Day 16 - Monday 10/4

Miles: 77.7
Final Destination: Suffolk, VA
I left my heavy shirt at the Freudigs last night because I thought I would not need it heading south, then today happened. Cold and overcast, when I started it was in the low 50's. Hey hold it, I thought this was south of the Mason-Dixon!
Big day...I broke the 1,000 mile barrier today! Now I just have to do it again...Hummph!
I learned a hard lesson today. I have to discipline myself to look ahead on my maps the night before for food possibilities. Today I road through a section that did not have many eating or grocery stops. The ones that were on the maps were either closed (Mondays) or not there anymore. As a result I ate 4 powerbars throughout the day, no lunch! I actually ran out of energy and laid down on a brick wall in the town of Isle or Wight around noon for a quick nap (pictured). Lack of food forced me to push ahead hard and got into Suffolk early. Am eating as I write...
OK, I have another difficulty to add to "hills" and Headwinds"...Dogs! I got chased by 4 different dogs today. All were scary and got the adreneline flowing, but the scariest was when 2 dogs came out of the woods and surprised me. I truly think they were wild dogs as there were no homes nearby. They kept up with me for about a quarter mile. They really wanted to get their teeth into me. I was biking as fast as I could, shifting down for speed, yelling and swinging at them as they tried to bite my right foot. This inspired me to invest in some dog repellent (pictured) now that I am in the "Sath" (south) where they have big angry dogs which they refuse to tether! (However, the bike store in Suffolk is closed on Mondays so I will have to pick the spray up at the next bike store on Wednesday morning in Kitty Hawk, NC. Pray that there are no dogs in the Dismal Swamp area that I am biking through tomorrow)
Til Tomorrow...
Pictured:
- "Ages-Gone-By" An old Esso gas pump in the middle of nowhere. There apparently was a gas station there at some point (notice the horse tie-up in the foreground)
- The countryside is "peppered" with these little churches.
- Evidence that I am in southern "Virginny" (Virginia) as the crop has turned from corn and soy beans to cotton. Notice the huge tractor trailer-sized bales sitting out in the fields waiting to be collected!