Day 5: Mineral to Charlottesville (51.5 miles)

July 5th, sunny all day, very hot

It was a long day for me. And the weather was extremely hot, which made pedalling more difficult.

I left the fire station at Mineral pretty early. However, the temperature kept raising even at 10am. I needed to take breaks every 30 minutes.

There was no store on the way until Palmyra. Right before I entered into the store to get my lunch, I saw a couple groups of people swimming and fishing in the Rivanna River. So I brought my lunch down to the river and took a long lunch break.

Around 3pm, the sun became less strong. I resumed my trip to Chalottesville. Meanwhile, I also called up my old friend, who's a graduating PhD student in University of Virginia, so we could meet for dinner.

The enviornment around Chalottesville is beautiful. It is hilly but the ride was very enjoyable without the burning sun.

And, of course, the sunset was gorgeous.

I got lost a couple times in town and arrived the university campus pretty late. Because most restaurants were close, my friend and I went a few extra miles to an iHop. My speed of drinking lemonade scared the waiter! Anyway, it is so good to meet old friend.