297 miles, 10 hours.

After a great night of sleep, I woke up, pleased that my tent didn't accumulate any moisture in the night. For the previous week or more, it hasn't rained but the tent has been moist from the nighttime dew. That means I have to put it away wet, which is always a pain.

I happily packed up my very dry tent and rain fly, then got back on the (gravel) road. I headed downhill and promptly ran into about four trucks full of guys and their dogs. I assume they were headed out birding, but I have no clue, really.

After the gravel section and some twisties, I dropped back to the interstate to get gas and wifi at a FlyingJ. I needed gas anyhow, and also needed to check on a few things online.

I then turned around and headed back into the mountains. The terrain of this area is hard to describe. It is parallel lines of ridges and narrow valleys. So if you want to go from one valley to the next, you have to climb up and over the ridge. There aren't many roads over the ridges- in fact, there aren't many roads through the valleys, either.

So I strung together a route that would take me through the valleys and across the ridges as many times as possible. It worked really well- I had a blast. The widest roads were just wide enough to have striping on the fog lines, other roads were too narrow for any striping- what I call "forest service" roads that are about 1.5 lanes wide. These require a slower, more technical approach- the engineering is usually sub-par, there is often gravel or deer on the road, and you never know when a truck will be coming towards you.

I spent the day wandering mostly north, which took me into West Virginia. I'm convinced that there isn't a level piece of West Virginia bigger than one acre. Even the towns are built in the tiny valleys (also known as a "hollow").

As I got into West Virginia it was clear I was back in coal territory. Sometimes it is subtle things- dusty pavement, more machine shops than gas stations. Other times it is more clear- roads that say "coal haul only", rail cars being filled from huge piles of coal, or conveyor belts going across the roadway.

I was probably within a mile of ten different coal mines (if not more!), but didn't see a single one. That's because of the rough terrain and heavy ground cover in West Virginia. It reminds me of the Northwest- views across the terrain are rare. Still, I saw loaded trucks and rail cars, so I know they were nearby.

I really wanted to see the New River Gorge Bridge. It wasn't far off my route, so I included it today. As I was going across the bridge towards the viewpoint, it started to rain. By the time I got back on the bike (after the viewpoint), the thunderstorm began. I rode through it, since it didn't look like it was going to let up. It was about 20 miles to my destination, but it took about 45 minutes to get there. I was soaked all the way through, and the thunder was cracking within a few miles.

I paid for a space and set up my tent just as another huge rainstorm began. I ducked into the tent and just laid on the floor for about 45 minutes, watching the rain hit the fly and listening to the storm. Once it let up, I was able to get out and make some dinner. So much for a dry tent!