RideEatCamp

To Montebello Campground

Blue Ridge Parkway

Last night at the KOA we slept by a pond. At dusk, a jazz band of frogs started warming up. There was the percussion section that set a fast tempo. They sounded like a series of rapid high hat hits. Then came some solo trumpeters, beeping and bopping with their froggy style. And finally a few bull frogs appeared to drop the base.

Once the whole band was jamming they were having such a good time that time got away from them. They jammed all night long and into the morning. At daybreak they grew tired and their long set ended. It was an impressive feat of stamina.

The ride today featured a few sustained climbs. Because we had a short day yesterday our legs were feeling good. The climbs passed with ease, and we rolled into the hamlet of Montebello and into its campground around lunch time.

Relaxing down a nice descent.

The campground is run by the country store across the road. After pitching our tent, we headed to the store for a well deserved snack. As we sat on the covered porch eating some chips and drinking some tea, a gentleman driving a Dish Network van pulled up to the store for some gas. We got into a brief conversation with him because you do that with everyone around here and before we knew it he handed us some Reese’s Peanut Butter cups and we gave him some of our chips. Nice fellow and an excellent trade.

The last several afternoons have been punctuated with thunderstorms. It gets hot and muggy and then the clouds roll in and thunder grumbles in the distance and then it rains in waves both violent and gentle until the storm disappears as quickly as it arrived.

The nice thing about the storm is the temperature drops. Then our tent becomes a bearable place to live. The trouble is our beloved Hubba Hubba no longer fulfills one of its two promises: to keep us dry. The poor thing leaks at the seams and drips inside, even after I sprayed on some water repellent and attempted to reseal the seams. The tent still keeps us separate from the critters though.