Day 63, July 29

Ashland to Chickahominy Riverfront Park (about 10 miles west of Jamestown)
68 miles

Traffic had gotten a lot more dense yesterday when I reached Ashland and the trend continued until a bit after Mechanicsville.  During that stretch I crossed three major freeways and rarely had the chance to ride without a fair number of cars nearby.  Virgina, like most of the eastern states, seems to not understand what a bike lane is.  Most of the roads here have the white stripe where the pavement hits the dirt.  The exception below excited me so much that I took a picture of it.  Unfortunately it lasted about 1/2 mile.

Richmond National Battlefield Park.  Note the more typical 2" wide "bike lane".  This park was full of Revolutionary and Civil War History.

Location of the Battle of White Oak Swamp:

I am not much of a history buff but couldn't help but be moved by the place below; Glendale National Cemetery.  Most of the graves were of unknown union soldiers who had died in the battle of Malvern hill and other nearby battles.

Part of the road through the park:

Remnants of a Methodist minister's residence which was in the way of an advancing confederate army and was burned to the ground:

Malvern Hill Battlefield:

The picture below was taken as I was exiting the park toward Williamsburg and Jamestown.  Almost done now.

An unexpected stand of bamboo along a dedicated bike path (the 30+ mile long Capital Trail) which runs between the edge of the park and Jamestown:

This was a wonderful trail and a nice break from the traffic.

A swamp along the trail:

The James River as seen from a bridge near Chickahominy Riverfront Park, where I stayed for the night:

In the campground I ran into Vreny again.  She had wisely opted for a hotel in Ashland while I was almost drowning in my tent.  This was one of those campgrounds I mentioned that hits bicyclists up for the full rate.  It was $30 for the site.  Since they had no rules against sharing a site I bought Vreny a beer and some ice cream in exchange for sharing her site.

The James River from the campground:

I spent an hour or so just relaxing on the beach.  Note the picnic table right on shore in the background.  The bridge that I took one of the above pictures from is in the background.