Greg & Camille Go Bike

We decided not to move until the evening and spent the day in Fredricksburg. We spent the morning at the B&B, Camille working and Greg on the computer. Breakfast and lunch were both a combination of leftover curry from the night before and eating giant containers of blueberries and greek yogurt.

Near lunch with checkout looming, we quickly packed up and moved a few blocks to the library. Camille settled in to work there. Greg joined her part of the afternoon and wandered the area a bit as well. Nearby, Eileen's bakery provided both lunch and some tasty treats. He also walked to the local bike shop for some spare parts (master links) and to a nearby ATM to get cash for the ferry. There were a few campground options for the day and we called to book at Leedstown Campground, right on the banks of the Rappahannock River and the Rappahanock National Wildlife Refuge.

After Camille wrapped up the work day, we set out for the campground racing (?) sundown. Today's ride was awful. ACA had us on route 3 while Google had wanted us to take longer side routes. We should have listened to Google. Route 3 started out with an accetably wide shoulder but pretty quickly the shoulder became extremely narrow often barely wide enough to contain our bike & panniers. Meanwhile there were multiple lanes of rush hour traffic wizzing by. We've ridden on on worse roads (East Coast Greenway/US-17 in South Carolina comes to mind), but this was certainly the least enjoyable experience in a while for either of us. Maybe it wouldn't have been quite as bad if not for the rush hour traffic. Oh and at one point a truck appeared to coal roll us (although from the left lane) dumping a large amount of black exhaust only as they passed by the two of us.

At one point along this stretch, we took a metal health break stopping at a farm stand. We picked up some carrots, tomatoes and zucchini. The owner/attendant for the farm stand seemed impressed by our biking and was insistent that "she couldn't do it". She was very friendly and wished us safe travels.

We celebrated finally turning off US 3 with a pee break on the side of the road by a housing development. We were on a lower traffic road now and with wind and a fair amount of hills, but at least this stretch featured some nice views. We especially enjoyed the wildflowers and cattle. Some drivers still seemed to want to antagonize us though with at least one driver featuring a baby on board bumper sticker making the closest pass of the day. Such a consistent commitment to safety...

After passing Port Royal, the road calmed down considerably and we enjoyed a nice relaxing ride through wooded backroads and sparse residences. Shortly before 7:30 we arrived at the campground, greeted by the owner Lori. We appeared to be the only campers present (although there were a fair number of abandoned RVs) and she gave us our pick of campsites. We chose a waterside outcrop and quickly ate dinner and setup the tent. It quickly became pretty chilly so we turned in early and tried to get warm.