Day 36: Near Fredericksburg, VA

I once again lucked into some fair winds, which was good since I rode nearly 62 miles today.  That is more than I would prefer to ride in a day, but it helps set up the next couple of days for our ride into D.C.  But one nice feature of today's ride was that we followed US Bicycle Route 1 the entire way, and for most of the route there were signs pointing out the many twists and turns of our route (a few signs were missing, or we somehow didn't see them).  With the signs pointing the way, it was a more relaxing ride than it would have been otherwise.

The topography has definitely changed.  Most of the day was rolling hills, with a few short, steep grades thrown in.  That helped keep my butt happy, since it was necessary to get up out of the saddle more often than is the case when riding the flats.  The roads continued to be lightly traveled and scenic (with the exception of our escape from Richmond, but even that was far more pleasant than we have come to expect in dense urban areas).

We've camped for the night at the Fredricksburg KOA (around $46 with tax, for power and water).  As KOAs go, it is one of the nicer ones that we've stayed at, with sites sprinkled in the midst of a fairly heavily wooded site.  And it is far enough from the freeway that we don't get the noise, but it is close enough to the freeway that there are a lot of folks here for the night.

On the way here I chanced to meet a young couple on recumbent bicycles who were resting by the road.  At first I rode past them, but decided to turn around to see which way they were headed.  It turns out they are going our way, and it looks as though we may see them at our next campsite.  They seemed like interesting folks, and my brief meeting with them added a little more spring to my legs for the last 15 miles or so of today's ride.  We'll have more to say about them if we chance to be able to camp with them tomorrow.

Oh, yeah.  Some time in the last week we likely passed the 1,000 mile mark of this year's travels.  If all goes as planned, we'll be traveling at a pace of roughly 1,000 miles per month from here on out.