The Real Day #1

WILLIAMSBURG, VA--Today we rode over to Yorktown to dip our wheels ceremoniously in the York River. We stopped and talked with a member of Blackbeard's Crew for a while...primarily discussing the world flint shortage. With that out of the way we ate breakfast at the Duke of York. A loaded cyclist stopped there while we were eating. He said he was with the Adventure Cycling Transamerica group. They are leaving today also for Williamsburg.

I am sure we will encounter him again. We rode by the rest of the AC group near the Victory Center...about half a dozen of them. Maybe we won't see them again. Maybe they'll get a few days ahead of us and we'll never really meet up.

I actually rode to Yorktown last Tuesday. I met Jerry and Lynne Lisenby on Main St. They were staying at the Grace Episcopal bike hostel in Yorktown and were riding down to dip their wheels. They asked if I would take their pictures. Of course I said "yes." They turned out to be from Peoria, Illinois.

Jerry is one of America's biggest losers...from the TV show, that is. He has lost somewhere around 130 pounds. He is pretty famous. His wife Lynne is in charge of mental health services at the Peoria Children's Home. They are riding to raise money for the Home.

Later in the day I ran into Todd Morrison from Portland, Oregon. He is riding from the D.C. area up to Pittsburg on a series of canal and rail trails. I believe he said it was a 400 mile trip and almost all of it is on dedicated bike paths.

The first thing he did when we met was to enter my cell number in his phone. We both wandered around for a good part of the afternoon in different directions. Then he called me up and gave me a ride back to Williamsburg in his rented van. Nice.

Mike and I didn't have that option. But it was such a beautiful ride on the Colonial Parkway that the miles flew by.

Tomorrow: Glendale, 50 miles, camping at a church.

Today's Handlebar Statistics
Distance: 32 miles
Ride Time: 3 hours
Avg. Speed: 11 mph
Max. Speed: 25 mph
Total Dist: 32 miles
Elev. Gain: 1011 ft. (According to Mike's GPS)