Day 7 (August 16th): North Carolina Mountains

Today David and I rode to Sylva from Asheville (about 45 miles or so) along Highways 23 and 74, through Buncome, Haywood and Jackson Counties. We climbed a few hills, though none as long as the hill from Lake Lure the day before. We were caught in our first big storm outside of Waynesville on the way. If this keeps up, I should expect Kathleen's bike ride baptism on Friday. David and I happily found a fruit stand to take shelter in to wait out the storm. As it got later, we decided to ride on Sylva in the light rain. Not the most fun ride on those highways. The highways were big, and at times a little scarier than I would have liked. Still, we ended the day in downtown Sylva, where Mike Faughn picked us up to drive us up the mountain to his and Axelle's house. Axelle is an old friend from NC State, and Mike and their young son Elias had cooked an amazing dinner for us. They have a fantastic view of the mountains from their porch, and we watched the sun go down through the rain clouds while eating and drinking some wine. We also played with play-dough, toy trains and wooden vegetables, all a wonderful respite from traffic and rain.