Meet Virginia

Today’s ride was beautiful.

I got on the road a little after 8:30 so things were a little cooler. I might shoot for an even earlier departure time in the future. Today is a long ride, over five hours, so I’m still going to be riding in the heat for a while. Regardless of the heat I start getting uncomfortable after a couple of hours of riding, so I take breaks about that often.

Yesterday afternoon after spending some time at a coffee shop, I had some time to just chill and read, write, and walk in a park near the reservoir in Greensboro.

I really enjoyed my time with my CouchSurfing host Casey and her friends last night. CouchSurfers are so diverse, but there are these traits that I find common to so many of them: open-mindedness, enthusiasm, joy, generosity, trust, optimism, curiosity. My experience last night was no exception. I posted on facebook that, “I don’t think anything feels quite so much like ‘coming home’ for me as CouchSurfing.” It’s just that when I am staying with CSers like Casey, there’s this since of familiarity even though they’re strangers that I’m staying with, and I’ve never been in their home (and sometimes even city) before. Maybe because at this point in my life I’ve spent the night in the homes of probably 200 strangers and it just seems normal. Staying with CouchSurfers for me, is often like a reunion with an old friend.

Travel. Meeting new people. New places. It’s so invigorating and makes me feel so alive. No disappointments yet.

I have left the somewhat flat and straight roads of Georgia and the Carolinas and I’m now driving in the Appalachians in Virgina. I love it. I’ve also left the interstate, so I’m getting to see some of the communities that I’m driving through. The mountains are beautiful.

Well, should probably get back on the road. Not sure if I’m going to make it through D.C. before rush hour. If it starts before I get there, I’ll probably just pull over and chill until it has passed, and then head for Baltimore.