Greetings,
Thanks to Kristen for volunteering to be the professional photographer for this trip, she snapped over 2,000 photos during the 83 days on the road. They are all uploaded on Picasa, so just click the below link to be directed to them.
Feel free to make comments on any photo you like, find funny, or think is weird!
http://picasaweb.google.com/biking4invisiblechildren
Mark
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Day 82 & 83: Ashland to Williamsburg to Yorktown = WE JUST BIKED ACROSS AMERICA!!!
Day 82
We ate at Perkins for breakfast, gulped down two pots of coffee between Mike and I, applied sunscreen, and set out for the day. Today, the roads were not that secluded, rather busy, a lot of traffic, and loud. We had to ride single-file and it wasn't until about half-way into the day that we found the peace and quiet, country roads we all prefer so much more! It was a hot day and we stopped for a cold beverage at a gas station. Mike came to the table wearing a leather doo-rag and goggles and we couldn't help but crack up.
We made it to Cannon City about mid-day where we had planned to meet up with a few Kiwanis members from the Yorktown Chapter. Mike had been in contact with the group since the start of the trip and they wanted to ride with him for the last 40 miles or so. We met Bill, a former president of the group, Claire, and Jack. They were ready to go and Bill set the pace. I was having trouble keeping up with his 15 mph pace, so although he was 70, he could still definitely get those legs going! They took us on a very scenic tour on the route to Williamsburg, where we had planned on staying for the night. We rode on the Colonial Parkway which was built during the Depression to create more jobs...it's still the same road! It was a bit bumpy but very pretty! As all 8 of us rode into the city, I felt like a celebrity or something. Everyone was looking at us and pointing, we pulled up to the Hospitality House Hotel, which was absolutely beautiful! The Kiwanis graciously set Mike up with a suite in the nicest hotel I had possibly ever seen! They said we were welcome to stay with him as the suite was two rooms, equipped with a kitchen and large restroom! We were so excited! They told us to get cleaned up and meet them at the Green Room Cafe next door where we enjoyed a nice tasty brew and some juicy burgers that were half off!!
We enjoyed their company and to my surprise my great Uncle Stole, Aunt Jan, and second cousin Jeff took time out of their evening to meet me there as well! We visited and it was so neat to have a part of my family there, so far away from home!It had been a great day and we were so close to finishing, we all couldnt help having a lovely time!
Day 83
Today was it, the last day of biking across the country, day #83! We met Bill out front of the hotel at 9:00 sharp and there were some people there taking our pictures and interviewing Mike. We again felt like celebrities, an awesome way to finish our adventure! We had a total of 13 miles to ride and Bill led us through Colonial Williamsburg as well as on the Colonial Parkway once again right next to the York River where we could smell the salty goodness! It was a lovely morning and we made it to the statue mid morning! We took some photos, hip hip hoorayed, and quickly rode our bikes down the hill, so they could taste the Atlantic. We dipped our wheels in and then jumped in helmets and all to bask in our glory! It was a moment to remember thats for sure!
After, Bill and his wife made room for our bikes and gear in their cars and drove us to have lunch with the Kiwani's at their weekly meeting! We arrived at Joe & Mimma's Italian Restaurant where the entire backroom was reserved for the Kiwani Club. As we walked into the room, spandex and all, we were applauded for just biking across the country. As you could imagine we were all a bit suprised and did not expect such a nice welcome! The president introduced Mike and he stood up in front of the club explaining the inns and outs of the camp he was raising money for that was sponsored by the Kiwanis Club in Oregon. They then invited us up to talk about Invisible Children as well as Rob and Dan to talk about Cyclists Fighting Cancer. We realized that between the five of us we had raised close to $20,000, all for organizations dedicated to helping children. It was such an awesome way to finish the tour, I mean to be greeted by all these people who were so eager to find out how they could help and wanting to be there to congratulate us, complete strangers at that. As well as finishing as a group, we had become a family, and bringing it back to the reason that we all decided to do this in the first place; it truly couldn't have been a better ending to a trip of memories that will last a lifetime.
Mark and I have decided that we are each going to write a reflection entry. I'm not sure if anyone will read it because the trips over now, but I have learned alot this summer and have a few final thoughts that I would like to write down, to have to look at in the future. So you all have Kristen's words of wisdom to look forward to! ha Take care and thanks so much for all your support over the last few months, we truly would'nt have been able to do it without all of you! So thank you!!! We've done it!!!!
We ate at Perkins for breakfast, gulped down two pots of coffee between Mike and I, applied sunscreen, and set out for the day. Today, the roads were not that secluded, rather busy, a lot of traffic, and loud. We had to ride single-file and it wasn't until about half-way into the day that we found the peace and quiet, country roads we all prefer so much more! It was a hot day and we stopped for a cold beverage at a gas station. Mike came to the table wearing a leather doo-rag and goggles and we couldn't help but crack up.
