Day 154-157: Arlington, Fredericksburg, Charles City, Suffolk

Day 154: Baltimore to Arlington, VA, 53 miles

Day 155: Arlington to Fredericksburg, 88 miles

Day 156: Fredericksburg to Charles City, 95 miles

Day 157: Charles City to Suffolk, 72 miles

Day 154: 8/13/14

Beautiful day after the day from hell yesterday! Had a slow and easy morning. Walked down to Light Street Cafe for some coffee and monster burritos with G and then got on the bike by 10:00 a.m. Had a scenic ride out of Baltimore and then down through the Anacostia Tributary Trail System into downtown Washington D.C. Believe it or not navigating my way into the city wasn't that bad and I went right towards the Capitol building first so that I can take the ride down the National Mall. I got to snap a few pretty cool pics of the State Capitol, the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial and then rode down across the Arlington Memorial Bridge and did the last 5 miles to my friends Jason and LaBarge's apartment.

They were all still at work when I arrived but, Jason left me the keys so I was able to get inside to shower, do some laundry and relax before they got home. Once Jason got back we made a quick run to the Whole Foods Market for some corn on the cob, chicken kabobs and the largest steak we have ever seen to do some grilling and chilling back at his place.

The rest of the night we spent devouring the food, drinking some beers and talking about space and time, and the absurdity of an infinite universe and damn even how wifi works... Seriously, it's just like there at all times right around us. What the H???? We even got a little lesson from LaBarge on writing code later in the night which didn't help to clear anything up in our minds. But, we tried. It's all about those 1's and 0's, 1's and 0's.... But, not too long after and those 1's and 0's turned into Zzz's.. ( <--- see what I did there? #clever #cornyandilikeit)

Day 155-156: 8/14/14-8/15/14

I left Jason's apartment just before 10:00 a.m. on Thursday morning and began making my way out of the muck and congestion that was my days ride. The route I was on had me on a lot of country roads which normally is good however these country roads had a TON of traffic of people trying to avoid the interstates and it was complete hell riding. I think I got yelled at, cursed at, honked at, and screamed, "F YOU!!!!!!!" more times on this day than I have the entire rest of the trip... And that really is not an exaggeration. It was a rough go. Finally, when I was about 10 miles outside of Fredericksburg the congestion died down and I had a slightly nicer end of the day.

I ended Thursday night in a "stealth" camp spot behind the softball field at Mary Washington University and slept wonderfully.

Friday morning I was up early and riding by 6:30 a.m. I rode about 20 miles before stopping for breakfast and then rode another 40 to Richmond by 1:30 p.m. It was a really good day of riding and then out of no where just as I was riding into Richmond I got a migraine! The first migraine I've gotten in a very long time. The vision in my right eye was getting pretty bad but, thankfully I was able to navigate my way into the city and found sanctuary at a Subway Restaurant. I spend the next 2 hours rehydrating, getting food, and working through the migraine... I may or may not have looked like a mumbling homeless bum in the subway with my sunglasses on... Oh well. By about 3:30-4:00 p.m. the migraine had passed so I got back on the bike and rode another 30 miles or so to Charles City.

I stopped in at Cul's Courthouse Grille for dinner and was pleasantly surprised with the food and ambiance of the place. I even struck up a conversation with the woman sitting next to me and her husband about our travels and how much we both liked Seattle. It turned out that she was the owner of the place! Very cool lady, and a very cool place.

Ended the night behind the high school football field and had another nice and free nights sleep.

Day 157: 8/16/14

Another really nice day... Rode out of Charles City on the Capital Bike Trail to Jamestown and then hopped on a Ferry from there across the James River to Scotland. From Scotland I rode country roads that were actually nice and empty and finished into Suffolk, VA just 15 miles north of North Carolina. After a few nights of no showers and sleeping for free I decided to splurge and get a cheap hotel so I could clean myself up... To be fair I didn't order food and instead opted for peanut butter and honey and banana sandwiches... Delicious! Into North Carolina tomorrow!