56: murals, not falling over, eskimo hill, bill's story, squirrel hollow, car wash, passing cars, quantico, float, ihop directions, fire truck, another new pr, a good aroma - My Midlife Crisis - CycleBlaze

June 7, 2025

56: murals, not falling over, eskimo hill, bill's story, squirrel hollow, car wash, passing cars, quantico, float, ihop directions, fire truck, another new pr, a good aroma

Fredericksburg to Potomac Mills

bike path in the middle of Fredericksburg
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murals as I was leaving town
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crossing the bridge
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There are surprisingly few personalized mailboxes here. This is only about the third one I've seen.
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You might wonder how I can go so slowly without falling over. Practice.
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Amber StarfireMore, I wonder how you can get a picture of your Garmin while riding so slowly and not falling over.
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1 week ago
Mark BinghamTo Amber StarfireYou can do it, you just have to be very stupid to try.
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1 week ago
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When I passed the sign for Eskimo Hill, my curiosity was piqued. I determined right then that I'd ask the next person I saw how the street got its name, even if that person was at the bottom of a long hill.

About five minutes later, I saw a formless shape huddled among some plants in front of a house. I rolled up the gravel driveway and said hello, and when I didn't get a response I just stood there another minute then tried again. This time, the figure stood upright, gave me a smile and, in a soft Southern drawl with a hint of gravel from age, returned my greeting.

"I hate to bother you, but I'm really curious about the name of this street, Eskimo Hill, and was wondering if you happen to know how it got its name."

“Yeah, I remember when Stafford County only had one red light.” (As of the 2020 census, the population of Stafford County was 163,380.) 

Jackpot.

“So you’ve been living here a long time.” 
“Yeah, I’ve been in Stafford all my life but I was born in Richmond. I remember Stafford before 95."

Say hi to Bill. He doesn't look 72.
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I thought he meant 1995, which didn't seem very impressive, but he continued. 

"Everybody traveled Route 1 going north or south then they built 95 (Interstate 95), and that’s why all these restaurants and motels and stuff faded away or were repurposed. Route 1 used to be the only way to get to DC, and one of the names was Killer Highway. Every week there was a motorcycle that got ignored. There’s always somebody wanting to do 95 in a 55."

He told me that Eskimo Hill is named after the Eskimo Hill Diner, which used to be just up the road next to Highway Garage, and was one of those businesses that "faded away" after the interstate opened. 

"Was it shaped like an igloo or anything?" I asked. 

"No, it was red brick, or maybe cinderblock, I can't remember. There are pictures you can find of it, but you need to find them in the Fredericksburg history, because at that time there was very little in Stafford."

When I asked why he thought they named it that he said, "Maybe because it was at the top of the hill.”

I commented on what a beautiful yard he has. It was meticulously cared for, clearly.

"Yeah, I still work at it. I still work for the FBI, too." 

The topics changed as we continued chatting. "Stafford does have a history of Ku Klux Klan that were around."  

"Had any trouble yourself?"  

"I went to an all black school for six years and we didn’t have much. It was supposed to be 'separate but equal'  but it wasn’t equal at all."

Bill noted that there were very few teachers, and the ones  they had were required to teach multiple grades in crowded classrooms and without books. 

"When they integrated half of us flunked because we’d never had homework. We didn’t even know what that was. We never had home books, but we did the best we could."  One of the reasons they integrated was because Bill's school "had a lot of sports talent and augmented the white school." 

"When I went to school they only taught you to be brickmasons and  laborers and stuff like that. We never considered college, and I’ll never forget one of my principles, Robert Womack, he said 'You need to go to college.'" 

At that point Bill was desperately behind academically, but "Mr. Womack, he caught me in the 8th grade, he said 'Bill, you can go to summer school for four years in a row, you can catch up and be ready.'"  Bill resented the idea because "summers was all we had, buuut I went, and I was able to go to the University of Delaware." He majored in chemistry, but never used it. "It was just a degree that got me in the door. But, you know, it was still valuable."

