Tuesday September 1
This would be our final day of cycling. To start it off a feeding frenzy at the best complimentary breakfast of the trip was truly appreciated. While there wasn’t any meat provided, there was a mulltitude of pastries and the selection of fresh fruit was incredible. I spent an hour in there grazing while consuming a couple cups of decent coffee and fresh orange juice. Lewis ate his usual bowl of cereal and a pastry and was ready to go. We forced him to drink a glass of juice. Donna has already been cutting back on her consumption in anticipation of the reduced calorie burn that we’ll soon experience. I’ll have to do the same but not just yet. We took our time getting ready to leave as our easy ride today would be our last and our host would not be home until 6:30. Pedaling away at 11:00 made this one of our latest departures for the entire trip. And 20 minutes later Lewis was asking “what’s for lunch?”.
My conversation with Ted last night was going to be beneficial as he gave me directions to put us on a bike trail that would take us the final 20 miles into Arlington. But first we had to finish our ride on Route 1. It didn’t get any easier today. Most of the time the traffic was light enough that there was room for the cars to get over as we were mostly riding on the edge of the highway. When we could the shoulder was utilized, but this route has never been intended for bicyclists to use.
About an hour into our ride, we passed the army base Fort Belvoir. I was born at an army hospital here and had premonitions of being struck by an ignorant driver and dying in the same general vicinity. That would have not been good! Fortunately my premonitions proved false but that doesn’t mean the traffic was any better. Shortly after Fort Belvoir we left Route 1 for good. We veered off and headed for Mount Vernon, the home of George Washington. Our first and only stop at Mount Vernon would be at his Grist Mill and Distillery. We learned quit a bit about George during the hour or so that we spent there. And then we moved on.
Immediately after leaving the tourist trap that the Official Site of Mount Vernon was, we encountered the bicycle trail. This 18 mile route would get us within a couple of miles of our destination tonite. We spent the remainder of the day casually cycling the Mount Vernon trail that would get us to the outskirts of Arlington. This trail was utilized by more cyclists than I could count. Most of these being commuters who leave the car behind and ride to and from work. What a novel idea! If more people did this the health of our nation would improve drastically (with the exception of the injuries sustained during bicycle-bicycle collisions). There needs to be a speed limit and police presence on these trails as the racers race while the tourists (us) tour. An analogy would be letting Indy Drivers drive 210 mph while little old ladies are driving just 35 mph. There were no collisions involving us or anyone else that we witnessed but the recklessness that we witnessed made it apparent that collisions do occur on these trails.
We came to the end of the Mount Vernon trail and immediately found the Custis trail which would take us really close to Ted’s place. We found another cyclist who helped us stay on the trail as this one is predominantly sidewalk or shoulder of the road type trail. We would have easily lost it if we were left to our own devices. Our escort eventually took us right to Teds driveway. We pedaled in as Ted was arriving home from work on his bicycle. A total of 54 miles ridden today. They were the worst of miles followed by the best of miles. Life is good and we're all glad to be alive!
Ted welcomed us into his gorgeous house in Arlington Virginia. He had 2 bedrooms available for us to use while we were there. Unfortunately his wife (I think I remember her name as Anne) wasn’t present as she had left earlier to begin a long Holiday weekend at the beach. Ted would be joining her on Friday. In the meantime, we felt priveledged to enjoy her cooking as she had prepared a delcious Curry that we shared with Ted that night for dinner. Lewis even had a little. It was scrumptious. Thank you Anne for the wondeful dinner, and thank you Ted for taking us into your home. It is experiences like these that have turned this trip into a net positive as the negatives occasionallyr piled up on us.
We unwound from our day and relaxed the remainder of the evening. We were done! We did it! Now what? Of course we have several days in which to sightsee in the DC area; which will be a pleasant change. And we’ve yet to meet Anne and Carl Wick, but our adventure is basically over. I am going to update this blog once more in a couple days to show pictures taken while in DC. But the riding aspect is Kaput! Finished! Done! Over! If you want to see some pictures taken while in DC, do check back. But there won’t be anymore cycling shots to the best of my knowledge. See you in a couple days. Bye!
