lunch at a Chinese Restaurant in Suffolk, Virginia. Refreshed, we drove a few
more miles to the Great Dismal Swamp National Park. We rejoiced at the lovely
weather and the chance to leave the car behind and take off on our bikes. Our
route into the 100,000 acre park followed a canal dug by a young George
Washington. The trail and remains of the canal provided the only hint of human
activity. Right away we began to see birds including a bunch of blue herons, a Carolina
wren, piliated woodpecker, cardinal, white-throated sparrow, vireo, red-bellied
woodpecker, flicker, kingfisher, turkey vulture, song sparrow. We made our way
to Lake Drummond, a large but shallow natural
lake in the middle of the swamp. We hunted for paw paw trees and found something
that seemed to have leaves the right shape but we never saw any fruit so
remained unsure if we had been successful. 
We passed time just enjoying the quiet and isolation of the deserted park. Sadly we could see that hurricanes had hit the area hard as thousands of tall trees lay all through the woods. This pattern would continue throughout our holiday in southeastern
Virginia. After several hours in the peace and serenity of the swamp we headed
back to the car taking a long detour on a wonderful boardwalk into the swamp. It
too had been badly damaged by the falling trees but the trees had been cut and
the way remained open. As we left we met a German couple with bicycles and I
gave them the map I had printed from the web. Soon after leaving the natural sanctuary we found ourselves on crowded highways with people passing us in suicidal-seeming mad rushes to get somewhere. We drove to Williamsburg exiting of the interstate in a heavily wooded area. We immediately spied a welcome sign indicating that the road to our motel and another to the old city were
official
bike routes. We checked into a delightful La Quinta on route 60 where a pleasant
clerk made us feel welcome and the lovely room gave us luxurious comfort for a
low price. We took off to the historic area and as we approached a traffic light
a motorist pulled far to the right to block our progress. We therefore had to
stop several cars back from the light, but heard a friendly voice say "They
blocked you; that wasn't very nice." The young African-American couple in
the Honda next to us made of feel welcome by encouraging us to go first and
encouraging our recreation. We enjoyed riding the car-free streets and
viewing the lovely old buildings. 
Fortified by a great, free breakfast we left early to take the Colonial Parkway east. Parkland lines this road which attracts relatively free cars and has a low speed limit. The three lane construction makes it easy for motorists to pass us without
inconvenience. We loved the grand old stone bridges built during the depression
by the CCC. The parkway crossed estuaries that attracted wading birds and were
especially inviting by the early morning light. Eventually we arrived at
Yorktown where the victory monument of Maine
granite marks the site of Washington's victory over the British. The town sits
on a high bluff and a smaller portion of it "down under" provided a
view of a bridge to the peninsular and an old cave
where Corwallis hid with his officers. 
After a visit around the charming little town of Yorktown, we wanted to see if we could find our way back to Williamsburg via a loop that would avoid backtracking and allow us to see the "Country" Road a fellow told by about a couple of years ago. I had
directions
from the web that led us to Crawford Road, a narrow strip of tarmac running
between local and federal parkland. Lined by tall trees from lush hardwood
forests it served as an attraction equal to any official tourist destination. We
detoured to a dirt trail in that woods where we passed a turkey vulture
who seemed disinclined to be disturbed from his meal or road-kill raccoon. From
there we made our way to Country Road despite a couple of detours caused by
closed mansions. We enjoyed much foliage all weekend and this section of Rt. 60,
though not bicycle friendly,
charmed us with gorgeous colors. When we found the mansion providing entrance to
Country Road closed we followed a road toward
a sewer plant that gave us access to the narrow road
abandoned but traveling through gorgeous estuaries.
The road wound around through the woods and over isolated creeks. It went behind
the Anheuser Busch complex and housing developments. About the time we decided
that it was our favorite ride so far in Williamsburg we were discouraged to pass
a sign directed at people headed the opposite way indicating that someone had
closed the road to bicycles. Go figure. 
We had passed no restaurants or coffee shops along the way and were eager for lunch when we pedaled back into Williamsburg. We found good food at a reasonable
price
in an local Italian restaurant called MamaMia's.
Food tastes especially good after six hours of riding and sightseeing.
After lunch we enjoyed a bike lane on Henry Street and a welcome paved shoulder
on Jamestown Road. We cut through the large, wooded
campus of William and Mary. We then succumbed to the inviting tables at the Aroma coffee
shop in the historic area. For dinner we feasted at Golden Corral and fell into
an exercise induced deep sleep. Monday 
