Day 12: Fredericksburg to Doswell

Since I went to bed at 8 PM last night, I awoke at 5 AM. I had plenty of sleep but I realized I had set up my tent in the wrong direction since there was a little hill. Next time, make sure to set up the tent perpendicular to the hill so I don’t roll down!

I used Yelp to find a cafe that’s open at this time of the night, luckily there is one called 25-30 Espresso that opened at 4:30 AM. I rode my bike there in the dark. Not many cars at all. This coffee shop is conveniently located by the train station. I’m guessing that’s the reason for a 4:30 opening. There were a lot of customers, too! I ordered a cup of coffee and a ham and cheese croissant sandwich.

25-30 Espresso cafe

Sunrise over Fredericksburg

I started riding at 7 AM from the coffee shop. The roads were not bad and the pavement was pretty good most of the time. I noticed there are a lot of pickup trucks in Virginia. As I followed the route on my GPS, I came to some construction. There was no way to go through so I had to go around, for about three miles. Then there were some roads that had barely any cars. With the smooth pavement and the nice flat road, I was able to get a lot of distance in a short amount of time. For a while, I averaged 12 miles per hour!

Road block!

Even though I was making good speed, I passed by zero cafe shops, grocery stores, or restaurants. It was 12:30 PM and I was hungry. I had to rely on my dried fruits and granola bars. I was also low on water. I stopped by a church and I tired all the doors to the building but all of them were locked, even though there were two cars parked outside. Then a lady came out from a different building and showed me the water fountain. She didn’t ask me about lunch, but at least I refilled my water bottles.

Today, I rode over 52 miles, finally breaking the 50 mile barrier. My destination is Kathleen and Dave’s place in Doswell. I found them on Warmshowers as usual. I arrived a little after 2 PM. I guess I could have ridden more, but since I had requested to stay at their place I stopped for the day.

After meeting Dave, as he was about to go get his bikes tuned up, I met Kathleen. Both of them have done extensive traveling. I took a much needed shower and got my things reorganized. I think I want to send back my pants because Adrian had given me his, which can unzip to become shorts. No need to carry two pairs of pants. Also the weather is getting hotter from now on, as it seems.

When Dave came back, the three of us chatted about traveling, family, and Buddhism over a bowl of guacamole and pastachios. I asked them what’s one piece of advice that they would give to young people like me. They said to do what you love and live modestly.

Kathleen and Dave

For dinner, we had spinach and rice casserole, along with green beans and bread. And for dessert, we had brownies with ice cream. After eating, I retreated back to the bedroom and called it a night.