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June 23rd 2004

This was the first day on the new bike and all seemed great. A hilly-ish and rainy ride round Catawba, then through Christianburg (which seems to be all out of town malls and no center) then to Radford. I went to the public library to ask about a motel and update my diary. The librarian understood, with a single glance, the kind of cheapie customer she was dealing with and said that although she wouldn't stay there herself, there was a motel that might suit just over the bridge from the library. But how cheap is cheap? Well, it was cheap enough at the Executive Motel. The bigger the name, the cheap the price, seems to be the rule. The motel clerk (owner?) asked how the price compared with other motels we'd stayed in. I said it was "about right". He recognised our home town of Bradford as familiar - as a Pakistani he knew the large Pakistani community there. America, so far, seemed very curious. The towns have little sense of center, sprawl, and are very full of large vehicles. Americans, however, have been remarkably hospitable and helpful, often pulling up to advise on the bike route! We're having an attack of culture shock. Will we reach any conclusions? Well, it would be nice... Later... I returned to the public library to do more internet/email, until finally prised free from the computer by closing time and an imminent meal. I wasn't finding it easy to upload photos to this site - it seems to be covered under the local library internet policy of 'unauthorized tampering with hardware/software'. The New River at Radford is wonderful - why didn't they build the town so you could stroll along a boulevard by the river rather than ignoring it? Radford is a pleasant and cycle friendly place though. The photograph shows the river from the bridge out to our cheapie motel (35 dollars for the two of us) - taken by a solitary soul walking along a dusty bridge in the evening sunshine, as the early evening flood of SUVs, RVs and assorted metal boxes, hurtles by.

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