We made it to Cannon City about mid-day where we had planned to meet up with a few Kiwanis members from the Yorktown Chapter. Mike had been in contact with the group since the start of the trip and they wanted to ride with him for the last 40 miles or so. We met Bill, a former president of the group, Claire, and Jack. They were ready to go and Bill set the pace. I was having trouble keeping up with his 15 mph pace, so although he was 70, he could still definitely get those legs going! They took us on a very scenic tour on the route to Williamsburg, where we had planned on staying for the night. We rode on the Colonial Parkway which was built during the Depression to create more jobs...it's still the same road! It was a bit bumpy but very pretty! As all 8 of us rode into the city, I felt like a celebrity or something. Everyone was looking at us and pointing, we pulled up to the Hospitality House Hotel, which was absolutely beautiful! The Kiwanis graciously set Mike up with a suite in the nicest hotel I had possibly ever seen! They said we were welcome to stay with him as the suite was two rooms, equipped with a kitchen and large restroom! We were so excited! They told us to get cleaned up and meet them at the Green Room Cafe next door where we enjoyed a nice tasty brew and some juicy burgers that were half off!!
We enjoyed their company and to my surprise my great Uncle Stole, Aunt Jan, and second cousin Jeff took time out of their evening to meet me there as well! We visited and it was so neat to have a part of my family there, so far away from home!It had been a great day and we were so close to finishing, we all couldnt help having a lovely time!
Day 83
Today was it, the last day of biking across the country, day #83! We met Bill out front of the hotel at 9:00 sharp and there were some people there taking our pictures and interviewing Mike. We again felt like celebrities, an awesome way to finish our adventure! We had a total of 13 miles to ride and Bill led us through Colonial Williamsburg as well as on the Colonial Parkway once again right next to the York River where we could smell the salty goodness! It was a lovely morning and we made it to the statue mid morning! We took some photos, hip hip hoorayed, and quickly rode our bikes down the hill, so they could taste the Atlantic. We dipped our wheels in and then jumped in helmets and all to bask in our glory! It was a moment to remember thats for sure!
After, Bill and his wife made room for our bikes and gear in their cars and drove us to have lunch with the Kiwani's at their weekly meeting! We arrived at Joe & Mimma's Italian Restaurant where the entire backroom was reserved for the Kiwani Club. As we walked into the room, spandex and all, we were applauded for just biking across the country. As you could imagine we were all a bit suprised and did not expect such a nice welcome! The president introduced Mike and he stood up in front of the club explaining the inns and outs of the camp he was raising money for that was sponsored by the Kiwanis Club in Oregon. They then invited us up to talk about Invisible Children as well as Rob and Dan to talk about Cyclists Fighting Cancer. We realized that between the five of us we had raised close to $20,000, all for organizations dedicated to helping children. It was such an awesome way to finish the tour, I mean to be greeted by all these people who were so eager to find out how they could help and wanting to be there to congratulate us, complete strangers at that. As well as finishing as a group, we had become a family, and bringing it back to the reason that we all decided to do this in the first place; it truly couldn't have been a better ending to a trip of memories that will last a lifetime.
Mark and I have decided that we are each going to write a reflection entry. I'm not sure if anyone will read it because the trips over now, but I have learned alot this summer and have a few final thoughts that I would like to write down, to have to look at in the future. So you all have Kristen's words of wisdom to look forward to! ha Take care and thanks so much for all your support over the last few months, we truly would'nt have been able to do it without all of you! So thank you!!! We've done it!!!!
Day 81: Charlottesville to Ashland
We hit up Starbucks at 6:30 am where we used our graduation giftcards for the first time! This was the first Starbucks we had run into on the road, besides Fort Collins! We rode past a tree full of butterflies so I was happy and just kept riding! On days like today when you prepare for a long day of riding, everything just kinda blends together, at least for me. I took a video of myself going downhill at one point saying yaa-hoo the entire time and well to be honest thats all I really remember! Except for the story Rob told me about spinning so hard in spin class that the bike started smoking, I almost fell off my bike!
We went to a chinese food restaurant where they served us each about three pounds of food and then we decided we would call around to find the cheapest hotel room in Ashland. Let me rephrase, I called around to find the cheapest hotel room in Ashland, you'll never believe it $43 for a two beds for the five of us. Even cheaper then camping in some instances!! We were all pretty stoked about that and enjoyed a nice sleep in a real bed except for Mike that is, he had to sleep on the ground poor guy!
