortunate since we were protected from the brunt of the devastating storms that came through the area.  Glade Spring, about 5-10 miles from where we stayed suffered significant damage and 4 people were killed.   The damage was incredible and we passed one ridge where all the trees had been stripped from the area.  Fortunately, there was no damage to any of the houses we passed.  We had to reroute because one road was closed with downed trees and power lines.    We bicycled over Clinch Mountain and once we reached the other side, the weather was beautiful and the lay of the land quite different.  I clocked 41.7 mph going down the mountain today.

Bob had a better day although he had to spend nearly the entire day driving.  Route 81 was backed up because of the storm and his ride to pick us up was very long, even though we were only 38 miles from Breaks Interstate Park.  Said 38 miles takes about 1 ½ hours to drive due to the steepness and curvature of the road; a great preview of our next ride.  We will be biking into the campground and Bob won’t have to come pick us up or move the trailer which will make life much easier for him.  We move into Kentucky next and have to find some decent sites to camp.

Tornado damage in Washington County, VA

1 comment:

  1. Wow! I didn't realize how close you guys were to the storms until now. I'm glad it didn't alter your course too much. Kelli posted me on facebook concerned about your proximity to the storms. I'll let her know you guys are OK. Love Ya.

    ReplyDelete