Day one of BRP / mile 0 to 43

 We are finally on the road. Got kind of a late start this morning due to the heavy rains in the area. Started heading south at about 9:45. The rain turned to heavy fog and missed that actually felt pretty good to ride in. I'm not exactly sure how many feet we climbed today but it seemed like a lot and the real climbing starts tomorrow. Already, one of the best parts about bicycle touring began today. People showing random acts of kindness to complete strangers. 

Charlie and I met a man named Freddy who works on one of the road crews here on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Super nice guy, he gave us a couple of bottles of water and wished us luck. That happened to us a couple of times today. 

We made it to about mile 43 today. 

We had a great supper with Chili Mac and Gatorade.  I was actually able to get a pretty good bath tonight which felt great.  While we're eating tonight two trucks with bear dogs came by. They could smell us because they sounded off when they went by. They came by three more times with the dogs sounding off every time. Finally they stopped. So much for our first night of stealth camping. We started flashing the lights so they would know that it was not bears but us. Fortunately they didn't let the dogs out and the rest of the night has been quiet.

 James River is coming up tomorrow and we go from the lowest point of the Blue Ridge Parkway in Virginia to the highest point tomorrow. Nice and cool here tonight with a light fog and breeze. Below our some pics from today. 

*Charlie and I at the start Miles zero

*Third picture is one of the pretty farms next to the parkway

*There's an old railroad that was used to transport timber out of the forest built in 1910

*Our home for night one

*Our friend Freddy