Happy Anniversary to Us!

After the wild weekend related in the previous post, we escaped for a few days this week to the mountains of Western North Carolina, Eastern Tennessee and Southwestern Virginia to find some cooler weather and celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary.

Wednesday afternoon we made last minute reservations at Augusta's Appalachian Inn in Damascus, Virginia, and hit the road for an easy 3 hour trip north, through Asheville, NC to Bristol, TN and over to Abingdon, VA. Damascus is a tiny town (950 residents) about 10 miles from Abingdon and it's twin claims to fame are it is on the Appalachian Trail, which comes down the main street, and it is the mid-point of the 35 mile long Virginia Creeper Trail, a multi-use rail-trail.

Damascus' newest inn was our base. Hosts Terry and Cissy Kammer made us feel at home in Grace's room and laid out sumptious breakfasts that we thoroughly enjoyed. Thursday morning we caught a shuttle to the trailhead and set out on the borrowed tandem for 16 downhill miles through some beautiful riverside and mountainous areas.

After a quick sandwich on the front porch to rest, we drove ourselves to another trailhead in the area to do a short, I think 8 mile, "moderate" singletrack. Three miles on pavement in the campground, about a mile straight up Lum Trail, 3 miles across the ridge on Iron Mountain trail, down Shaw's Gap to the car. WELL, let me just say that whoever decided THIS trail was moderate was smokin' crack. We fell over on the first big climb and I took a rock to the coccyx. The rest of the climbing I walked and Alan pushed a 45 lb tandem. On the ridge we saw a coyote on the trail, and some of that riding was ok, but the downhills were murderous. I could hardly hang on. "Mr. Toad's wild ride" probably saved me $4500; I think Alan now agrees with me that I have NO BUSINESS on the back of his mtn bike.

But I will say, it was an unforgettable way to spend our anniversary! I love you, honey.