Day 62 - Pizza For The 1st Time (August 2nd, 2024)

City To City: Charlottesville - Richmond

Miles: 83

Miles Total: 4,197

Flats: 13

Video: https://youtu.be/frcGJ-8_n4I?si=hbbXG6iOrJuvJqf0

    We asked David last night which was the fastest route to Richmond without zig-zagging like the Trans am map told us.  David didn't know, so we risked it and decided instead of going around one hundred and fifteen miles, we were going to cut off about thirty miles.  But the price we had to pay was more traffic.  On the way, Mark found a hammer and picked it up.  Once we stopped, Mark, opened his bag up and put the hammer in there.  So, along a highway, we kept weaving left and right of the main highway that would take us to Richmond.  I guess my dad got tired of that so, instead of taking another side road, we ended up going along the highway.  The good thing was that once we got away from the towns, there wasn't a lot of traffic.  

    To celebrate and to get us motivated to stay moving in the hot sun, at the end of the ride with two miles to make it to our warm shower hosts, Steve and Pat, we went to an ice cream shop.  All the men got a pint of ice cream with four different flavors!  Ben Neltner, a family friend, generously paid for the ice cream, and boy were we super grateful.  On a hot day with no shade in the afternoon and an eighty-mile ride, we were hot, sweaty, and ready for something to cool us down.

    We made it to Pat and Steve's house, where they ushered us in, and ordered us to sit down while they got us cold drinks.  Pat and Steve have two dogs and were dogsitting their daughter's dog.  So, all three dogs were crowding and investigating us.  They jumped up on the couch and rolled over, so their bellies could be rubbed.  One of their dogs was blind but hardly ran into anything.  Their dog went off of sound echoing to know where objects were placed.  Occasionally the dog bumped into something, but the dog's guess wasn't far off.  We chatted, cooling off before Pat told us to go and get some appetizers.  Pat said, "Oh, it's not much of an appetizer but I think it will fill you guys up."

    Mark exclaims, "Are you kidding?! This is great!"

    Pat had set out fruit, chips, salsa, veggies,  and some other tasty foods.  To us, it was a feast!

    Then we had wonderful showers, ate pizza and salad, and insisted that we help Pat with the dirty dishes.  Later we ate dessert.  Pat and Steve also had three spare bedrooms.  So Matt and Mark shared the basement suite, my dad and Henry shared a room, and I got an entire room to myself with a queen-sized bed to sprawl out and a night without me hearing others snoring.