Jeremiah Watt

I just all but froze last night, the bike therm says 22 degrees and later I would talk to folks who said they hit 19 degrees....so suffice it to say it was a cool night in the ol'bag of sleep'

I woke in Sneedville, with folks driving by and honking at me as I dressed..............easy now Mike and Rob, not that I was naked..........but a fella has to get down so many layers before he can add the other ones in their proper order. SO, there I stood at 22 degrees with just my base layer bib shorts on, and looking in my clothes bag for some sandpaper to remove the GOOSE BUMPS, so that the next layer would slide on as it should.

Finally dressed, and now begging to warm up, I have camp put away, the tent is hard with frost and will be wet if the day wearms up.

The take my frozen water bottles in with me to the Quick Stop restaurant. Can I break in here with an observation. Back her, the small town cafe's have almost all given way to the tiny deli cafes at Quick Stops, and its terrible in my opinion. I visit with the ladies that run the thing, they are wondering about my bike ride in this sort of cold. I am just fine really, nothing that a little sun will not cure later on , and coffee will cover up right now.

I am really on some back roads here, and I just love it. There are a steady rythm, of small climbs, some fairly steep, but all just enough to give you enough work to stay warm. I just keep getting run by dogs, they are everywhere, and on this day at least 30 of the boogers ran me. NOw most are in it for the sport, but some come with a blood lust, and that will make you grab a gear and do some cranking. I am just coming up the road, and see a small store so Its about 10:30 and I think I will stop and see what there is inside.

Low and behold, I walk thru the door to be greeted by Steve and ADa as they sit by a pot belly warming there toes. Yes Siree Bob, a pot belly, chugging away right beside the cash register.............so, I grap a pack of crackers and join them to dine and find out just what takes place in Blackwater VA on a Saturday Nite.

As it runs out, not mush happens in Blackwater at all................matter of fact never did. I pay for the food, and take a few pics outside, and exit the area for more road ahead. Its is about 15 miles to the next Junction that I need to be looking for, and It goes by very relaxed, the sun is out, but it is cool maybe 55-58 degrees is all. I come to my junction, and make a left towards a gas station that I can see. I first buy myself a couple of Virginia Maps, and have a coffee while I sit and look them over. An elderly fella comes in and sits having a burger, his name is Billy Tignor and he is a Gensing hunter.

Its pays real good money says BIlly, I get almost 450.00 per pound from a feller up in Coeburn ( you will find out how small the world is in just a few pages). Billy is a retired Pastor, and has taken to hunting Coons and Gensing so that he gets some good hard excercise..........and he looks it since he is in very good shape. Billy suggests a small detour in my ride since I am so close to a very neat item.

It is a 4-5 mile detour that will bring me to a naturally made tunnel thru a mountain, that is right after I pull a few very steep grades to get there. The tunnel, made right thru the mountianside by the boiling waters of a river, runs some 900 feet in total length, and about 450 feet below the sharp rock wall that used to hold it all back.

The tunnel is some 40 feet in diameter, let me just say it is large enough to allow a train to pass thru it today very adequatly, and without the rail ine having to expand or almost no leveliningg of the floor of the tunnel. It was very impressive, and well wirth the ride, the scenery was just great.

But, It was now time to get to the cranks again. I ride south for some 8 miles and turn left to pick up Highway 65 that skirts along the Clinch River. As I am making the turn, a very nice for this area SUV is coming out the same road. How far are you riding says a man driving it, and I tell him . Well isn't that something, we are from California as well, MIssion Viejo as a matter of fact. Have a Blessed trip they say, and they depart.

The ride along the Clinch is just superb, with the modertate rolling terrain, the turning leaves and the small farm steads that dot the countryside. The only negative, was the abundance of dogs that ran me as I went. I rode till as late as I could, and came to a Church on the side of the road. I made camp and called it a day, another very simple supper and this time I wrapped a jacket around my feet, and had all my other clothes on, and saved my towel to wrap around my head, just trying to stop a little heat loss is all. I bundled up, closed the tent and done my best to stay warm.


Good NIght and God Bless