Distance: 81 miles Pippa Passes, KY to Haysi, VA (Twin Creek Campground)
Ride Time: 7:38
Average Speed: 10.7 mph
Maximum Speed: 28 mph
Altitude Gain: 5829 feet
Average Temperature: 75
It rained most of the night again. We decided to meet at Bevinsville. The “better” route we decided upon for Kathie and the trailer was anything but ideal. It was narrow and winding. Kathie drove until the GPS said she was in Bevinsville. She found a place that was barely off the road and she felt every truck that passed her. When I got to Bevinsville I went up and down every street I could find, I asked if anyone had seen our trailer. My phone would not work. There were three towns close together so I went on to Byron and Melvin thinking that Bevinsville was so small maybe she was having a hard time finding a place to pull off the road. I explored two side streets, I asked for places that might have Wi-Fi but even the school didn’t have it. Each time I went up and down main street I was greeted kindly by a man outside working on his yard. He told me he hadn’t seen a trailer, but he admitted he hadn’t been watching for it either. I rode up two streets a couple of miles but didn’t find Kathie. Finally I asked the nice man working in his yard if he might have a land line phone. He said he did. I used it and got ahold of Kathie. She was worried about me since it had been so long. She was further up one of the side roads than I had explored. With help from the phone owner, we got Kathie directed further down the road to the “center” of town. The road I was going to go up had a sign saying “no trucks allowed” and because our trailer was rather a novelty in town a man came over and told us not to go up the road I was going to ride. With his help, we worked out another route for Kathie to take and we decided to meet in Elkhorn City, the last town in Kentucky. No sooner had Kathie left than I was hit by a hard lightning storm. It was raining so hard I couldn’t see anything and I finally found some shelter under a tree and waited for the rain to let up a little. Although it continued to rain, at least I could now see where I was going. I rode on and finally met Kathie in Elkhorn City. The road from Bevinsville to Elkhorn City had some of the poorest living conditions I had seen and the sides of the road were covered in trash. Elkhorn City, however, was a nice town. I wanted to ride on into Virginia and Kathie and I decided to meet again in Haysi, VA.
It was so exciting for me to cross the state line. Kentucky had been hard and the dogs had been terrible. It also meant that I was in my last state. My map pointed out that Virginia had more vertical feet of climbing than any state I would be traveling through. It started off trying to prove that true. Between Elkhorn City and Haysi was a recreation area called the Breaks. It is an area Kentucky and Virginia share as a state park. It has some of the most green and lush foliage than I have ever seen. Even the street signs had to have the vines cut back so you could read the top of the sign. It was quite the climb but, oh so very, beautiful.
Upon arriving in Haysi, I found the truck and trailer but no Kathie. Within a few minutes she rode up in a car with Christen. Kathie had met Christen in the Dollar Tree store. Christen told us about a campground a few miles away where she said her family goes camping regularly. Christen was excited about my bike ride. We drove to the Twin Creek Campground. It was on the shore of a lake and the campground host was very kind and helpful in getting us set up for the night. Imagine, WE ONLY HAVE ONE STATE LEFT!!!
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