In the house of the Cookie Lady

A long day short, we eventually left Charlottesville, catching the trail again headed up to Afton and the start of the Appalachian mountain range. It was hot, it was long, and there were climbs, including a tough 1.9 mile climb to our destination.

We were going to find the Cookie Lady, June Curry, the Trail Angel of the Trans Am. She is legendary. She's hosted cyclists going cross country since the first Bikecentennial in 1976. There's a house always stocked with food and plenty of room to sleep. Everyone who bikes the trail knows of her. There's a book about her, countless news articles, and thousands of stories about her hospitality.

Sadly, at the time that we arrived she was in the hospital. She is over 90, and suffered a stroke a few years ago. They aren't sure if she'll be able to make it home this time. Her neighbor, Hope, came over to let us into the bike house to set up our things and explain the whole situation to us. She left us to our rest and we got to explore the bike museum.

She keeps everything that the 14,000+ bikers that have stayed there over the years leave or send back to her. Words don't do it justice. Without further comment, the pictures I took of the four main rooms of the bike house.