Friday, September 4, 2009
Monday August 31
With only two days of pedaling ahead of us, it’s about time that the weather became our ally. The humidity has totally abated and with it the heat. Today it only hit the low 70’s. Kind of like western Washington. With an ‘easy’ ride of around 50 miles ahead of us, we took our time leaving town. The firehouse was a logical place to waste some time. A different crew was in this morning so the faces were all new. Didn’t matter. Everyone was friendly but not extremely curious. We were just more cyclists passing thru. We finished off our half gallon of OJ that was purchased the night before and with it some oatmeal cookies and granola bars and poptarts. Since there was no coffee to be found in the place, we decided to visit the Mineral Café on the way out of town.
It was 9:00 when we pulled away from the volutneer fire station. At 9:05 we pulled up to the café. As soon as a foot was stepped into the establishment it became apparent that this was another of too many restaurants that have cigarrettes constantly burning. But the need for caffeine overwhelmed Donna’s reluctance to nicotine so we entered nonetheless. The stares we drew were not unlike those we’ve observedfrom a hundred other places across this country. Perhaps it is the fact that Lewis too is dressed in Spandex. More likely it is just a conditioned response that the locals have no contol over. When someone enters wearing cycling shorts and a brightly colored jersey, the have to stare. They have no choice! But as I’ve said, this was no different than countless other times. I’m only being thorough as my time to journal is quickly drawing to a close.
We each had a different version of the special which included 2 eggs, some bacon, some potatoes, and some bread. Coffee was included as was the cigarette smoke! All this for only $4. After we’d cleaned our plates, we were ready for the road. From this point on, we would be leaving the safety and security of the adventure cycling maps and following a route that Google prepared. We punched in Google maps and requested a route for walking. This would keep us off the interstates. With less than 100 miles between Mineral and DC, what’s the worst that could happen? We’d find out shortly.
Initially the route was very similar to the roads we’ve been riding in Virginia. But after the first 20 miles were behind us, we hit route 1. This four lane highway occasionally had a shoulder we could ride on but that was the exception. The traffic volume was initially on the light side but before the day was done, we were in Rush Hour traffic. Being this close to our nations capital means that urban development is now the rule and the undeveloped the exception. It would be like riding your bike down Black Lake Blvd in west Olympia, or Fashion Square Blvd in Saginaw. Most of the drivers gave us a break and moved into the next lane if they could. But there were several instances when a guy (it was always a guy) chose to stay in the outside lane without budging even though the lane next to him was unoccupied. There were times when the only car within 50 yards of us would be the ‘guy’ who was in the outside lane, doing 50 miles an hour while passing us leaving just inches between his vehicle and our handlebars. There are certainly some ignorant ‘guys’ out there. We persevered as we have done throughout and by 4:00 when the traffic was becoming unbearable, we got off the road and pulled into a Best Western. A total of 54 miles having been ridden. Before going in to check out the prices I discovered that a Walmart was only a half mile away. We had previously talked about camping at Walmart and this would definitely be our last chance. But when given the opportunity to choose between Walmart and the Best Western, the majority rules and Best Western won out. This room was $100 but reportedly had a “really good” continental breakfast. We’d see in the morning. In the meantime, some wifi was in order as we needed to make contact with our hosts in DC.
We now have 2 different Warm Showers hosts who have agreed to take us in while we wrap up our vacation with multiple days of sightseeing in the DC area. Our first host, Ted, has only known of our existence for 3 days. We’ll be spending our first 2 nights at his place. The next host, Anne and Carl, have been on board this adventure for the previous 9 months. I contacted them via Warm Showers, back in January.
