One last....

….sunrise over the ocean.  One last dolphin sighting.  One last walk on the beach.

The dolphins were fairly close as they let me walk with them down the beach.  They were playful as some of them breached and slapped their tails.  What a treat!!

There were fewer and fewer people on the beach for the sunrise as the week progressed.  There was one young man however who always arrived a few steps ahead or behind me each day.  He was a runner.  The last day I found him just sitting on the sand with his camera.  My hope was that he hadn’t hurt anything but was enjoying things from a different perspective.  Sure hope his pictures turn out.

We decided, after watching the sunrise to head for home a day early.  We’ve been gone about 9 ½ weeks and it was time to return to the nest.   We got a later start than usual.  Traffic was heavy the first part of the day and it was rainy the latter part of the day.  We made it home safe and sound with yet another adventure under our belts.

For these and all our gifts, we give thanks.

August 3

Should have ended it when it ended.

That was the way I felt last night when I was trying to get to sleep in the Virginia Beach KOA Campground.  It was your typical couple hundred site campground.  Mega RVs, medium RVs, 5^th wheels, pop-ups, tents of every shape and size, cabins, deluxe cabins and super deluxe cabins.  Anything you could want.  The only thing was that you were not allowed to sleep in your van or car – go figure.  We managed to get through the night, although I think I fell asleep about 4:00.  Jack blew the bugle about 5:00 so that we could leave by 5:30 and get him to the airport by 6:00 in time for his 8:00 flight.  So we lost one Coaster to USAir.  The rest of us headed South to Virginia Beach where we connected up with more relatives for a week  of fun and frolic.

So now it is August 6^th.  My how time flies!  I’ve managed to get up every morning for sunrise and one dolphin sighting.  The weather is the weather – somewhat wet, sometimes sunny.  Had good food and a night at a restaurant last e evening.   Some people when to visit Yorktown today.  Since we were just there for 3 days last week I decided to stay back.  Thinking of jeans, long sleeve shirt and the beach.  A different combination.

It Happened on Wednesday !!!

 I had taken the longer scenic road in to Yorktown instead of I-64.  Met up with the guys along the way.  Found my way to the Victory Memorial which was on the top of a hill.  It kind of makes me wonder – the official beginning and end of the route were at places close to the water but  nowhere near where a person could dip their bike wheel in to the water – which is suppose to be the tradition.   While I was waiting for the guys I wondered around town for awhile and ended up sitting by the waterfront.  There is a beach where people were swimming in the river.  As I sat and watch the kids a thought came to me.  The guys would be dipping their wheels later in the day.  But wait a minute I was a part of this team also (I think, at least in my head).  I realized that it would not be a good idea for me to dip the front van wheels in the water, so I dipped my feet.  And I took a picture also.  I only wish I had done the same on the day we started the adventure.  Guess I have to go back and do it all again (NOT!)

At preset we are guests of Grace Episcopal Church in Yorktown.  There is a house next to the church that is used for meetings, Sunday School, etc.  When it is not being used they open it up to bikers.  Even though there were fresh linens on the bed last evening we all chose to sleep on our air mattresses on the floor.  

Since we do not need to be anywhere until Saturday we are staying over another night in the warmth and dryness of the house.  There was another biker here last evening Dave from Portland.  He had just gotten back in December from serving 2 years in the Peace Corp in Africa.  Interesting guy to say the least.  He was headed back to Richmond VA in order to ship his bike home and begin a trip by bus and train up the east coast in order to visit friends.  It was a rainy morning so Jerry and I offered to drive him to Richmond.  It was about 90 minutes each way but time well spent.  At least on the way there.  On the way home we tried for about 45 minutes to locate a grocery story.  By the time we did we were both pretty tired cranky and needing to get out of the car.  But it is all good now.  Jeff and Jerry are at the Pub again.  The sun is coming out and I’m, thinking of a walk.

I hope I’m able to reflect on the trip a little more as time goes on but for now this is all I have.

Thanks for following along with me.  Thanks for your support and prayers.  Stay tune for more updates since this blog is not just about the bike trip.  The bike trip just happens to be what my life has been about for the last 2 months.  I'll probably be back 'on the move' tomorrow.

From Somewhere in VA

Why I’m Looking Forward to August 2013  (Not necessarily in order of importance)

***

-sleeping in one spot for more than one night

-fixing and eating something besides pasta and salad for supper each night

-being able to use the bathroom without leaving the house

-being able to flush, knowing there is always paper, not having to check for bugs, not having to stand in line, 

not having to find the nearest gas station

-knowing the shower is clean, not having to wear flip-flops, not having to check for bugs, having a little room to spread out towels, clothes, etc., having the shower ventilated so that you can breathe

-missing the symphony of tent and sleeping bag zippers during the night and early in the early morning

-not being awaken at 5:00 a.m.

