UPDATE!

I finally got around to making a video summary of our trip. The total time of these two videos is 19 minutes and takes a few minutes to load.

ENJOY!

Mission Complete

Glad to say we made it safely to the Beach and down to the water. We were surprised to see a much larger crowd than expected. Cameras and cheering greeted us at the boardwalk, it was almost overwhelming. After dropping off our gear and dipping our bikes in the Atlantic ocean, we did a brief interview with the local news.

Our command in the Navy (USS Kearsarge) did some fundraising of their own and managed to raise over $1300. Thank you to everyone involved.

We're glad to be back and we'd like to thank everyone for coming out to see us. We'll be posting more pictures along with our closing comments about our trip shortly.

Almost.

There.


We're in Norfolk, VA. After a rough day of riding on broken wheels we were saved by Freddie James. He owns a bunch of local bike shops in the Hampton Roads area. He supported our trip with a spare wheel and some quick alignment. We slept in his shop in Franklin, VA.

We're on time, so we'll see you all down on the beach tomorrow. 1pm.

The pain is setting in...

With less than 200 miles to go, everything hurts. We've been putting down 80+ and even 90+ miles per day to close in on our destination in a timely manner. Unfortunately we don't get a lot of down time so our muscles don't really ever heal. Every time we start riding we feel sore until about 5 miles and then we're good until we stop again.

We finally made it out of the highest peaks in Virginia. We were surprised to see the amazing views we did from the road as we enjoyed the best downhill of the trip. Only because it was the last mountain we had to climb.

We've stayed on 58 East pretty much all of this state and camp in the yards of families that live along it. We stayed in Whitney and Chad's yard just outside Galax, VA. Their dogs didn't know what to think of us. We also stayed in Anthony's yard in Axton, VA. Anthony contacted a Danville radio station and told them to look out for us coming down 58. Not surprisingly, a state trooper pulled up beside me and offered water and said we had every one's full support. After running into Anthony again later that day, we did a phone interview with that same radio station.

Thanks again to everyone for supporting us. We'll be finished soon, but we couldn't have made it this far without you.

Finally...Virginia

We're in VA!

So much nonsense has occurred in the last few days, I don't think I could fit it in this blog.

We took a day off to rest before the mountains in Russell Springs, KY. The last time we took any days off was when I was really sick in New Mexico. On our first day back in the game we made it about 20 miles before a crazy dog decided to run straight into Andrew's bike and break his rear wheel. While trying to figure out what to do we were approached by a man named Richard. He used to race bicycles and took Andrew and his bike to the closest bike shop. Cumberland Cycles in Somerset, KY was very helpful in getting us (we're a team) back on the road.

Then came the mountains. We camped in the Daniel Boone National Forest through a night of light rain. We biked through Corbin, KY and Middlesboro, KY before reaching the Cumberland Gap. This tunnel takes you into Tennessee and then you have the option of going into Virginia. We spent a good 45 minutes trying to convince the state troopers and Transit authority to let us ride our bikes through the tunnel. Unfortunately it was deemed "unsafe" and we were forced to ride in their truck for the half mile tunnel. Lame.

Virginia at last! We've only been in VA for 1.5 days and we've already put down over 120 miles in this state.

Working to make it back on time. I can see all of our mileage miscalculations biting us back when we get to the last day of riding. We'll close the gap!

Oh yeah, I was attacked by a bird while I was riding yesterday. We're not sure what caused it, but I'm fine.

Homecoming Info.

We appear to be right on schedule so we can now post our homecoming date/time/location.

We well be arriving in Virginia Beach, Virginia on Friday the 12th of June at 1:00 PM. We're going to be coming down Shore drive and Atlantic Ave. We will complete our journey by the Poseidon Statue located on the boardwalk (Intersection of Laskin Rd and Atlantic Ave). We'll let you know if any of this changes.

We hope to see you there.

Second to last.

State, not post.

We're doing our best to stay on course and keep our mileage maxed out. We biked over 80 miles into Kentucky and camped not too far from the Ohio river in Wicliffe, KY. Crossing the Mississippi River and the Ohio River was incredible. They meet at the southern tip of Illinois which we rode across briefly to catch the next bridge. As we crossed the bridge, a man was yelling at us from the information post, but we waved him off and kept biking. Moments later a truck caught up with us and the lady driving told us that the guy was just trying to get our help. It turns out he is also biking across the country and had some mechanical problems. Andrew went back over and helped fix his bike!

Another 80 mile day landed us just past Barkley Lake. A large recreation area and popular tourist attraction. While looking for a campsite we met Beth, who offered us a place to camp on her property in Canton, KY. It was a tough ride, but we made it to her house and set up camp. We stayed up with her and her husband, Jim, in their lovely home discussing her time on the Appalachian Trail. Between pictures and stories I'm pretty certain that will be the next big adventure. After a quick shower and some pizza, we retired to our tent in their yard. Thank you Beth and Jim!!! road magic.

My seat broke while I was lifting my bike, so Andrew and Jim used some JB weld to fix it. If this doesnt hold up, I'll have to settle for a Wal-Mart seat since there aren't any bike shops around.

We're moving fast, so we might be in VA next time you hear from us!