Jim and Gabriela's Tandem Travels: Serenity Along the Greenbrier Trail

Getting onto the Greenbrier trail was a shock to our system, in a good kind of a way. No more coal trucks or windy roads with no shoulder that I hold on to the handle bars for dear life as we ascend into the next holler. Instead we found ourselves on a rails to trails that travels along side the Greenbrier River passing beautiful forests and a few has been logging towns.

While we saw few other cyclist on the trail yesterday, we did encounter a mama groundhog and her babies, deer drinking at the stream and an awe inspiring eagle. The trail map indicated where food and water,

along with campsites were located. However, it turns out the info needs to be updated. We hoped off the trail into the formerly booming log town of Renick, WV to find the store to get our dinner. While logging (and mining) are still going on in the area, the communities are dying off and stores have closed. A group of folks drinking beers and playing horse shoes gave us some much appreciated Gatorade and Ja

son offered to drive us to the closest convenience store- a beautiful drive through the rolling hills of West Virginia.

Jason's ride provided us with local gas station/food store bounty of bread, peanut butter and jelly, cheese, 2 oranges and a bunch of trail bars- a feast

we would have missed where it not, once again, for the gracious generosity of the locals. After throwing a few horseshoes and meeting Jason's friend's pet squirrel, we hoped back on the trial and rode another 10 miles to a magically beautiful campsite on the river, which provided us with a nice bathing spot. After eating our WV convenience store feast we climbed into our tent and reviewed the past few days riding. Jim reminds me of every curve and face along the road with the guide of the map and I show him the pictures I took from the stoker seat on the bike and we remember the amazing people we have met, things we have learned and how we have grown together.

This morning is Jim's 42nd birthday!!! we woke to the sounds of birds. Ate our deletable breakfast of pb and j and hit the trail. It is a 2% uph

ill grade on gravel, so it still keeps our legs working hard. A few miles in we cooled down in with a lovely river skinny dip. We are now in Marlinton, WV- doing some much needed laundry and in a few minutes getting back on the road (done with the trial).

A few evenings back after biking just a bit too long to find a place to stay, having a few too many coal trucks pass us and one to many flats (we are now at 7 flats in 9 days), I had a minor break down. I realized that the down hills were no longer fun and I preferred the uphills and missed the comfortable shoulder of Hwy 119. Holding me tightly, Jim comforted me and we decided to slow the trip down a bit. Thus, we will be catching a bus 100 miles or so out of DC and in the upcoming big hill we have ahead of us, I might catch a ride down if I am feeling unsafe.

Jim is amazing in the captain seat. He's been good at slowing down the down hill speeds and we stop when we feel like it. As we have on every trip, we learn about ourselves and each other along with the amazing county and people we see.