Despite the pathetic room that I was in last night, I slept soundly. Apparently, my body did not care that the sheets had never been bleached or that the waste basket was an old five gallon paint can.

The agreement that I had with my cousin, Mike, was that we would agree to a route to Charlottesville, then he would leave around 10:45 AM to meet me enroute. He would be towing a trailer for the bicycle.

Once finished with devotions, I checked email, and discovered that Mike had a new route for us. Since I was not going to be riding the whole distance to Charlottesville, I took my time getting ready and having breakfast.

To me, the difficult part of today's ride would be getting out of Fredericksburg. Most of what I have seen in Virginia towns were roads that were unsafe for bicycling, and I hoped that this route would be different. It wasn't.

The trouble started when I reached a four lane highway, with tons of medium speed traffic, no shoulders and no sidewalks. There is nothing to do but enter traffic and make all the cars go around me, at least until things changed. The change happened when a third lane for "right turn only" occurred. From that time on, I rode in a continual right turn lane. I would not want to ride a bicycle on that road again. It was far too dangerous.

Finally, the route took me off the busy highway, and onto much quieter roads. It took me through the beautiful Virginia countryside. Occasionally, Mike and I would exchange texts as to our relative locations.

Virginia is full of historical events, and today I took time to read some of the interpretive signs. In particular, I rode through the Spotsylvania battlefield area. Apparently, Grant had Lee in retreat to Richmond, and was trying to push him away from Spotsylvania for purposes that would be advantageous to the North. The southerners, seeing what Grant was trying to do, put up a tough defense in retreat, and were able to take the most direct route to Richmond. It felt funny to look across the road and see the tavern that troops slept in. Soldiers battled along the road I traveled. I tried to imagine the chaos, the smoke, the shouts.

Finally Mike texted me to let me know that he had entered the same road that I had just turned onto. Before long we were on our way, by car, to Charlottesville. It had rained for 30 minutes, or more, before we met, but not a hard rain. My rain gear and shirt were soaked, but my resourceful cousin had brought along a set of dry clothing. 

Before leaving Everett, I remember talking with some men about this upcoming trip. One memory from 2008 was how my mental acuity diminished the last few weeks of the trip. Today was testimony to the fact that it was happening again. I was following the route instructions, which said to turn right at the light. I turned left, exactly the same mistake (but different location) I did eight years ago. Fortunately, the mental acuity does return (although I am sure there are people who aren't convinced). Once at Mike and Kathy's house, I had a load of laundry. The bicycling clothing, of course was dirty and smelly. The rest smelled like cigarette smoke from the room last night. Tomorrow will be devoted to time with Mike and Kathy, then Wednesday the end is in sight. After riding for five days, I will be in Raleigh. Thank you, Lord.