Kristen
We went to a chinese food restaurant where they served us each about three pounds of food and then we decided we would call around to find the cheapest hotel room in Ashland. Let me rephrase, I called around to find the cheapest hotel room in Ashland, you'll never believe it $43 for a two beds for the five of us. Even cheaper then camping in some instances!! We were all pretty stoked about that and enjoyed a nice sleep in a real bed except for Mike that is, he had to sleep on the ground poor guy!
Kristen
Friday, August 28, 2009
Day 80 Vesuvius to Charlottesville
This is the day we have all been waiting for! We grabbed a good hearty breakfast at Gertie's Cafe and headed up the hill!! It was pretty darn steep and for about 4 miles we were climbing up and up and up. Seeing some fellow cyclists flying down what we were were slowly climbing, was a bit distracting. The ride was beautiful but tough. Each pedal was a conscious effort especially with only two rings on my bike.
We all made it within the hour and reached the Blue Ridge Parkway which was absolutely gorgeous, lush green foliage lined the parkway on either side of us with valleys and forests glowed in the distance as far as we could see. We stopped at a few overlooks and at one particular one, we met Leo who was having some major problems with his bike. He was headed West to Oregon and we gave him some advice, wished him the best of luck, and as we were leaving we saw a huge black snake slithering into the bush, I screamed! We stopped in Afton, Virginia, another place we had been reccommended to go and planned on having lunch there.
Thats when we met June, the Cookie Lady. She has resided in Afton for most of her life and has been catering to cyclists since the bicentennial in 76. She originally found many cyclists coming through her small town and offered water to them out of her hose. She then dedicated her side house, known as the bike house, to all passing through cyclists. It is a shrine to bicycles, cyclists, their stories, memorabilia and everything else you could possibly imagine about bikes. Over 14,000 cyclists have signed the guestbook, got their pictures taken, and have slept under the bike house roof. It is a truly amazing sight! We were all in shock and just kept wandering around the place, there were about four rooms and you couldn't even see the walls..they were covered in post cards, and newspaper clippings from the years past. We visited with her for a long time, listening to her telling us stories of all the cyclists from over the years. She offered us cookies of course and we ate a lot of them! We said our goodbyes and got our photos taken and headed on our way to Charlottesville.
We didn't exactly know where we were going to stay and somehow arrived at the conclusion of camping out at a church on their back lawn. We originally were thinking of staying at a fraternity house however, after inquiring with a few we weren't exactly 100% they wanted 5 bikers there, especially four men in spandex, i probably would have been fine on my own ha! So we went across the street to the church, everything always works out you know! We took hose showers and grabbed some dinner at a local restaurant in town. We slept under the stars and prepared for a 94 mile day!~
Kristen
We all made it within the hour and reached the Blue Ridge Parkway which was absolutely gorgeous, lush green foliage lined the parkway on either side of us with valleys and forests glowed in the distance as far as we could see. We stopped at a few overlooks and at one particular one, we met Leo who was having some major problems with his bike. He was headed West to Oregon and we gave him some advice, wished him the best of luck, and as we were leaving we saw a huge black snake slithering into the bush, I screamed! We stopped in Afton, Virginia, another place we had been reccommended to go and planned on having lunch there.
Thats when we met June, the Cookie Lady. She has resided in Afton for most of her life and has been catering to cyclists since the bicentennial in 76. She originally found many cyclists coming through her small town and offered water to them out of her hose. She then dedicated her side house, known as the bike house, to all passing through cyclists. It is a shrine to bicycles, cyclists, their stories, memorabilia and everything else you could possibly imagine about bikes. Over 14,000 cyclists have signed the guestbook, got their pictures taken, and have slept under the bike house roof. It is a truly amazing sight! We were all in shock and just kept wandering around the place, there were about four rooms and you couldn't even see the walls..they were covered in post cards, and newspaper clippings from the years past. We visited with her for a long time, listening to her telling us stories of all the cyclists from over the years. She offered us cookies of course and we ate a lot of them! We said our goodbyes and got our photos taken and headed on our way to Charlottesville.
We didn't exactly know where we were going to stay and somehow arrived at the conclusion of camping out at a church on their back lawn. We originally were thinking of staying at a fraternity house however, after inquiring with a few we weren't exactly 100% they wanted 5 bikers there, especially four men in spandex, i probably would have been fine on my own ha! So we went across the street to the church, everything always works out you know! We took hose showers and grabbed some dinner at a local restaurant in town. We slept under the stars and prepared for a 94 mile day!~
Kristen
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Day 79 Troutville to Vesuvius
We were suprised to find Carleen at 7am by the pavilion equipped with her camera in hand snapping photos of us like we were celebrities! We chatted with her for a bit and were on our way. We were riding down the highway and there went Carleen in her car! She stopped twice down the road to take more photos of us! A bit strange but we just kept riding! The boys went to Burger King for lunch and I just couldn't do it, so I ate a pb&j instead. We rode our bikes over a walking bridge which was a bit rickety but we survived!
