Hi everyone! I’m Maile, a freshman studying bioengineering from Honolulu, Hawaii. This blog will be an attempt to capture the beauty of the landscapes around us and the generosity of the people we meet along the way – both of which I will fail to express adequately.
We packed up our camping gear (definitely getting better at loading the van!) and left Hamilton, VA around 9 am. Because we have to bring our learning festival supplies with us across the country, we each take turns driving the van for part of the day. On our first day of solo travel, I drove (aka did errands). After sending off a few boxes and buying last minute supplies, I brought my bike to Bicycle Outfitters in Leesburg, VA who fixed our derailleurs and brakes. We had brought the other 7 bikes the night before and Justin did an amazing job on them!
After, I drove to our lunch spot in Paris, VA with Edgardo, who I picked up right before noon. We ate in the beautiful Ashby Inn which was generous enough to let us picnic in the garden.
We arrived in Front Royal around 3:30 and were welcomed by the rest of the Spokes team, who had beaten us to the news station where we were staying (but missed out on rock climbing). Mike McCool was an amazing host that let us stay in the local news station, as well as take us out to delicious Mexican food and ice cream. I was entertained by his stories and our faces when we tried “lemon zinger” which had a zing so strong we were impressed when Bill could finish an entire cone. The rest of us didn’t even try.
We decided to head to bed early to rest up for tomorrow’s start in Shenandoah National Park – the steepest day we’ve had so far!