The route up 19 gave us no trouble at all. I think that one thing that contributed to our impression that the cars were going insanely fast along those roads was relative speed. As we were driving forward at 50 MPH, cars were coming towards us also at 50 MPH. Overall perceived speed is 100 MPH. At 100 MPH the cars seem to leap through the curves and are on top of you and then by you in an instant. There were a few cars that passed us on 19 but they all saw us in plenty of time and gave us plenty of room. We were definitely riding defensively though. The entire way we rode single file and hugged the edge of the road. When cars passed us on hills we slowed to let them by faster. We also looked and listened for cars behind when we approached blind curves and hill crests. If we heard one we'd either speed up to get further down the hill to allow the cars more reaction time or slow down so they'd see us before they hit the turn.
From 19 we rode down SR D and took a side trip down SR N to a town called Ink. The road petered out to gravel after three miles at the bottom of a hill on top of broken down bridge. The sign next to the bridge said Ink. There was one deteriorating house and a very skinny cat that slinked away as we pulled up. Good thing we weren't counting on this to be a water stop.
We got back on SR D and headed west, picking up 106 into Summersville. Along the way there were lots of tortises crossing the road. As we whisked by them they'd button up into their shells. There were also a few horses in the fields that we passed that would playfully race after us as we went by. The route out was relatively flat compared to some of the roads we had been on.
In Summersville we picked up SR K and rode that up to Akers for about 10 miles. The last 5 miles were through the national forest and were hilly and scenic. H had a flat which provided a much needed break for my tired legs.
We never actually got to see the town of Akers (assuming there was one of course). At the bottom of hill we found that the road ended at a river. There was a car ferry on the other side of the river but no sign of anyone to operate it. Since we were at mile 35 at that point we opted to turn around and head back to Eminence. H's tire blew again and I discovered a small slit in the tire. We replaced the innertube and then put a dollar bill over the slit in the tire. I'd heard of this technique before but I've never had to try it. It does indeed work.
While coming back my back wheel started acting up again, though I was able to make it back to Eminence just fine. E and M arrived later in the evening around 10.
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