Lexington, Virginia

I am fully taking advantage of a price war going on between Circle K, Seven/Eleven and Sheetz offering 32-ounce drinks well under a dollar and providing some ridiculously cheap food.  Sheetz was new to me,  but it may be the oldest of the three, dating to 1952, originating with a single store named for the family that started this chain that has grown to more than four hundred stores in six states—the Virginias, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Maryland and North Carolina.  

It is my favorite of the three, as it provides seating and electric outlets and WiFi for those stopping in for a fill-up at its pumps.  It is also the only one that includes Gatorade among its self-serve fountain drinks.  Circle K has Powerade on tap, with similar nutrients.  Seven/Eleven offers a mango drink that it claims has electrolytes.  It is the tastiest of the drinks marketed to those who want a drink that purports to replace what they lose through sweat.

It’s a toss-up beatween Sheetz and Seven/Eleven over who offers the most calories for a buck.  Seven/Eleven has the amazing deal of two slices of pizza for a dollar if one has a Rewards Card, which anyone can sign up for online.  That’s such a good deal they’ll only allow one purchase per day.  I haven’t tested its computer system by trying it at two different stores on the same day, though I trust the computer would be on to it as one accumulates points when one signs in at each store to qualify for the pizza deal and a 79-cent Big Gulp.  

One must also tap at a computer console at Sheetz when ordering food.  It’s best deal is two hot dogs for a dollar.  There is no limit to how many one can have in a day.  If one heaps on all the extras, the hot dogs may provide as many calories as the pizza.  When one places an order for the dogs on the computer, it asks what all one would like on it, including onions and sauerkraut and relish.  One also has the choice of “light” or “heavy” when it comes to ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise and a boom-boom sauce.  It even gives the calorie count of the “light” and “heavy” choices.  It is quite a mess if one orders all the extras.  I end up eating it with a spoon.

I was happy to see that Sheetz weren’t unique to North Carolina and have continued to dot the highways in Virginia at major intersections.  My trusty GPS device lets me know where they are, though there have been a couple new ones that always come as a pleasant surprise.  When I saw there was one on the outskirts of Durham I altered my route so I would come upon it after I had gone into the city center to visit it’s Carnegie, then dropped by on my way out of town going back that way on to the next Carnegie in Virginia.  

Durham’s was the last of the ten I visited in North Carolina and one of three not on a college campus, sparing me of having to search for it on the Duke campus out of town, in contrast to Chapel Hill, where the University of North Carolina is in the heart of the city amidst a great hive of bars and restaurants and shops.  Downtown Durham was rather lackluster in comparison, not being an extension of the university.  The Carnegie was at the eastern end of its Main Street  and was now an office building with a sign out front seeking more tenants.  The building hadn’t been added on to, as it’s two floors provided much space. 

It was 150 miles, the furthest by far in these travels, to the next Carnegie well into Virginia over in Lexington twenty miles west of the Appalachian Trail.  There were some prolonged climbs of a mile or two to get there.  I was getting into the back country with the most Trump signs of the trip and and others of a similar bent.  A Baptist Church message board proclaimed “America without soldiers would be like God without angels.”  Another asserted “Land of the Free because of the Brave. “ 

Getting off on a bit of a back road also provided the first neckerchief of these travels, what could be the longest stretch I’ve ever gone in the US without coming upon one, thirty-five days.  And it was my least favorite, a white one and not cotton.  At least I’m averaging a license plate per week, though they’ve come in bunches with three in four days in North Carolina. 

The traffic in Virginia had been as thick as much of North Carolina the first hundred miles to Lynchburg, then thinned considerably as I headed toward Lexington sandwiched between the Blue Ridge and Allegheny Mountains. I’d been on four-lane highways that offered no viable alternative, even when approaching Lynchburg and I came upon a dreaded no bicycles or farm machinery sign.  That required quite a bit of GPS navigating and steep climbs and denied me a Sheetz I had been looking forward to. 

I had been hoping to camp where the road intersected the Appalachian Trail, but the climbing slowed me too much to make it before dark.  Instead I had to be content with lingering for a spell at the Trail as I had breakfast, but no hikers came along.  

The road followed the James and Maury Rivers, which always makes for pleasant cycling.  A Sheetz awaited me past Interstate 81 on the outskirts of Lexington.  After a couple of hot dogs it was over to the campus of Washington and Lee for its Carnegie.

The campus nuzzled the downtown of this old, quaint town.  It seemed like normal times with people out and about, though the campus was very quiet.  It was established in 1749 as Augusta Academy, making it one of the oldest institutions of higher learning in the US.  It took on the name of Washington in 1796 after President Washington gave it a hefty grant of $20,000.  It became Washington and Lee seventy-four years later after the death of Robert E. Lee in 1870.  He had served as the college’s president after the Civil War from 1865 until the end of his life. Bearing the names of two esteemed military leaders, its sports teams are known as the Generals.

There was no fence barricading the campus as I have encountered previously in these travels, so could easily find its former Carnegie Library, now Huntley Hall, providing accommodations for its school of commerce.   It blended in with similar red brick buildings adorned with towering white columns.

It is a little cooler in the mountains, enough so that I’m keeping my shirt fully buttoned, as the descents can be chilly, quickly drying the sweat generated by the long, steep climbs.