Dolly's Bike Blog

It is nice to be in a comfortable hotel for rest day: 4 washers and dryers, breakfast buffet starting at 7 am.  The hotel was quite full on Saturday night as William & Mary College had had graduation earlier in the day. Many people were checking out on Sunday.

I slept in until 7 am, which is an accomplishment, as my body clock is set for about 6 am.  Met up with Nancy I. and Judi at 9:15 am to explore the Revolutionary City of Williamsburg (Colonial Williamsburg). We purchased tickets so we would be able to enter all of the special sites.

Just as we arrived at the Palace Square, an “angry mob” was developing as the Governor’s men had allegedly stolen the gunpowder from the magazine.  Lots of shouting by those in character costumes, a call to reason by Peyton Randolph, the speaker, and a somewhat threatening speech by the governor, calmed the mob and everyone dispersed.  We proceeded to tour the Governor’s Palace.

I’ll let the photos continue our walk.

After all that walking and history, plus 3+ weeks of biking, I treated myself to a 90 minute massage!  A great day off the bike!

O what a beautiful morning, a what a beautiful day, I’ve got a beautiful feeling, everything’s going my way (and a rest day)….  I had that tune on my mind for the better part of the morning’s ride.  The roads were quiet, the hardwood trees provided shade, the countryside was pastoral – and we didn’t have a super-long day (only 55 miles).  Lots of farmland, though not as much plowing today.  I noticed the small family graveyards.

At mile 36.5, we stopped for snacks at a crossroads market and I decided to ride the extra half mile to Bacon’s Castle, North America’s oldest brick dwelling, constructed in 1665.

We have been enjoying several ferry boat rides on this tour; the one today was the shortest so far, taking us across the James River.

On the other side was the Jamestown Living History Museum.   Nancy I. and I spent over 2 hours exploring there – and could easily have spent another two, if time allowed.

The 9 miles on the Colonial Parkway were difficult due to the surface, but the scenery along the James River was most pleasant: some bathers in the shallow water and the most pastoral scene of the day:

Large farmhouse, with cows, and maybe you can see the geese in the grass.

We are staying at the Williamsburg Woodlands Hotel, a big step up from the Motel 6 in Suffolk.

After dinner, some of us walked over to the Palace Green for Military Tattoo, originally a call to soldiers to return to the barracks before curfew, they are now more a display of troops.  Earlier in the day, there had been a national Drum Call, with fife and drum units from around the country, and they were part of the tattoo this evening.  These photos are before sunset, I’ll post the others tomorrow from my phone.

This was a day of too many photos!!

Blue skies, neutral winds, reasonable pavement, basically a great day, except for my tender bottom!

We started the day by backtracking 9 miles from yesterday’s route.  It was farming time, lots of plowing going on, as well as fields already in the ground.  We were able to identify the wheat and then, through research, the rape plant (produces canola).

The sag had a stop near mile 40 – fun view across the wheat field.  And this beautiful church was founded in 1813.

Around mile 44, we crossed into Virginia, our fifth state – looking forward to margaritas before dinner.

As we pedaled into Suffolk, I noticed this “fellow”, reminding me of the upcoming Indy 500 back home (again) in Indiana.

Mileage today:  65.60.  According to the mileage total for this tour listed by Womantours (2582), we passed the 1291 mark about midway through the day – with my bonus miles, I started the day with 1340 already…