What a difference a week can make. The foliage has definitely begun to turn. Here’s a picture of Orlando Drive on this afternoon’s ride:
After half a year of riding, there are very few local roads I have yet to travel. I scratched Orlando Drive off my list today. It connects Bristow Road and Aden Road, making a nice 23 mile loop. The day was crisp and breezy with temps hovering around 60 degrees.
In order to get to Orlando Drive, I needed to travel up two roads I had not yet been on – Windy Hill and Lake Hill roads. I quickly found myself in upscale estate houses which bordered a man-made lake.
Although there were several signs warning me that this was a dead-end street, I trusted my maps which informed me otherwise. Before I reached the end of the road, I came across an estate home with a family of goats in the side yard. You don’t see something like that every day!
As I suspected, the end of the Lake Hill Road was merely a gate meant to keep cars from passing down the street (God forbid the people of Windy Lake be disturbed!). I was able to bypass the gate and continue on my way to Orlando Drive.
I made it home without event, other than discovering 1/2 mile of Orlando Drive is a gravel road. When I bought the Trek, I promised myself I would avoid such places like the plague, but I had little choice this time. I got through the stretch without flatting, which is always a pleasant surprise for me.
Virginia Historical Marker Segment! This marker is located at the corner of Cardinal Drive and Minnieville Road. It’s a busy intersection and (like most of these markers) I doubt most automobile drivers have the ability to read the sign as they go past. In this episode, we learn the fate of a pastor we never heard of, the impact of the northern dairy industry on early Prince William County, the location of yet another Confederate unit, and some postal history.
There And Back Again 
I had heard that Mason Locke Weems was buried in Bel Air (the name for this area before it was Dale City). He is the man who wrote the story about George Washington cutting down his father’s cherry tree. How many times have I driven down that road and I never even saw that sign! Thanks for sharing!