Williamsburg to East Jordan - Day 9

We said our goodbyes to the Cobb's after a tasty breakfast, and started our 54 mile ride. It was still cool, but only for a little while. My legs felt fresh from the 2 days of very light riding and plenty of fun, but Alex said his had felt better when he was riding every day. There were a couple of big hills within the first 5 miles of the day, but after that things were very nice for most of the trip. At 1:00 pm we had the option of turning left to travel into a very small town to look for a restaurant when none was indicated on our map, or to go right for 6.5 miles to Ellsworth where we knew there was a place to eat. The left turn would have taken us about a half mile downhill that we would have to back-track (uphill, of course). I knew I could wait for lunch, and let Alex make the call. By this time of day, it was really very hot. After some conversation, and a drink of water, we decided to turn right which took us east. This was some of the most difficult riding we had on the entire trip. The jills were huge, and the sun was bearing down on us hard. There was almost no place to shade ourselves when we stopped for breaks. t took us an hour to make it through to Ellsworth. Our bikes felt quite heavy as we walked them up a hill, only to find another larger hill waiting for us. I felt so bad for Alex - he was really wearing out. He would take a few steps, get a drink, take a couple more, wipe his head, followed by 5 more steps, and then tying his shoe. He could not keep a steady pace. We finally pulled out bikes in front of a charming little cafe. We started removing our helmets and gloves, grabbed the water bottles for a refill, and watched the lady working inside shut off the "open" sign. I went in and asked if they were the only restaurant in town, and they said they would serve us cold items only so they would not have to fire up and clean the grill again. I told them we may want to stay and rest longer than it would take to eat the meal, and again asked if there was another place to eat. They pointed us in the direction of the local bar, The Nugget. after locking the bikes up, we waked to be greeted by "you're not from around here" looks of every one of the 7 locals sitting at the bar. To say we didn't fit in with our spandex riding shorts and our bright cycling shirts would be an understatement. We chose a table on the other end of the place, and had a good lunch. After a good hour, we pushed on for the last 7 miles to East Jordan. Again, we walked up several hills. The las mile and a half were all down-hill, and were we exceedingly grateful. The motel was another mom-and-pop type places, but this one was very well maintained. They had a dock across the street where they were going to swim in an hour after we checked in, and invited us to join. My dome was still red from the days' activities in TC, but Alex wanted to go. We got cleaned up, and fell asleep before it was time. We woke up much later, and missed our chance. I don't think a bed ever felt so good.