Darkest Before Dawn

Yesterday, the 4th, was what can only be described as awful. Though I awoke in good spirits, I awoke to a punishing 4.5 mile climb with a taxing grade. I felt strong all the way up, but the top of the climb was where I joined the Blue Ridge Parkway, a beautiful, but difficult stretch of road. You might climb for an hour only to roll down the other side and begin your next climb a few minutes later. This went on for hours. I entered the parkway around 9:30 and didn't exit until 4:45.

Reasons the day was terrible:
- Taxing terrain resulted in only 35 miles completed on the 4th.
- No access to Gatorade on the parkway.
- My map was stolen from a park bench and I am now in the dark as to the exact route and locations of campsites/groceries/etc.
- Burnt-up brakes as a result of a treacherous 3-mile descent
- Forced to walk the bike downhill while the brakes cooled
- Discovered that one of my sandals managed to fall off the bike and was lost forever
- Developed blisters as a result of walking the bike barefoot
- Dropped the bike upon development of said blisters, slightly bent handle bars
- Bent fender
- General store in town (Vesuvius, Va.) closed for the holiday
- It was starting to rain just about the time I realized I had nowhere else to go and nowhere to re-supply.

I looked up at the sky and said "God, could this day get any worse? I mean, is my situation going to improve?" I was really disheartened, thinking something along the lines of "Nothing about today has been remotely fun."

Not 15 minutes later, a minivan passed by and turned around. Even before issuing a greeting, the driver called out "Do you need a place to stay?" My situation seemed to change about every 15 minutes from there on out. 15 minutes later, I was showering at the home of Rev. Dan and Lynn Stanley in Vesuvius, Va.

And in approximate 15 minute increments from there on out, I was:
- Riding in a car to a Wal-Mart in Lexington, Va. to get new sandals.
- Eating dinner with Dan and Lynn at a delicious Italian restaurant
- Walking around the beautiful Washington and Lee/VMI campuses
- Sitting in a lawnchair on the VMI parade gound
- Watching the VMI fireworks display
- Eating milk and cookies while shooting the breeze with Dan & Lynn and their daughter, Laura, back in Vesuvius
- Talking late into the night with Dan about politics, theology, life-in-general
- Taking my fresh laundry out of the dryer
- Dozing in a comfy bed
- Waking up hours later to a breakfast of home-made waffles
- Mailing unnecessary items home
- Riding toward Lexington with a nice fellow named Doug who is Oregon-bound.
- Eating with Doug at the same Italian restaurant and shooting the breeze

Yep, it's been awesome!