-not having to listen to the deflation of air mattresses at 5:00 a.m.

-worrying about the guys during the day especially on windy, hilly roads and during hot or wet weather

-packing the tent up each day, sometimes wet

-being left alone in city parks and other strange places

-seeing friends and relatives

-clearing out and cleaning the van

-not having to shop almost every day for buy peanut butter, jelly, bread, bananas, pasta, sauce, salad and beer

-feeling clean and not having to keep track of how clean the clothes are

-not living with three guys in their biking shorts

-not looking for a campsite or sleeping in city parks

-not following maps and directions

-not having to remember what city you are in or looking stupid when someone asked you where you were 

yesterday and you can’t remember

-just being home

The Sounds of the Night

We camped last evening at the Mallard Duck Campground in a (tongue in cheek) suburb of Lexington VA.  It was a challenge to find but when we did it passed our (tongue in cheek) tough standards.  Things were fine until bedtime.  My first problem was that I went to bed before I was really tired.

Then there were the noises –

-dog across the road barking literally all night

-sound of beanbags hitting the corn hole platforms

-music being played on the other side of the campground

-music being played on our side of the campground

-traffic on the road close to the tent

-community of old men, which I thought was kind of cute at first, getting progressively louder and crazy

-trains passing by, at least 4 that while laying on our air mattresses you could feel the ground vibrate

-another dog howling in the distance

-lightning and thunder on the other side of the mountain which made for a hasty trip to the bathroom before it started raining, which it never did

-snoring coming from my tent mate telling me he was sleeping through all of this

-a bird thinking 4:30 was a good time to welcome the morning

The only sound I missed was the Sound of Silence……

July 28

Thanks to the rain and prediction of high winds, large hail and flash floods we did not camp in the city park last night.  We stayed in a motel in Daleville.  The same one I stayed in when I visited Jerry on the AT back in 2010.  All is well.  It did rain all day yesterday but the severe weather did not materialize.  They came in looking like very wet little puppies.  The forecast is for t-storms again today but the guys have a short day today and should beat the weather.  Question is will we be in a campground or motel again tonight.  I hate spoil our record of so very few nights in a motel but then I also don’t always like the idea of sleeping in the tent with lightning and thunder all around.  We all ended up packing up wet yesterday and it would be good to have a chance to dry things out today.  We’ll have to see it that happens. 

Not much to report on.  We’re moving on to Lexington VA today.  They are positioning themselves for MT. Vesuvius on Monday.  Not sure that is the official name of the mountain just the name of the town it is near.  It is the last reportedly huge mountain.  It is all downhill from there I’m told, although they are on the Blue Ridge Parkway for a while.

I’m just hanging out in the motel room for as long as I can so that I don’t have to hang out on the street corner in Lexington where we’re to meet.  Maybe Jack will even beat me there.  He is the speed demon of the group – up and out early.  In the beginning they talked about riding as a group/team, that didn’t last long.  They all fell in to their own rhythm.   I just wish they could look out for each other a little better.  But, it is almost over with and it will be history soon.  One more thing checked off the bucket list.

Hope all is well where you are.

And the rain...

July 27 – Saturday – 9:39 a.m.

“And the rain, rain, rain came down, down, down.” W. the P.   It started about 2:30 this morning and kept it up pretty steady until about 8:00.  That is when the men decided to get up and head for the road.  It is now a little later and raining again.  The campground host just stopped by and said that it was suppose to start up any minute again and sure enough while we were talking it started.  I managed to get the tent down although things are packed up wet.  ‘Packed up’ this morning means shoved in to a plastic bag until the sun comes out again.  Somehow I’m seeing a motel in our future tonight.  We were planning on another city park tonight.  Not my favorite place to be but as I keep telling them, they make the decisions and I follow.  We’ll see what happens.

Normally I would be following the guys on the route but lately there have been so many twists and turns on narrow county roads, and so many route changes that I’ve taken to I-81 and meeting they at their destination.  I’ll do that again today but then backtrack until I find them to make sure all is okay since it is raining.

My hat is off to anyone who drives alone in new and different territory.  I find it very difficult to watch the signs, watch the traffic, read the map and enjoy some of the scenery by myself.  To say I sometimes pull off a lot to check the map, etc. would be an understatement.

We had a first last night.  Jack decided that he wanted a campfire.  He bought the wood from the campground host.  He stacked the wood very ‘boy scoutish’.  He lit the fire.  The kindling burned very nicely.  That was about it.  He worked hard but it difficult when the wood is so very green.  What seemed to give it life were some pistachio nut shells.  We had the nuts in the car since the beginning of the trip but I guess their mission was fulfilled last evening.     Did I mention that it was about 72* last evening when Jack made the fire?   Jerry, Jeff and I enjoyed it from about 10 ft. back.  Jack insisted that it was cool enough to watch it up close.  Oh, Jack…!