At that point his neighbor drove past and got out of his car. He pointed in his direction, about a hundred yards away, and said:

"That’s my neighbor, Ricky. Now, back before we integrated we always fought on the bus. We always fought. It was white vs. black, and now he’s one of the best neighbors a person could have… great guy, great guy." He paused a moment, then added, "We just didn’t know what we didn’t know. We didn’t know that people are people. We all got the same basic needs. Everybody needs to eat and all that. Racism is not inherited, it’s taught, and if you’re taught it as a child you’ll adhere to it until you learn different.” 

When I asked if I could take his picture he said “I’m Bill from Stafford, Virginia. My only claim to fame is I knew when there was only one red light in Stafford County.” I don't think so, Bill. You have more going on than that.
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Bill ShaneyfeltGuys like this make America great!
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1 week ago
Mark BinghamTo Bill ShaneyfeltI couldn't agree more, Bill.
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1 week ago
THIS is how you know you're in a rural area.
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On the north side of Stafford I saw a kid holding up a sign advertising "Free Carwash - Accepting Donations," and thought, "Why not?" So I pulled my bike in, unloaded the panniers, and let them take over. While they were working, I talked with a gentleman named Ted who told me that this area has the largest population of Afghan refugees in the entire country, and this car wash is to help them out.

The adults did more work than the kids.
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But they helped in the end with the drying and polishing.
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When I was asked if I wanted the tires cleaned, I said "Sure!" As soon as I saw the foam go on I wondered how that's going to affect my rim brakes. Oh well, I'll find out on the next downhill.
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Laura SeiditaLiving life on the edge in true touring cyclist style!
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1 week ago
The Crew
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From here, things only went downhill, and not in a good way.
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You can't tell from the picture, but the gray section to the right of the white line is a culvert, and not flat.
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Cars as far as the eye can see, and all of them stopped. I passed about 200.
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Unfortunately, this is the reason why.
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Once beyond the crash, there wasn't much traffic... until there was. Quantico houses a major training and research facility for the Marines Corps, as well as the FBI Academy and the DEA Training Academy.
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Once the wreck was cleared, all that backed up traffic came past at the same time, so no shoulder and lots of traffic. The temperature and humidity are high, so I had to ride slowly (slower than even my normal slow) to avoid overheating.
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This is one of the places I was interested in visiting, but not today.
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I'm starting to overheat so in order to cool off, I stopped here.
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I considered pouring it over my head, but decided against it.
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Following my route directions. This wasn't taken looking back, it's looking ahead.
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until, finally, it got somewhat better... if not flatter.
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At one intersection, a middle-aged woman with dyed red hair rolled down her window and asked if I knew where the IHOP is (International House of Pancakes). Because I love the taste of rubber, I've memorized the location of every single one in the country, but pretended not to know and said I couldn't help.
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I posted those last few because I know you want to see pictures of random areas in a big city.
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When I got to my hotel, there was a fire truck.
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I never was able to determine what they were doing.... saving a cat?
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Each day is a new "Personal Record" on climbing. Also, when I say "my hotel," I mean "not my hotel." The one I was supposed to have gone to is elsewhere. When I finally realized that the reason they couldn't find my reservation was because I didn't actually have one, I asked the woman at the front desk if I could just sit in front of the air conditioning for a while until I was able to cool off.
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After pedaling the 1.5 miles to the correct hotel, I cleaned up and Ubered over to REI where I purchased some fuel for my camp stove (I wasn't able to bring any on the plane to Richmond), then found a really nice place to eat: Aroma, a Columbian/Peruvian fusion restaurant. It was delicious.
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Carl B.As I got to the halfway point of your description of this picture I thought, “Holy crap, he whipped all of that up with his camp stove?!?"
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1 week ago
Dessert: a brownie, ice cream, whipped cream, chocolate, and a strawberry. You're supposed to pour espresso and amaretto over it as you eat it. Espresso would have been better, but I knew if I had any then I'd be up until 3:00 so they offered mango instead.
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I went over to a complete stranger's table to ask if I could take a picture of his meal. He was unsurprised.
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Today's ride: 39 miles (63 km)
Total: 1,505 miles (2,422 km)

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