With only two days of pedaling ahead of us, it’s about time that the weather became our ally. The humidity has totally abated and with it the heat. Today it only hit the low 70’s. Kind of like western Washington. With an ‘easy’ ride of around 50 miles ahead of us, we took our time leaving town. The firehouse was a logical place to waste some time. A different crew was in this morning so the faces were all new. Didn’t matter. Everyone was friendly but not extremely curious. We were just more cyclists passing thru. We finished off our half gallon of OJ that was purchased the night before and with it some oatmeal cookies and granola bars and poptarts. Since there was no coffee to be found in the place, we decided to visit the Mineral Café on the way out of town.
It was 9:00 when we pulled away from the volutneer fire station. At 9:05 we pulled up to the café. As soon as a foot was stepped into the establishment it became apparent that this was another of too many restaurants that have cigarrettes constantly burning. But the need for caffeine overwhelmed Donna’s reluctance to nicotine so we entered nonetheless. The stares we drew were not unlike those we’ve observedfrom a hundred other places across this country. Perhaps it is the fact that Lewis too is dressed in Spandex. More likely it is just a conditioned response that the locals have no contol over. When someone enters wearing cycling shorts and a brightly colored jersey, the have to stare. They have no choice! But as I’ve said, this was no different than countless other times. I’m only being thorough as my time to journal is quickly drawing to a close.
We each had a different version of the special which included 2 eggs, some bacon, some potatoes, and some bread. Coffee was included as was the cigarette smoke! All this for only $4. After we’d cleaned our plates, we were ready for the road. From this point on, we would be leaving the safety and security of the adventure cycling maps and following a route that Google prepared. We punched in Google maps and requested a route for walking. This would keep us off the interstates. With less than 100 miles between Mineral and DC, what’s the worst that could happen? We’d find out shortly.
Initially the route was very similar to the roads we’ve been riding in Virginia. But after the first 20 miles were behind us, we hit route 1. This four lane highway occasionally had a shoulder we could ride on but that was the exception. The traffic volume was initially on the light side but before the day was done, we were in Rush Hour traffic. Being this close to our nations capital means that urban development is now the rule and the undeveloped the exception. It would be like riding your bike down Black Lake Blvd in west Olympia, or Fashion Square Blvd in Saginaw. Most of the drivers gave us a break and moved into the next lane if they could. But there were several instances when a guy (it was always a guy) chose to stay in the outside lane without budging even though the lane next to him was unoccupied. There were times when the only car within 50 yards of us would be the ‘guy’ who was in the outside lane, doing 50 miles an hour while passing us leaving just inches between his vehicle and our handlebars. There are certainly some ignorant ‘guys’ out there. We persevered as we have done throughout and by 4:00 when the traffic was becoming unbearable, we got off the road and pulled into a Best Western. A total of 54 miles having been ridden. Before going in to check out the prices I discovered that a Walmart was only a half mile away. We had previously talked about camping at Walmart and this would definitely be our last chance. But when given the opportunity to choose between Walmart and the Best Western, the majority rules and Best Western won out. This room was $100 but reportedly had a “really good” continental breakfast. We’d see in the morning. In the meantime, some wifi was in order as we needed to make contact with our hosts in DC.
We now have 2 different Warm Showers hosts who have agreed to take us in while we wrap up our vacation with multiple days of sightseeing in the DC area. Our first host, Ted, has only known of our existence for 3 days. We’ll be spending our first 2 nights at his place. The next host, Anne and Carl, have been on board this adventure for the previous 9 months. I contacted them via Warm Showers, back in January.
