Day 14 of 738 June 2010

Day 14: Gimme a Breaks

Day 14: Gimme a Breaks
View route map — see where this day sits on the trail
Route overview

73 days, one line across the country

67 riding days · 6 rest days · 4,227 miles · Yorktown, Virginia → the Oregon coast

Start — Yorktown (Atlantic start), VADay 1 — Chickahominy Riverfront Park, VADay 2 — Ashland, VADay 3 — Ashland, VADay 4 — Mineral, VADay 5 — Charlottesville, VADay 6 — Afton, VADay 7 — Lexington, VADay 8 — Lexington, VA — rest dayDay 9 — Daleville, VADay 10 — Radford, VADay 11 — Rural Retreat, VADay 12 — Damascus, VADay 13 — Rosedale, VADay 14 — Breaks Interstate Park, VA (you are here)Day 15 — Hindman, KYDay 16 — Hindman, KY — rest dayDay 17 — Booneville, KYDay 18 — Berea, KYDay 19 — Bardstown area, KYDay 20 — Hodgenville, KYDay 21 — Rough River Dam State Park, KYDay 22 — Sebree, KYDay 23 — Cave-In-Rock, ILDay 24 — Eddyville, KYDay 25 — Carbondale, ILDay 26 — Carbondale, IL — rest dayDay 27 — Chester, ILDay 28 — Pilot Knob, MODay 29 — Eminence, MODay 30 — Houston, MODay 31 — Fair Grove, MODay 32 — Golden City, MODay 33 — Chanute, KSDay 34 — Eureka, KSDay 35 — Newton, KSDay 36 — Larned, KSDay 37 — Ness City, KSDay 38 — Scott City, KSDay 39 — Sheridan Lake, CODay 40 — Haswell, CODay 41 — Pueblo, CODay 42 — Pueblo, CO — rest dayDay 43 — Cañon City, CODay 44 — Fairplay, CODay 45 — Silverthorne, CODay 46 — Hot Sulphur Springs, CODay 47 — Walden, CODay 48 — Saratoga, WYDay 49 — Rawlins, WYDay 50 — Jeffrey City, WYDay 51 — Lander, WYDay 52 — Lander, WY — rest dayDay 53 — Dubois, WYDay 54 — Colter Bay, Grand Teton NP, WYDay 55 — Grant Village, Yellowstone NP, WYDay 56 — West Yellowstone, MTDay 57 — Ennis, MTDay 58 — Twin Bridges, MTDay 59 — Jackson, MTDay 60 — Darby, MTDay 61 — Missoula, MTDay 62 — Missoula, MT — rest dayDay 63 — Powell, IDDay 64 — Kooskia, IDDay 65 — Riggins, IDDay 66 — Cambridge, IDDay 67 — Richland, ORDay 68 — Baker City, ORDay 69 — Mount Vernon, ORDay 70 — Mitchell, ORDay 71 — Redmond, ORDay 72 — Eugene, ORDay 73 — Florence (Pacific Ocean), ORYachats, ORLincoln City, ORPortland, OR

Every dot is a real day on the trail, placed from the towns named in that day's post — click one to jump straight to it. Hollow-ringed dots are rest days along the way. The lighter branch up the coast is the post-ride detour to Portland. A few days without a clearly named stop are interpolated between the nearest confirmed ones. The highlighted dot is where you are right now.

OriginalStorytelling

46.18 miles (Total: 582.35) Average Speed: 10.3mph Max Speed: 38mph

We left Rosedale hungry in search of a place to eat. We stopped at the first town to find breakfast but had to settle for some old egg and bacon biscuits (biscuits are like scone things here and I’ve never really taken to them).

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The morning is foggy and with with people going to work and school buses flying past it makes tackling Big A mountain even more of a challenge. Our destination for the night was Breaks Interstate Park and Cooper has a small stove so we had decided to cook supper, tacos were on the menu.

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Really? I spell it Happiness.

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After picking up some food for later we then reached Haysi and stopped at a pizza buffet before hitting the Haysi library. I spent a few minutes checking emails but couldn’t update my blog as they were typed up on my netbook and Haysi had no wifi. By this point the roads had started to become heavy with coal trucks. We knew this would be a problem in Kentucky as the industry is huge in the area. They are huge monoliths with dark souless windscreens.

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What would the people at Rural Retreat have to say about this blatant rip off!

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Everything One Dollar…Or More!

We sweat our way through yet more short climbs before reaching Breaks. The woman on the entrance waves us through without charging and points us in the directions of the campground. We stop in at the camp office to register a spot and the guys are super friendly with deep country accent and talk us through the best sites then even give us a golf cart to drive around and check them out before picking one. Once camp is set up we get a fire going and cook up the grub, the taco shells in the kit we bought were horrific so we went to the camp store to pick up something else.

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Just as the evening was coming to a calm end thunder rolls in, soon followed by the rain, then lightening. Its only about 8pm but we scramble into our tents as the storm raged on and on. I dropped in and out of sleeping as each flash of lightening would crash close by and I battle to make sure my tent wasn’t letting the water pool on top. This is going to be an interesting night!

SDC10742

Oh dear

2 comments from 2010

Ben8 June 2010

I wouldn't mind a 12 pack of Rocky Top Dr. Topper! Hope you and Coops are getting on well

Jack Stod8 June 2010

good stuff