DAY 14 &15 Mon Jan 10/Tues Jan 11

After spending Sunday night at the home of my newly adopted Ashland,Va. hosts Truman & Moya Parmele,(owners of the best little Coffee shop on the planet, The Ashland Coffee & Tea Shop),I awoke Monday morning to the smell of coffee. Moya had used her magic and special skill's to prepare a wonderful french pressed blend of brew from Peru along with breakfast fit for a king! Together we scoped out the weather forecast on the planned route home, which let me entertain alternative plans to avoid freezing to death! Armed with the knowledge of storms to come, yet tempted by the sunshine breaking the morning dawn, I loaded up the "touring machine" with panniers and gear, donned my winter cycling clothes,attached my new 'bar mitts' to my handlebars and slipped into my Lake winter cycling boots,and bid my new friends farewell and headed out into the country side heading back to Ashland.Cycling for 3 hours on Bicycle Route 1 and 76 and returning to Ashland to pay a visit to Chris Shoup at the local Enterprise Car Rental store. I felt, after exploring the Ashland countryside that I should yield to what mother nature had in store for me,and advance myself on four wheels. Heading out of town driving on my proposed cycling route with my bike tucked neatly in the trunk I headed towards North River Mills/Capon Bridge, West Virginia to pay a visit to my final Warm Showers hosts Steve & Terry Lynn Bailies.Arriving at their mountain hideaway home (the End of the Earth, as Steve calls it!), I was greeted by the Bailie's at the end of their driveway, and ushered into their lives and treated like a brother. We chatted well into the night about bicycle touring, world travel, the Free Wheelchair Mission,West Virginia & the weather! and topped the night off with a soak in their outdoors hot tub, nestled in the West Virginia woods under the canopy of the West Virginia skies spitting snow flakes into the warm soothing waters. After sleeping like a log in their cabin loft I soon awake refreshed Tuesday morning to another world class breakfast, and of course pots of coffee! After breakfast Steve escorted my to "The Blacktop",(which meant my 1000 mile cycling journey had come to an end,) and I must return to "civilization". So return I did,but returning armed with memories of, yes miles of wonderful cycling but much more valuable were memories of the hundreds of people I encountered, chatted with on the road,stayed with in their homes,and rubbed the shoulders of folks bubbling with kindness, compassion ,caring, interest and willingness to show the face of their creator to a "Stranger Traveling on a Bike", whom they insisted on eliminating the Stranger part giving me a place in their lives and enriching mine. turning me into Someone in their 'ride through Life'. Once I compile the list of these "Strangers turned Friends" I will post them and the role they played in my Safe Transition from Sunny Key West to Snowy Wheeling. John
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