This day started with 8 easy downhill miles off-route from Troutville to Roanoke on a trafficky highway to try to get Vanesa's phone fixed at a specific Batteries Plus store (they had replaced her battery the day before we left Portland but now she is having battery charging problems AND a screen problem which is worsening daily). Batteries Plus said they'd guarantee the work and fix her phone for free! But, if we didn't go to that particular shop, there isn't another one this close to the bike route until Pueblo, CO. So we made the trek to the shop but they didn't have her screen in stock and therefore can't fix her phone. So, since we had gone off the TransAm bike route to the shop, we Google-mapped directions from the shop to my aunt and uncle's place in Blacksburg which is also a few miles off-route. The elevation profile didn't look too bad, but that was super misleading. This actually was one hard ride, and what we thought was going to be a day of some initial moderate climbing and then a nice 17-mile descent into Blacksburg was more like an easy first 20+ miles that then became a pretty sharp climb for a couple miles and then ended in the last 20 or so miles of repeated ups/down that were both energy-sucking and soul-sucking. The terrain wasn't THAT hard compared to some of what we have done already, but it just shows how much of these long cycling days are mental; because I had done the route research and told V it seemed to be a relatively easy, short day with a nice downhill into Blacksburg, and because it was in reality relentlessly up and down, our minds felt defeated and that last 20-ish miles caused a LOT of physical and emotional pain. V was bawling and wanted to quit because her body and mind were giving up. I was feeling weak and annoyed at my miscalculation of the difficulty of the day. Thank goodness my aunt and uncle are so awesome and welcoming, have such a comfortable and beautiful home, and really wanted us to stay for a rest day. We didn't intend to take a rest day initially, but we both really needed it and staying was an easy decision. Fortunately, we had done some work with Spot via phone a couple days ago to get a replacement GPS tracker (our original one broke in Newport News - long story, but my fault) shipped overnight via FedEx to my aunt and uncle's house, and when we got here it had already arrived! So on our rest day today, I spent some time connecting/testing it and it's now ready to go so we'll send the tracker's internet link out to our friends and family so they can see where we are at any given moment (the tracker will update every 30 minutes or so when we're moving). The rest of our rest day includes doing laundry, taking a car tour of Blacksburg and the surrounding area (that will be why our tracker will show a whole lot of wandering around!!), doing PT work on Vanesa's sore neck, taking a nap, eating more donuts, socializing with my aunt and uncle Beckie and Ronnie, checking out the 1940 Chevy that my uncle Ronnie restored, and walking barefoot and laying down in their perfect grass outside the house. Please, legs, recuperate.