Getting Closer all the Time
Saturday and Sunday August 29 & 30
Saturday was a day of rest for Team Jackson as travel arrangements needed to be finalized and other loose ends tied up as well. Our hosts Bob and Donna were up around 7:00 as was I. Bob made blueberry pancakes and scrambled eggs for breakfast. Bob’s Donna was the first to leave for the day as she had to be at work by 8:00. Bob left by 8:30. While Bob and Donna were at work, I bought airline tickets for the return trip to Washington and sent off some e-mails. The blog was updated and a bunch more pictures added as well. A list was developed of things that we needed before our flight. The most important was a large duffel that we can cram a bunch of our stuff into for the flight. A pair of shoes for Lewis was also right up there. And a tube of toothpaste. And some more gatorade. Gotta have gatorade. We left to run errands just as Donna was returning home from work around 2:00. The bikes were utilized to get up to the other end of Charlottesville where the Walmart was situated.
The ride was just as bit hairy as the 2 lane road with no shoulders had lots of traffic. We held up traffic multiple times as vehicles couldn’t get around us as cars were constantly coming from the opposite direction. But nobody got angry and shouted obscenties and nobody threw anything at us. I think they all knew that I am a native! Yep, born in Virginia I am. The Walmart ended up being on a busy busy road that had 4 lanes of traffic in each direction. Our duffel was found first. Good deal, $16 for one that actually collapses and has wheelies on it. We should be able to fit the tent and a couple sleeping bags and some of the panniers in this. A pair of shoes for Lewis was another purchase that came off without a hitch. This was the third pair of shoes that we’ve purchased for him since we left. He is murder on shoes. Some gatorade 32oz bottles for a buck were next on the list. These same bottles typically cost betrween 2 and 3 dollars in the minimarts that we frequent during the day so buying 4 of these is a great deal!
We left Walmart and began our return trip to the home of Bob and Donna. We hadn’t gone a mile from Walmart when the skies opened up and it poured. And it poured. We pulled into a strip mall that had a Krogers so I bought some wine to go with the spaghetti dinner that Donna was making tonight. And since I don’t happen to like wine, I bought some beer too! Now the bikes have been seriously overloaded but we’ve only got another 5 miles to ride. We made it back without incident and relaxed for the remainder of the day. We visited with Bob and Donna for the rest of the evening while Lewis and Grace watched TV down in the basement. Total miles ridden: 12
Sunday morning was much like Saturday but this day we would be riding off. It was oatmeal today. And then we were off. It actually took a little longer than that but we did pull away around 9:00. It was such a treat to spend 2 nights at the home of Bob and Donna. Thank you Bob and Donna and again, thank you!
Today Lewis was able to wear a shoe on his damaged foot. It has been exactly a week since the foot injury and now with 3 easy days of cycling left, he has the use of both feet again. Pedaling away from Charlottesville, we stopped at Monticello, the home of Thomas Jefferson. He wasn’t there so we pedaled on. Actually we found out that like so many other sights, you have to pay money to get close enough to see it. We turned around and pedaled on. Just a mile down the road we stopped at Jefferson Vineyards. There weren’t any fees for a tour here so we stopped and took the tour. Tom wasn’t here either. We pedaled on. Today’s weather was some of the best we’ve had on this ride. Low 80’s and lower humidity. Partly cloudy.
We rode a total of 55 miles today. Ended up in the town of Mineral Virginia by 5:00. Some groceries were purchased and then we headed for the volunteer fire station. We would be camping behind it and would be using the showers. I’m getting a little tired of writing these entries. They are all sounding alike.
We’ve all showered and had our dinner. I’m sitting in the Kitchen/TV room of the fire house writing this. Lewis is watching The Simpsons. Donna is writing in her journal. This was a relaxing day and just how I would have planned the final days to be. We’ve come across several cyclists who have been forced to do some superhuman feats to complete their trips. Ours is just the opposite. The hard work was done last week and the previous two and a half months. Now we just take it easy. Couldn’t be better. But you know what? Thoughts of work have been slippling back into my mind. I’m wondering if I’ll remember how to analyze samples after almost 100 days off. Have to wait and see!
