Fijis Across America 2010

If you want to reach your potential, you need to add a strong work ethic to your talent. 

-John Maxwell

I sluggishly awoke early to the sound of disassembling tents and the lone voice of Dana in the distance. Today would be a fairly easy day excluding the hills prior to reaching the outskirts of Blacksburg. We were all actually looking forward to seeing some other Fiji brothers at Virginia Tech and just having some rest until Monday. The beginning stretch out of Rural Retreat seemed quite easy compared to the past days of strenuous climbing and the heat seemed to be less with an overcast surrounding. Wytheville was one of the cities we passed through on our way before lunch in Radford and it was interesting as I was riding alongside Tyler to see the main strip of town including the large yellow pencil hanging outside one of the stores. Me and Tyler for the record did not get lost on this section but just turned around for a short little bit. Eventually we connected back up with the route 76 bike signs and headed for Max Meadows, a small city north of I-81W. It was a unique landscape with a different terrain of meadows which I enjoyed thoroughly. Climbing a little bit off the main road we traversed through the historic town of Newbern, which had many remnants such as wells/fences preserved in its 1700s time. 

Eventually after crossing over the New River, I believe thats the correct one, we arrived for lunch which consisted of sandwhich meat, cookies, and Cameron’s special of avocados in Radford. It was a lunch that I will always remember: Cameron haphazardly throwing apples at vehicles and me telling pickup lines about astronauts, zippers, and legs. Nice combination huh? With only 15 miles remaining we left early after lunch without an alloted nap time and pedaled on a busy traveled state highway leading into the campus of Virginia Tech. The campus was unbelievable and the architecture of the buildings was unified with hoakie stone. After getting turned around for a time or two we finally rode into the center of campus and met up with some other Fiji Brothers as well as Dana and Bill (VA Tech Purple Legionnaire). The night was filled with many things. After showering up we headed over to a Fish Taco place just a short distance from the Fiji house where we all gorged ourselves on the delicious seafood. Dana thanks so much for paying the bill for all us, it definitely did not come cheap with a bunch of hungry riders and other brothers. 

Instead of chilling out at the Fiji house for the rest of the night I decided to head back to our condo for the night to not only accompany Cameron and bring him some food but to just get some sleep. I was beat. Good thing tomorrow is a rest day. Ahhh….yes