We made it into Lexington by the afternoon and decided to take a long break there. We toured Washington and Lee University and walked around the old historic town. We ate some ice cream and enjoyed the beautiful sunny afternoon! We rode the last 20 miles or so with a light sprinkle of rain and pulled into Vesuvius behind Gerthie's Store. We ate some delicious peaches and took some hose showers, played some cards and drifted into dream land!
We had been hearing about the horrors of the climb right after Vesuvius for months now. We met numerous people who said they had feared for their lives on the descent down and were uncontrollaby hitting 45 mph while slamming on their breaks. The same mountain that we had to pedal up! We were told it was about a four mile climb and the steepest on the map. I was worried and definitely have dreamt about it! Another guy we talked to actually crashed on his way down, skidding his elbows pretty bad, so bad that Elbows became his nickname, and had to go to the hospital! Others told us that their rims were so hot they were smoking! Tomorrow we would find out for ourselves!!!
Kristen
We made it into Lexington by the afternoon and decided to take a long break there. We toured Washington and Lee University and walked around the old historic town. We ate some ice cream and enjoyed the beautiful sunny afternoon! We rode the last 20 miles or so with a light sprinkle of rain and pulled into Vesuvius behind Gerthie's Store. We ate some delicious peaches and took some hose showers, played some cards and drifted into dream land!
We had been hearing about the horrors of the climb right after Vesuvius for months now. We met numerous people who said they had feared for their lives on the descent down and were uncontrollaby hitting 45 mph while slamming on their breaks. The same mountain that we had to pedal up! We were told it was about a four mile climb and the steepest on the map. I was worried and definitely have dreamt about it! Another guy we talked to actually crashed on his way down, skidding his elbows pretty bad, so bad that Elbows became his nickname, and had to go to the hospital! Others told us that their rims were so hot they were smoking! Tomorrow we would find out for ourselves!!!
Kristen
Day 78 Radford to Troutville
Today we have completed MAP 11 and we are now on our last map!!! We stopped after 13 miles and ate at the Country Kitchen Restaurant in Christiansburg. The boys practiced some aerodynamic bike moves and we found an apple tree and played a version of apple baseball with a bike pump. Oh the small things in life that you'll never forget!
Rob and I were riding along, side by side, in the back of the pack and talking about god knows what, and Rob screamed out in shock! He said, "You just ran over a lizard and his tail shot off!!" So of course, we made a u turn and took a video of the lizard, well two halves of it. The tail was blue neon and still squirming around. Apparently, a lizard can shoot his tail off as a defense mechanism to distract his predator, and in this case he shot his tail off but got run over twice, once by my front wheel and again by my back tire, poor thing.
We made it to the city park and set up camp under the pavillion. While the boys played a game of basketball and another game of horseshoes, I went across the street to the fire station and asked if I could shower and do some laundry! The guys were really nice and let us all shower there! We decided to BBQ and had a feast for dinner. They cooked me dinner! We had steak and brats and potato salad and coleslaw! We met a women named Carleen who loved all the boys and gave us a few laughs! I somehow lost my shoes, they must have fallen off my bungee, (the 3rd time this has happpened) and so Carleen gave me a pair of her Saucony tennis shoes! What a doll! They were a perfect fit and really comfortable! However, before then, when I walked over to the fire department I wore Marks shoes which were, well you could imagine, huge on me and I looked like a clown, pretty priceless as you could imagine. I definitely received a few funny looks!
Night Night Kristen
Rob and I were riding along, side by side, in the back of the pack and talking about god knows what, and Rob screamed out in shock! He said, "You just ran over a lizard and his tail shot off!!" So of course, we made a u turn and took a video of the lizard, well two halves of it. The tail was blue neon and still squirming around. Apparently, a lizard can shoot his tail off as a defense mechanism to distract his predator, and in this case he shot his tail off but got run over twice, once by my front wheel and again by my back tire, poor thing.
We made it to the city park and set up camp under the pavillion. While the boys played a game of basketball and another game of horseshoes, I went across the street to the fire station and asked if I could shower and do some laundry! The guys were really nice and let us all shower there! We decided to BBQ and had a feast for dinner. They cooked me dinner! We had steak and brats and potato salad and coleslaw! We met a women named Carleen who loved all the boys and gave us a few laughs! I somehow lost my shoes, they must have fallen off my bungee, (the 3rd time this has happpened) and so Carleen gave me a pair of her Saucony tennis shoes! What a doll! They were a perfect fit and really comfortable! However, before then, when I walked over to the fire department I wore Marks shoes which were, well you could imagine, huge on me and I looked like a clown, pretty priceless as you could imagine. I definitely received a few funny looks!
Night Night Kristen
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