Last day

These photos were taken by a reporter from the Newport News Daily Press
in Yorktown, VA on July 6th.

Almost There

We are set to wheel into Yorktown tomorrow afternoon at about 4:00pm, eastern time to complete our transAmerica ride. We are about 35 miles from Yorktown tonight.

Thanks to the promotional efforts of Valerie and Suzanne the Yorktown paper is meeting us at the beach to do a story.

We rode through Richmond this morning and had a glorious ride along the James River toward Williamsburg. (note that "glorious" really means mostly downhill). It was sauna-oppressive-hot though!!! We are tired... And bit freaked out about the ride ending... But we are very excited.

-Peter

VA Adventures

 

I told Suzanne that she needs a new look because this one is taken.


 


We are glad she is here taking care of us, because we are dragging a bit.
It's getting tough to keep going, but there are only 4 days of riding left.   Yesterday we got to take showers at a YMCA!   Tomorrow we are going to the Appomattox Courthouse Museum and then riding the rest of the day.

We are running into larger towns and went to a bike store in Radford, VA, a college town, and got swindled for two new tires for Peter's bike. 
But I'm not bitter.

We went to WalMart and bought new biking gloves, because ours were so worn that our hands are aching at the end of every day.  And when we wake up in the morning.  And just around suppertime.


There are churches next to churches and across the street from churches here.  One street we rode down had 10 churches in less than a mile.  Each has an historical plaque explaining that it was founded in 1781 by Thomas Paine or Henry Clay, or it was where Abraham Lincoln made his First Communion.  There are churches with special names like "Homegrown Church of the Real Truth Disciples."  We passed a church that had a marquee that said on one side: "Man's greatest possession is God."  On the other side it said: "Love God as you are loved by others."  Then I hit a pothole and swerved to avoid a car.



Yesterday I was stung by a wasp.  It just flew up and stung me on the elbow.  Now my elbow itches like crazy.     This is my new elbow:

Peter's latest Hai Ku Activity:

         Across the US
         Bicycling all the way
         Saw the Sky....and Cows.


         Body parts that hurt
         But we ride on every day
         The roadkill is gross.


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Our new portrait:

Sights of Virginia

Some days are harder than others

We're in Virginia, our final state. It seems that the closer we get to the end, the more difficulties we encounter.

Although we've been chased by a lot of dogs, for example, I actually had to pepper-spray a persistent beast this week. I had passed a yardful of kids playing on a swing set and their dog suddenly gave chase. He was trying to bite my front tire and wouldn't take no for an answer.

Since then, we've gotten separated for half a day, had to re-route because of an interstate we weren't aware of, had to buy new tires for both bikes and one for the camper. Today, Suzanne is taking the camper to a repair place in Roanoke to see if they can figure out why the generator isn't providing power to the coach.

Oh, and today's headline on the local paper is "Heat tops 100-year record".
It's 100.

So, we're pushing on and Suzanne is a big help. She found us free showers yesterday and does the shopping and cooking without any instruction. Which we are less and less capable of providing.

There are about 6or 7 days of riding left.