Pedal Power and a Wood Stove

Saturday was a beautiful day and while Rob was working, I decided to go for a ride. I wanted to cover about 30 miles and decided to do a loop around Gordonsville before heading out towards Louisa. I covered about 6 miles round the town and then rode towards Trevilian's Salvage Yard and Flea Market. I'd passed this place a few times but had never stopped so today I did.

This place is a goldmine with so much stuff to hunt through. I didn't allow myself to look too hard as I couldn't carry anything on my bike so contented myself with just taking photos.

I took a few shots and left with a promise to return at a later date for a thorough rummage.

My next stop was a little further on where I'd seen some old vehicles parked up outside an old building. As I was taking photos, the owner walked up and we stood chatting for half an hour about cars, tractors, England and the post office. He told me there was a tractor and steam rally on this weekend at Somerset so I spoke to Rob and we planned to go the next day. I asked my new friend the best route to loop back to Gordonsville and because he is a mailman, he mentioned a great back road loop. I'd already ridden nearly 20 miles so I knew I'd exceed my goal of 30. I was very close to Lance and Nicole's house so rode towards there.
A horrible incident happened close to their home which involved a little Jack Russell losing his life. It traumatized me immensely so I won't go into details but will only say that little Chopper has been on my mind every day since and I pray that his little soul is finding more peace and enjoying more fun than he seemed to in this life.

I topped up with water at Lance and Nicole's house and then peddled on, not really wanting to take photos after the earlier incident. I concentrated on getting back home but did stop at a car yard in Gordonsville where this old junker was resting. I got back to the house having covered just over 40 miles surprised that I wasn't as tired as I thought I'd be. 
We went out to dinner with Lance, Nicole and the kids, stopped for ice cream on the way back and then back home Rob thought it would be a great idea to light the wood stove for the first time. He'd installed it in the garage during the week so we would be able to tractor watch in warmth during the winter months. The temperature outside was a chilly 75 so we wrapped up in sweatshirts, grabbed beers and whiskey and headed over to the garage with Kota.

The stove worked wonderfully and we basked in the heat slowly sipping our beverages and relaxed. Rob said it was the first time in about 30 years that the stove had been lit so it was a momentous occasion and we celebrated by polishing off all our whiskey while leaning back and observing the Massey Ferguson, (the tractor needs a name). After about an hour the whiskey and flames had warmed us thoroughly and since there was no room to back up, we let the fire burn down and looked at the MF some more. What a great way to wind down at the end of a day.