Virginia

July 3, 2025

It is possible that I have made a fatal mistake in coming here. My flight arrived several hours late. Even in the dead of night the humidity is crippling. Everything costs 3 times what I was quoted. I am not quitting. Not yet. Pray for me.

July 6, 2025

I am still here. The heat has been too brutal for riding. I tried a couple of miles today and it nearly did me in. Left arm tingles. Not a good sign. One day at a time.

July 9, 2025

Now a week into this experience. I am attending a local church this evening. I hope to visit them all. If I use my portable fan right, I may not arrive as a sweaty mess. We shall see.

July 10, 2025

I forgot to bring the fan and did indeed arrive covered in sweat. They didn’t mind. They were welcoming. Everyone greeted me. It being a Wednesday, I listened as they shared meaningful passages from the Bible. One in particular was so poignantly relevant to what I hope to do for a friend that I must admit it made the waterworks in my eyes run. I am a softy when it comes to compassion and the Holy Spirit.

After that portion, prayer requests were shared and a group prayer was given. As we were leaving I told them what I am doing here. We talked about the bike and how I use it for my adventures. I look forward to seeing them again and they gave me a cup as a memento. It was good.

July 13th, 2025

My fish-out-of-water story continues. I went back to the same church for morning services. It was a bit hot already at 11am but I arrived early so as to deal with the bucket of sweat I was carrying before services. It was a good sermon about how we carry on in our next form.

I was greeted warmly by almost everyone. They didn’t stick around after for very long. It’s understandable given the heat and how busy life is these days. Next week I will attend the evening services and hopefully have more of a chance to get to know the people of this nice little town. That is one of the points to this adventure after all.

July 14th, 2025

It was a milestone day. I finally felt acclimated enough for a walk down Main Street to have a look at the town. Armed with a quart of water, and a portable fan, I set off on my trusty steed (getting to be my rusty steed, I need to get some Tri-Flow).

I decided to stop at the library first. It has the distinctive characteristic of possessing the only bike rack I have seen around here. It’s small but well maintained and arranged. The library staff were positively delightful. They happily directed me to the section that contains the history of the town and the county.

The information is abundant, however I was reluctant to touch the books as I was rather sweaty. I have respect for books. So we chatted a while, then I set off from there for a walk down Main Street.

It’s a very small town, yet nonetheless charming. It has that classic small town America feel. So much has changed economically that it doesn’t have all the little shops a small town used to have. I went right instead of left as taking photos of a Dollar General isn’t what we’re here for.

The mixture of architectural styles is interesting. It’s as if there’s a running timeline as to the evolution of the town. I love seeing the old buildings.

The walk through the town center was brief. It’s a tiny place. The shops that still exist are understated, without a lot of garish signage. I like that.

The town’s stand-out feature is its park. A well maintained and manicured site featuring a medium sized shade shelter, skating area, walking path, and a performance pavilion. Additionally it affords the best unobstructed views of the area around the town.

I have been to a lot of small towns, and this one has the cleanest water tower I have ever seen. For some reason that really struck me. So Stanley isn’t big, but I like it. It’s quaint and it has nice people. The librarian invited me to a City Elders meeting in the evening. That was interesting and I got to meet new people. They were great, and I gained insight into the local community. It was a good day.

July 19th, 2025

At some point you quit asking and just trust in the lord. My documents, my clothes, my equipment will arrive eventually. I go to church. I try to clean. I do what I can do. Let go. Let God.

July 21st, 2025

It was a perfect day here today. Church yesterday punctuated it. There was a sermon about the 10 lepers Jesus healed, and only one had the presence of mind to give glory to God. We need to stop and thank Him for every little thing. It’s the little things that make up our lives. I am thankful for my poverty. It enhances my gratitude for every kindness. Every mercy. That’s nice.

July 30th, 2025

My things arrived a few days ago. I am grateful for that. I’m getting it situated to use the PC right and hopefully find some work to do. This has not been the adventure I aimed for thus far. The weather has been far more adverse than I could have imagined. At some point it’ll be cool or dry enough that I can get on the ride and get some nice photos. There’s a lot to see around here and I’ve seen almost none of it yet. God has his timing. It’ll be okay.

August 1st, 2025

Tomorrow will mark one month since I set out on this adventure. It hasn’t been easy to adapt. My phone got wet as anything else here gets if you ride a bike and it’s fried. That means no photos until I find a means to replace it. That’s unfortunate. No matter how dark things get I will praise God. It can always get worse.

August 8th, 2025

This hasn’t been the most entertaining adventure for the reader, has it? I’m hoping to change that. Online work has been slow to say the least and offline work nonexistent thus far. Funding to replace the phone will make itself apparent eventually. In the meantime, through the generosity of friends I have a case of MRE rations on the way. There’s always something for which to be thankful.

Once I do figure out some sort of way to take photos again I am planning a trip over to Shenandoah to photograph the rail yards and the river, then camp for a few days hopefully at a lovely little site just North before heading back to base. I look forward to that.

August 13th, 2025

I was given a phone by someone from church. A small donation from a friend has enabled me to purchase service for it for 3 months. I love it when things come together. Unfortunately the heat and humidity are back for the next week or so. I’ll get rolling on a proper adventure eventually. In the meantime I’m starting to build a respectable spice cabinet. That’s very important to me so I’m glad of that.