Doswell   May 28

As I rode into Richmond this morning I was stopped by a policeman standing in the roadway. I had turned, as directed by my ACA route, onto 2^nd Street. However, this morning 2^nd Street was , closed to all traffic because it passes the Virginia War Memorial and a Memorial Day service was about to begin.

Despite looking very much out of place I wandered through the memorial while we all waited for the governor’s arrival. The memorial highlights all of our wars—American Revolution, Mexican, Civil, Spanish-American, World War I, World War II, Korean,  Vietnam, Persian Gulf, Desert Storm, Iraq and Afghanistan. That’s an awful lot for a country just 236 years old, one war about every 20 years.

The service wasn’t particularly moving except for the reading of the names of the 280 Virginia service people who died in action in the last two years.

Other cities have cows or horses
decorated; Richmond has fish
because the city is on the banks
of the James River.

It was wonderful riding though a deserted Richmond. The city is chock-a-block full of great museums, trendy districts, funky stores and just cool areas…all of which were closed. So I had to content myself with riding past some elegant houses and past several of the city’s statues of Confederate leaders.

Ashland is a pretty town north of Richmond. Randolph-Macon University is there surrounded by lovely Victorian houses. The town’s one drawback is that two sets of railroad tracks run the entire length of the town.

Sharon Evans and Cliff Middlebrook see the tracks as a positive; they’re train spotters. “We love coming out here with our cameras to take pictures of the trains. There’s such a nice background with the trees and houses,” said Evans.

 When we talked no trains were moving. A train had just passed through but had declared an emergency. It was sitting about a half mile north. To the south the white headlight of another train glowed down the track about a half mile away.

“No trains will move in either direction until the emergency is taken care of,” explained Middlebrook. “They don’t want to endanger anybody who is working on the emergency track.”

Going to the famous Folkston (GA) Funnel is on the bucket lists of Evans and Middlebrook.

To understand why I'm riding and raising money, please go to the first post--April 26.
To make a donation to the ALSA, please go to: http://web.alsa.org/goto/deirdresride