A Night with the Mayor

Leaving from the caverns towards Christiansburg was awful. It was steeper than the entire mountain range we crossed, but only for a mile or two. I would say it was an 8 grade, which, for those who don't know, is steep as shit. But it was early enough for us to make it up and still make a 70 mile day out of it. We had originally planned on camping again, there was a KOA right outside of Wytheville, but we shot straight past it and down a hill for about 2 miles before realizing that we that we did pass it. We were tired, but we opted to go another 10 miles into town rather than go back uphill. It ended up working out.

So we get to the edge of town where there are a bunch of hotels and stuff and Iris and Heather planned on checking all of them out to see if we could a discounted rate and I decided to go into town and see if there was anything going on. It was Friday night and the town was sizable so I had my hopes up. I asked around and got directions to the only bar in town, the Turn One Bar, on the other side of town, and wanted to go check it out. On my way to the bar, I passed an outdoor concert in the middle of town. I rode up to two 16 (18) year old girls taking money at the entrance to check it out. They said it was a beach band from Myrtle and that they had $1 beers inside, which pretty much sold me. So I went on in and beers ended up being $3, but after around the 80 miles that I put in, i didn't mind too much.

So, I was standing in the beer line when an older guy in a great looking American flag shirt came up and asked where I was from and what the final destination was and all that and we talked a while about our plans in town and everything. This guy was really nice and told us to talk to the beer servers, most of whom worked for the recreation center in town, and they could tell us where to get free showers and a place to camp for free as well. So I got my beer and chatted with this really cute hippie girl for a while and got directions to the showers and campgrounds. The guy in the shirt came back up and made sure we knew where everything was and at the end of our conversation said, "Well I happen to be the mayor of this town, welcome to Wytheville!" I was kind of taken aback, but let him know that he was the best mayor I'd ever met and thanks for everything he did.

So Iris and Heather end up making it to the concert a little later and I introduce them to mayor and before I know it Trent (that's his name), being impressed with Iris' charity venture, invites us to stay over at his house that night and even says he'll give us a sober ride later that night! Not being able to turn that down, we get directions from him and make plans to go to the only bar in town that night. We end up hitching a ride there from the Budweiser guy who was serving beers at the venue, and he says he can fit the bikes and beer in the back of the beer truck. Our night is set with one sweet ride in the back of a beer truck to Turn One.

So we get to the bar and Bud guy buys us all Jager shots, maybe one too many, and there is a great punk band playing when we walk in. They covered some good songs and I was definitely headbanging for a good part of the night. So we make it to last call and call Trent to come get us and the bikes, which is good because I tried to get on the bike and ride and failed miserably. I probably wouldn't have made it out of the parking lot much less into town. On the way back to his place we get pulled over by a local cop, who thought that he might have stolen our bikes that night. He told her, "I sure did, along with bikers that came on them!" Being the mayor, nothing came of it, and we arrived safely at his house just in time for the girls to take showers and me to safely pass out on the couch after a short stint on the bathroom floor... thanks for putting on my pants girls!!!

So Trent gives us a ride in town the next day to the library so the girls can do some more work. At this point, both Iris and Heather have a bunch of computer shit due, and haven't had a lot of time to work on it yet. So we decide to get a hotel in town with wireless so they can work and I can chill in a hot tub and a pool. Add to that Waffle House right across the street. Awesome.