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Blue Ridge & Shenandoah Tour
Day 5 Natural Bridge to Lexington

Natural Bridge
Natural Bridge
Natural Bridge has been in private ownership since King George III granted it to Thomas Jefferson on July 5, 1774.  We all know how Jefferson repaid the favor almost two years later to the day.

Natural Bridge and the surrounding area is a well developed tourist attraction.  The complex includes the hotel where we stayed, caverns, gift shop and a wax museum.  Many people may feel unique natural places like this should belong to the public.  I don't disagree with this sentiment.  However, I  give this company credit for the tasteful manner in which they developed the area.  It's not your typical tacky roadside tourist trap. 

Natural Bridge is enormous.  The picture above does not do it justice.  At over 200 feet high, the size of the thing rivals many of the stone arches we saw in Utah.

From the Bridge a path leads to a saltpeter mine used in munitions production during the war of 1812, a cave entrance were we could hear an underground river and a waterfall.

A heavy rain started as we left Natural Bridge.  We walked about a half mile to the Caverns.  While waiting for the tour to start, Mike said jokingly, "I hear someone dies on every tour".  One of the employees overheard this and said to a co-worker, "Did you hear what that man said?"  The co-worker replied "Do you think you can arrange it?"  This in turn was overheard by another member of our group.  We all got a good laugh out of it at supper later in the day.

Caverns
Natural Bridge Caverns

The Natural Bridge Caverns are small compared to the other caverns in the valley.  However their close proximity to Natural Bridge and our hotel made them an attractive diversion on a very rainy morning.  The 45 minute tour started with a walk down a 900 foot man made tunnel to the caverns.

Groundwater dissolves limestone and other minerals.  This mineral laden water seeps into the caves. Stalactites and stalagmites form when dissolved minerals harden on the floors and ceilings of the cave.  Stalactites hang tight to the ceiling.   Stalagmites, rise from the floor and might reach the ceiling someday.  When the two meet, they form  a column like the one shown on the left.

Our tour concluded with a very lame ghost story.  It was so corny and predictable.   Ooooh..... Scary!

We walked back to the hotel and packed up our bikes.  We set off in the pouring rain for Lexington.  Our route to Lexington followed Route 608, a nice back road past farms.  The low cloud cover limited our view.   But, it was pretty road nevertheless. 

At the end of 608, we turned West on Route 60 a high-speed four lane shoulderless bike-hostile highway from Hell.   The pouring rain and mist kicked up by passing traffic reduced our visibility.   If things weren't unpleasant enough, I got a flat.  I told myself, "These things happen when you tour.  You can deal with it."  I carefully checked the inside of the tire for embedded objects and found none.  I found a small tear in the tube at the bottom of the Presta stem.  I attributed the flat to a manufacturing defect in the tube.  I replaced the tube and re-installed the tire.   Less than a mile later I flatted again.  This time I gave up all pretense of good humor. I cursed that wretched highway with every religious and sexual epitaph known to Man.  After spending 15 minutes searching the tire casing in the pouring rain, I found a small piece of dark brown glass deeply embedded in the tire.  I dug it out with a safety pin from my first aid kit.  I installed my last tube and inflated the tire.  I caught up with the rest of the group in Lexington .   Steve had flatted on the same road.  Had I known Route 60 was that bad, we could have taken, Routes 699 and 671, into Lexington instead.

We inquired about lodging at the visitor's center in Lexington.  Steve, Lorriaine, Mike and George stayed in a B&B downtown.  Dave and I, being budget minded, checked into a Super8 Motel near I-64.  We originally planned a tour Lexington in the afternoon and travel to Harrisonburg the next day.  By the time we got to Lexington, it was to late to see anything.  And, there is much to see in Lexington.  We decided to spend an extra night.  To do this we doubled our mileage on the next to last day of our tour. 

The rain ended for good while Dave and I cleaned up and dried out after our short 18 mile swim... I mean ride.  I was out of clean clothes.  Dave had been washing his clothes in the sink every night.  A very smart move.  When I inquired about laundry facilities, the desk clerk offered to wash and dry my clothes for me. 

Dave and I attached our lights and rode the short distance back to town.  We left our bikes at the B&B and walked around town with the others.  Lexington is a small college town with lots of history.  In the Fall of 1997, the Virginia Military Institute became one of the last state supported military schools to admit women (under court order).  In one storefront we saw a cartoon lampooning the admission of women into VMI. We also saw signs around town saying "Save the males".   We had dinner at a nice Italian restaurant.

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