Howard Johnson Motel Daleville Virginia 5.30 Saturday 20^th March.

Back to the Lexington Restaurant for breakfast. Oatmeal, eggs, hash browns, sausages and sausage gravy ( a whitish goo with lumps of grey stuff in it) rolls and coffee. All the other customers very friendly and chatty. In fact everyone we have met so far has been the same. Then next door to the Market Store to buy drinks for the journey. Everything organic. Run by a spritely, ageing hippy with interesting teeth.

On the road by 08.10. Bitterly cold and I had forgotten to put my warm gloves on. Mike has a balaclava, a British warm overcoat and motor-cycling gauntlets.

It soon warmed up though and the road was far easier than the previous day. This was mainly because Mike had cleverly realised that the ACA route fannies around, up hill and down dale , whereas US 11, which is reasonably quiet, goes direct to Daleville. Smart man. Saves us about ten miles (but see below). Already I am more than happy to take any route that reduces the number of hills. You can have too much scenery.

We pass through a really pretty town called Buchanan at about 11.30 and stop to buy sandwiches to eat later. It’s my idea of Smallville, a typical small US Town. They have a drugstore/soda fountain, listed as an American Heritage site, in the middle of a Main Street that probably hasn’t changed since the fifties. It would have been a perfect overnight stop but didn’t fit our schedule.

We reach Daleville at 1.05 but unfortunately it is so anonymous that we don’t realise it and go sailing through. About 4 miles down the road the truth dawns on us. Mike checks with someone and we head back. There goes our saved miles. Daleville isn’t really a town at all, just a ribbon development along a busy main road. A few houses, a shopping precinct and a few motels. The road is full of trucks to-ing and fro-ing to the local cement works.

The Howard Johnson is the first motel we see. We check in at 3.30 and are allotted room 103. This turns out to be occupied by some beer-swilling teenagers. Mike was all for mucking in but I have my reputation to think of , so we are moved to another room. Most of the hotel seems to be taken over by some summer camp. Still the room is huge, (big enough to take us and the bikes comfortably) and there is free internet access. All for $54, which seems pretty good to me. The average room rate seems to be about $65 ( Highest was $180 for the Hampton but that was an airport hotel) . The rooms are large, air-conditioned and with two double beds. And breakfast is often included.

My front mudguard has been causing a lot of problems rubbing against the wheel so I remove it in the hotel. Or rather Mike removes it. He’s generally handling the maintenance side of things. And the navigation during the day . And the planning in the evening. Pretty much everything else is down to me.

Later we wander down to the supermarket for supplies, Gadorade and bananas for the next day and a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon for the hotel (just in case – last night’s drought has left me psychologically scarred.). I spend some time in a phone shop tying to buy a cheap mobile but the options are too confusing and I leave it or another day.

Our dinner options are limited. The Three Little Pigs BBQ , Pizza Hut or the charming little French restaurant , right next to the hotel. Unfortunately, the last one is a figment of my imagination, so its lasagne, and Budweiser (and the delights of the Salad Bar). Then home for a quick slug of sleeping juice and oblivion

We have done 47 miles, and I feel that, very slowly, I am getting more used to it . So far we’ve been very lucky with the weather and the wind (mostly behind us). I hope this holds next week as we head into Kentucky - a few very hard days according to the guide book.