Aizu Wakamatsu

Sakura lining the small river along Route 294 in South Fukushima Prefectureas we head NW

We are at checkpoint 3 just SE of Aizu Wakamatsu -- 265+ km so far.  Route 294 the last couple hours had some beautiful stretches, including about 5 Kms of Sakura lining a small river as we started the climb to Seishido pass.

One of numerous rivers flowing from the mountains around Nasu Kogen in North Tochigi

I have now ridden about 100 km more than my longest previous ride this year ... still 73 km to the next checkpoint in Yonezawa. We need to get at least that far tonight.