Breaks Interstate Park

This morning found us in Damascus, waking up with the sounds of the creek a couple hundred feet from our campsite. Chris managed an early take off to prepare for a long riding day. August and I explored the creek a bit after breakfast, then packed up and headed out of the campground. It was an interesting one, because it was in a beautiful location, nestled between the creek and the Creeper Trail, but it wasn't very well kept.

The owners were friendly, going out of their way to thank me before we left, but the whole property was like grandpa's old rusty shed with stuff lying around. There was a row of quaint tiny cabins on a deck overlooking the creek, but seeing the condition of everything else at the place I wouldn't have considered renting one of them.

Before leaving the area I took a drive through Damascus since the rain the night before had cut our exploring short. This morning confirmed that it is a really neat little town. Even though tourism from hikers seems to be its only industry, it didn't appear to be struggling. The houses were all tidy, and I saw a large park and multiple trails that had lots of users, both out-of-town and local. Population 840, it can still support about a dozen restaurants, 3 bike rental/shuttle shops, and even a couple of outfitters. Trail Town, U.S.A. seems to be a happy place indeed. I wanted Auggie to try out the park, but he was asleep within minutes of leaving the campground. So, off we went towards our next destination.

I knew Chris was riding about 80 miles today, so I was surprised to see the GPS said it would take us two hours to get to our stop. The first hour was uneventful and I was starting to wonder how this could possibly take so long. Then we hit the mountains again. The road we took through most of the mountains was one of the most remote I've ever been on. For 25 miles of hairpin turns and very narrow roads, the only other vehicles we saw were a couple of coal trucks. We've hit coal territory, and it will continue through much of Kentucky. I was very glad to return to civilization eventually, with other passenger cars and places to turn around should we need to.

The last 15 miles of our route took us on Chris' route, 76. I hoped several times that the other drivers were as worried about not clobbering a bicyclist as I was knowing my husband was out there somewhere. It helped to know that he always hits the ditch when he is on a winding road and sees a car approaching in his mirror. The drive today was challenging for us, so I could only imagine how tough it was going for Chris. He had texted early on that it was going well, and I didn't have the heart to tell him about the awful steep grades waiting for him up the road.

After all of that, we made it to Breaks Interstate Park. Interstate because it lies partially in Virginia and partially in Kentucky. It features two rivers that run through the deepest gorge east of the Mississippi. Nicknamed the "Grand Canyon of the South", it is very scenic though to compare it to the Grand Canyon is a bit of a stretch. This is the hilliest park I've been to. To get from here to the camp store is the only place I'd realistically walk or bike within the park, and even that wore me out. Normally I make fun of people who go to a park and then drive everywhere in it, but today that was us. It wouldn't take long to get super fit here if you ditched your car.

There were a few glitches today - something in our A/C unit broke this morning so we're temporarily without it, the really nice pool and splash pad here happened to be closed today only for maintenance, and the ride today took a toll on Chris, who was in worse shape tonight than he's been so far. That shouldn't be surprising, as he was due for a bad day somewhere near the beginning of the trip and to make it 6 days until he hit real pain is pretty impressive. Some ice and a good dinner helped his mood and muscles. Even with the glitches though, I have no complaints. We are living the dream out here.

The night ended with a milestone - August's first s'mores! He's been a super picky eater lately so I had low expectations for how much he'd enjoy it. He liked it though and asked for another "bah" (bite) and went crazy over the couple of extra marshmallows he got. It was a success, and it was nice to hit a high note before bedtime.

Tomorrow holds a new adventure - Kentucky. I can tell we're getting close because I've seen three pickup truck beds here full of kids and babies driving around the park. Hopefully August doesn't get any ideas, because that ain't happening!