Saturday was a day of rest for Team Jackson as travel arrangements needed to be finalized and other loose ends tied up as well. Our hosts Bob and Donna were up around 7:00 as was I. Bob made blueberry pancakes and scrambled eggs for breakfast. Bob’s Donna was the first to leave for the day as she had to be at work by 8:00. Bob left by 8:30. While Bob and Donna were at work, I bought airline tickets for the return trip to Washington and sent off some e-mails. The blog was updated and a bunch more pictures added as well. A list was developed of things that we needed before our flight. The most important was a large duffel that we can cram a bunch of our stuff into for the flight. A pair of shoes for Lewis was also right up there. And a tube of toothpaste. And some more gatorade. Gotta have gatorade. We left to run errands just as Donna was returning home from work around 2:00. The bikes were utilized to get up to the other end of Charlottesville where the Walmart was situated.
The ride was just as bit hairy as the 2 lane road with no shoulders had lots of traffic. We held up traffic multiple times as vehicles couldn’t get around us as cars were constantly coming from the opposite direction. But nobody got angry and shouted obscenties and nobody threw anything at us. I think they all knew that I am a native! Yep, born in Virginia I am. The Walmart ended up being on a busy busy road that had 4 lanes of traffic in each direction. Our duffel was found first. Good deal, $16 for one that actually collapses and has wheelies on it. We should be able to fit the tent and a couple sleeping bags and some of the panniers in this. A pair of shoes for Lewis was another purchase that came off without a hitch. This was the third pair of shoes that we’ve purchased for him since we left. He is murder on shoes. Some gatorade 32oz bottles for a buck were next on the list. These same bottles typically cost betrween 2 and 3 dollars in the minimarts that we frequent during the day so buying 4 of these is a great deal!
We left Walmart and began our return trip to the home of Bob and Donna. We hadn’t gone a mile from Walmart when the skies opened up and it poured. And it poured. We pulled into a strip mall that had a Krogers so I bought some wine to go with the spaghetti dinner that Donna was making tonight. And since I don’t happen to like wine, I bought some beer too! Now the bikes have been seriously overloaded but we’ve only got another 5 miles to ride. We made it back without incident and relaxed for the remainder of the day. We visited with Bob and Donna for the rest of the evening while Lewis and Grace watched TV down in the basement. Total miles ridden: 12
Sunday morning was much like Saturday but this day we would be riding off. It was oatmeal today. And then we were off. It actually took a little longer than that but we did pull away around 9:00. It was such a treat to spend 2 nights at the home of Bob and Donna. Thank you Bob and Donna and again, thank you!
Today Lewis was able to wear a shoe on his damaged foot. It has been exactly a week since the foot injury and now with 3 easy days of cycling left, he has the use of both feet again. Pedaling away from Charlottesville, we stopped at Monticello, the home of Thomas Jefferson. He wasn’t there so we pedaled on. Actually we found out that like so many other sights, you have to pay money to get close enough to see it. We turned around and pedaled on. Just a mile down the road we stopped at Jefferson Vineyards. There weren’t any fees for a tour here so we stopped and took the tour. Tom wasn’t here either. We pedaled on. Today’s weather was some of the best we’ve had on this ride. Low 80’s and lower humidity. Partly cloudy.
We rode a total of 55 miles today. Ended up in the town of Mineral Virginia by 5:00. Some groceries were purchased and then we headed for the volunteer fire station. We would be camping behind it and would be using the showers. I’m getting a little tired of writing these entries. They are all sounding alike.
We’ve all showered and had our dinner. I’m sitting in the Kitchen/TV room of the fire house writing this. Lewis is watching The Simpsons. Donna is writing in her journal. This was a relaxing day and just how I would have planned the final days to be. We’ve come across several cyclists who have been forced to do some superhuman feats to complete their trips. Ours is just the opposite. The hard work was done last week and the previous two and a half months. Now we just take it easy. Couldn’t be better. But you know what? Thoughts of work have been slippling back into my mind. I’m wondering if I’ll remember how to analyze samples after almost 100 days off. Have to wait and see!
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