So far we are both enjoying West Virginia. There are plenty of ups and downs, which keep things interesting.

The hills have been tough in the heat, but we received some encouragement while passing by this farm:

 We stopped for lunch at a convenience store in Burnsville and met some very nice people. A man named Dave offered us a a place to stay, and a lady named Debby Weaver gave us snacks.

The forecast called for afternoon rain, and rain it did.  We had three big climbs between Sutton and the campsite; the rain came lightly at the top of the first climb, which felt great! Then, it picked up on our way down the second climb, and we were completely soaked!

Later, we ducked out of more rain in a convenience store, to eat and preview the directions for the rest of the day.

After the final climb,  we had about 15 miles of relatively flat roads until the campsite.   On the way, we picked up food so we wouldn’t need to cook in the rain.

The campsite was named Mountain Lake Campground, so it was no surprise when we had to go uphill to get there, but in the pouring rain, the climb was the icing on the cake of a tough day of riding.

Things couldn’t get much worse, right? Our plan was to take warm showers and to layer up before eating dinner, cozied up in the tent. The real kicker was when we discovered that there was no hot water in the showers!  So we cried a little then took cold showers and retreated to the tent for dinner followed by an early bedtime.

Trip stats, to date (Day 23)

• Weston, WV to Summersville, WV
• Daily mileage: 82.7mi;  Trip total to date: 1,363.8mi
• Daily riding time: 7hr 0min;  Trip total time: 123hr 51min
• Daily ascent: 5,309ft;  Trip total ascent: 60,155ft
• Flat tires: Rachel – 1; Chris – 0