Just Stealing Time...
...for just a small break away, just the Vado and me together, just a pleasant amble down the paved road, just taking advantage of a rainfree day squeezed between many rainy days, just a plan to cruise around a small town and see what's happening (not much at the moment), and just enjoying the open air, open countryside, open roads.
Yup. That's a lotta justs.
And just so you can get a flavor of the day, we have just the perfect photos...and of course, just the right map, too.
So just sit back and enjoy.
Just a quick preview of the ride down into Middleburg, Virginia, a very historic, very old (1700's something) town which sits just on the border of Loudoun County and Fauquier County. Generally, everything just below Rt. 50 is Fauquier County. Which is just gorgeous, as you'll soon see.
But before we head into Fauquier, we'll enjoy just a few photos from the Loudoun County part of our ride.
It would appear that someone is perhaps just a wee bit anxious to just have this hunt jump painted the standard basic black board fence color. Just a bit in a hurry, mind you, enough to use the orange paint and finish with the question mark. Just hilarious.
Just two weeks ago:
Just a sign of the times: one of Middleburg's biggest Inns - Closed for the pandemic
Middleburg is one of Northern Virginia's top "destination" towns. Resplendant with centuries old buildings, quaint (expensive!) shops, boundless quality eating establishments all named , in one way or another, after either the fox or the hunts that have predominated this area since the times when Gen. George Washington himself rode to his own private pack of hounds, it is generally a vibrant town in a gorgeous part of the state, well worth a visit.
As it was, the town was dead. Literally dead. Shops and restaurants, fully 90% of the town's businesses, were closed and shuttered. Virtually no traffic plied the main E-W highway (Rt. 50) that cruises down the centerline of the town. The Virginia commonwealth shutdown from the virus has reduced traffic to a mere trickle. The town's side roads were also silent, which was unusual. I had expected people to be out in their yards, in gardens, doing something around the house. But I saw...no one. If was if the entire town had shut and locked their doors simultaneously, and gone on vacation elsewhere. They certainly weren't here.
As my tour of the town of Middleburg had little to offer except lifeless houses and empty streets, I turned the Vado' s nose south to see what Fauquier County's roads had to offer.
Just crossing the County lines:
Just a friendly reminder to motorists of what to expect now that they were off the paved road and onto a gravel road. This ended up being just a delightful little gravel road running through the lands owned by the Middleburg Research Center - a part of the Virginia Tech University's agriculture and Veterinary programs. Sadly, there are not a lot of public gravel roads in the upper part of Fauquier County, most being owned by the huge estates here as private farm lanes. But what does exist is just charming, and quite delightful for an amble on a bike. My Vado was content to travel the gravel roads for me at my request, but doesn't quite embrace them like the LaFree (which has bigger tires and literally loves the gravel). Again, this was just a small, fun, little diversion in the loop back to Middleburg.
Justifiably the biggest Hereford bull I've seen up close in a while. Well, not THAT close as he was resting in his paddock when I stopped to take a picture from the far side of the road. He eyeballed me for a moment, estimating the threat level, then slowly got up, just to give me a view of what he brought to the game. There was a lot of solid meat on them there bones, I'd reckon. He easily outweighed scrawney little ol' me by well over a ton, if not more, and his horns were longer than my bike. I respectfully stayed waaay over on the other side of the road, on the other side of my Vado which offered minimal physical protection but lots in the psychological department should that bull decide the fence was no formidable obsticle between me, him, and the bike. Deciding "exit, stage left" was more preferable at the moment vs. remaining center stage, I took just one hasty picture before riding off. He watched me leave with a "ya'all best be moving on" look, just as happy to see the back of me as I was the back of him.
Just so ya'all know, that four board fence is 5' high:
Just looking down the gravel road bisecting the research center lands. There were cute little houses parked here and there alongside the road, keeping company with much larger farm sheds and barns. I guess these accommodations are just for the staff that take care of the animals (cattle and horses) in residence.
Just looking over my shoulder at the vista along the gravel road:
Just ...don't!
On the way home from Middleburg, just a bit of a warning that you really really REALLY need to turn, right now, just this second as this bridge just ends...unless you feel you just need to go straight up a cliff.
All in all just a nice, nice day, and a nice, nice 20 mile ride to get me reenergized to get back to work forking endless cart loads of old, wet and ridiculously heavy (because of the stupid endless rains) horse manure, and a yard of new dirt, into the new garden next to the Carriage house. Frankly, I was tired of just mowing the grass in this spot and thought that extending the garden might be just the ticket to eliminate mowing it and make it productive at the same time. Besides, I needed more garden space for the potatoes, onions, broccoli, spinach, squash, wild greens lettuce, strawberries, and zucchini. The garden against the Carriage House already has the peas, mint, chives, dill, and tomatoes growing. Still have to decide where to put the pumpkins. Maybe in the big back field, just somewhere where the horses won't bother them.
But... before getting back to the farm chores, we hopped in the electric car to head to the bike shop to pick up a set of thornproof inner tubes I'd ordered just for the Vado, and to order a second battery for the Vado just for the longer rides in both Loudoun and Fauquier Counties we will do together this summer.
Just say'n.
