The last few days have been fairly easy riding through Virginia. The weather is cooler and the terrain is relatively flat, so we’ve been adding on some extra miles.
Between DC and Richmond it’s fairly populated and suburban. I miss the more abandoned farm roads. The upside is that instead of roughing it in the wilderness, we’ve gotten to stay in RV campgrounds. They feel more like staying in a hotel than camping: complete with private showers, camp stores and cheap firewood. This morning our RV resort actually fed us free waffles.
We planned a short ride today so we could spent a little time in Richmond. Originally we intended to see the Civil War museum, but we decided we were a little sick of Civil War history. Our route has gone past battlegrounds and memorials, and we spent a day in Fredericksburg, where the antique shops were filled with Civil War artifacts and the souvenirs were Civil War-themed.
As an interesting aside: I’ve seen two confederate flags outside: the first one in southern New Jersey (yeah, really), and then one yesterday in Virginia. But inside, it seems like souvenir shops have a wide array of confederate-flag themed tat. I’m sure there’s a deeper cultural message here; I’ve been thinking a lot about Rahawa Haile’s article “Going it Alone” in Outside.
Regardless, we ended up spending the day wandering around Richmond a bit. We went out for some soul food and have enjoyed relaxing in our peaceful downtown hotel.
