The morning was cool, clear and beautiful as we drove away from the Travelodge in Bristol, Tennessee to drive back to our "spot" in Bristol, Virginia. Russ was on the bike by 7:30 am, with a fabulous temperature of 67 degrees! As we headed out of Bristol on US Hwy 11 North, the road narrowed quickly to 2 lanes with no shoulder. Thankfully, since it was Saturday, the traffic was fairly light. Virginia is quite beautiful with its hills, valleys, lots of trees and grassy pastures.
After about an hour and 16 miles, we stopped in Lowe's parking lot for a break in Abingdon, VA. Abingdon was an interesting town with many old buildings that were beautiful. We saw some historical markers with dates in the 1700's...amazing! Looks like an fascinating place to take some time to check it out. This is the courthouse.
The quilt blocks on the barns always interest me!
As we traveled down the highway, many times it parallelled the freeway, we also crossed it going over and under it several times.
We took a break after another 15 miles at 10:00 in front of the Cornerstone Christian Fellowship Church in Chilhowie. Not sure how they came up with that name, maybe Howie needed to "chill"! By this time it was a comfortable 77 degrees.
One of the beautiful old houses in Chilhowie.
Tree covered mountain, glad to be going around it!
We took another break in Marion, VA at McDonald's just after 11:00 after another 15 miles. While we traveled along today, we began to wonder if the governor had declared it "yard-sale day" in Virginia. I'm sure we saw close to 100 yard sales! We didn't stop to shop, but many of them had some very nice looking things.
The day ended just outside of Wytheville at Apple House Road. We drove to our Comfort Inn motel and of course, cooled off in the pool. We spent the afternoon and evening watching the Olympics. This evening, we looked out our window and saw at least 30 horses grazing on the hill behind us.
Today was no different than other days, we saw some interesting signs. An auto repair shop had the sign, "Smiles are free". A hair salon with the name "Explosive Hair"...not sure I'd go get my hair done there!
Here are some church signs we saw:
Amen to that! He answers prayer every day!
My personal favorite for the day:
Even though most of the day was on a two lane road with a shoulder, it was non stressful and safe due to many of you removing our burdens on your knees by lifting us up in your prayers. We appreciate your encouragement and prayers more than you will ever know. One week from today we SHOULD be arriving at Cape Henry in Virginia Beach. To God be the GLORY!!! 40 days of riding...unbelievable, isn't it? I guess not, because with God ALL things are possible! Pray for Russ as he makes final decisions on the route to take from here. As we rest tonight, we look forward to a day of WORSHIP tomorrow!
Until then, blessings to you!
Russ and Carol
Hi Carol and Russ! I keep up with you every night...you are amazing!! My niece and her family live in Marion, Va! Her husband pastors a Nazarene church.
ReplyDeleteWe will be happy to have you back in East Texas. I just got home from SCJ last week. It was very sad and stressful. I'll give you a full report when you get home.
Love and prayers, Carolyn Huntsman