Conclusion

This ride has been an incredible experience for me and my brother. I had hoped to write a grand conclusion post, but I’m finding it a bit difficult to sum it all up.. there were just so many meaningful experiences in this 51 day journey, and so many different aspects to it. As such, this post will probably be more of a collection of thoughts than a proper summary.

I suppose I have always enjoyed travelling and seeing new places, and I love bicycling, so bicycle touring was a natural fit for me. A couple years ago when I moved to Vancouver, I drove across the country – part of it with Dan (curiously, he also met me in Colorado on this trip). We really enjoyed travelling the countryside and seeing some parts of our amazing country which were new to us. I think we were keen to see a little more and have a little adventure.. and, well, I guess you know the rest. 

Touring with my brother was wonderful – as expected, and I will take back with me countless beautiful visions from our journey.. the rugged beauty of Idaho and Montana, the red rock of Wyoming, the mountains of Colorado, the plains in Kansas, the rolling hils and the Ozarks in Missouri, the fields and hills of Kentucky, and the Appalachians and lowlands in Virginia. Dan and I have been on plenty of crazy adventures together, and this one certainly will rank up there.

One somewhat underanticipated aspect of this tour was our countless uplifting interactions with all kinds of people met along the way.  I have always believed that people are basically good, and this trip has very much bolstered this faith. Although we had a couple of bad experiences with nasty drivers, nearly everyone we met was helpful and encouraging. In fact, the number of people we met who were willing to go well out of their way to help us was simply overwhelming.

Back on Day 27 when Dan and I stayed at Dan and Elaines’ bicyclist-only B&B (Bazine, Kansas), Elaine mentioned that when she was creating this B&B, some of her friends were very suspicious of the cyclists – and warned her that the bicyclists would likely rob them or worse. I giggled when I heard this, since I know the type of person who bicycles across the country, and it is pretty hard for me to imagine a cross-country-bicyclist/robber. On the flip side, I think some of the people following me were worried that some random back-country type person would run me down for the fun of it – and I think this too is extremely unlikely (though not impossible). The more you meet different types of people from different walks of life, the more you recognize that our similarities run much deeper than our differences.

Perhaps the most unexpectedly positive aspect of this trip was the fun of writing this blog. This started as little more than a way to keep my parents up to date as to my wherabouts, but grew into much more. After time, many people were reading about our trip, and I found this online interaction incredibly supportive. There were some tough days out riding in the sun, and knowing that my friends and familiy were following me along certainly helped me through. Thanks so much to everyone for your support.. this really wouldn’t have happened without it.

Day 51 – the finale!

Day 51 was a wonderful and triumphant ride of about 95 miles from Ashland to the final destination for my trip – Yorktown. This day just went perfectly.. I felt great, and the weather was (finally) comfortable.

As usual, I hit the road pretty early and planned to do most of the ride before noon. Although I was certainly excited to complete my journey, I also had a bunch of miles to cover, so I just settled into a relaxed pace and enjoyed the morning. The stretch of countryside I was riding through was hotly contested during the Civil War, and I passed by numerous battlefields. There weren’t any hills to speak of, and the roads were generally quite pretty – although there was a bit more traffic than I’d have liked near Richmond. Here is a shot of a nice stretch of a nice stretch on the way in toward Jamestown.

The towns of Jamestown, Williamsburg, and Yorktown form a small triangle of historic English settlements. Williamsburg is the only town in this trio I am familiar with, but it is also the only one of any significant size, so I had originally planned to stop there for lunch and some touristing. However, I needed a bathroom break around Jamestown, so I stopped there first.. when I discovered they had a big museum (with big cafeteria), I decided to spend my afternoon there instead. This turned out to be a good choice.

Although I hadn’t been previously aware of this, Jamestown was the first permanent English settlement in America, and this is actually its quadcentennial – it was established in 1607. They have now created a replica of this town (just north of the original site), complete with ships, fort, indian village, and plenty of costumed guides.. although I find these things a little hokey, the accompanying museum was terrific – so I spent a long time there.

The history of Jamestown is fascinating, and is rich with some of the themes which would later shape our nation. Curiously, it was established not by the English Empire, but rather as a commercial endeavor of the Virginia Company – we were born of campitalism! The early settlers were aware of the natives, so upon landing, they constructed a small but sturdy fort. Early relations with the natives were quite mixed.. there was certainly useful trading to be done between the two groups, but they fought again and again, and peacetimes were uncomfortable at best. Life was very difficult for the early settlers, and the survival of the settlement was by no means certain.. they depended heavily upon supplies from England and had little to offer in return. Then, around 1610, one of the settlers crossed the seeds from the Venezuela and Trinidad tobaccos to create the Virginia Bright Tobacco.. this proved to be a hit among the English, and soon Jamestown had a functional economy: goods in, tobacco out. Just a little while later, an English vessel on its way to Jamestown captured a Portuguese ship with some African slaves aboard. These slaves were taken to Jamestown and used to work in the tobacco fields.. and it quickly became apparent that this was the most cost-effective way to produce their main export. I guess I shouldn’t give too much more history here, but if interested to learn more, try Wikpedia’s Jamestown, Virginia.

By about 5, I was starting to get itchy to make it to my final destination, so I got back on the bike. I had about 20 miles to go to Yorktown, all on the Colonial Parkway. The road was a bit annoying since it is composed of that concrete + stones type mixture instead of pavement, but I was so excited to be on my way to Yorktown that I barely cared.. the miles just flew by. I had been holding onto the American flag I was given on the 4th of July (back in Washington State), and decided to fly it again.. here is a photo of my bike at my final destination adorned with the flag.

The Episcopal church in Yorktown provides free accommodation for cyclists, and it was magnificent. When I rolled in toward the church, a fellow named John waved to me and came over.. he then brought me into a beautiful little house which overlooks the water where I would stay. I thanked him again and again, then went down to the water to dip my bike.

After this final mission was accomplished, I was just feeling on top of the world. I took a shower, had a meal at the pub, and enjoyed a little walk along the beach before heading back to the house to curl up in bed and watch tv (sleep). Dan and Megan would pick me up on their way back from North Carolina the next day, and I was happy as could be.. journey completed.

Note: I will make a conclusion/summary post in a day or so.

Guest Post by Dan

After a week away from bike touring and enjoying my vacation from my vacation I thought that I would put down few thoughts about the things that I have gained and lost, and a couple of tips that might help bro prepare to reenter society.

 
Things Lost:

2 Spokes

1 Bike Jersey

1 inner tube

3+- Patch kits

16 pounds

A visible amount of tread from my new tires

2 pairs of sunglasses

A sum of money that I’d rather not count  

 

Things Gained

3 weeks of traveling with my brother

Memories of 1500 miles of scenery (Ok, so I’m rounding up)

A better knowledge of my abilities

A better knowledge of my limits

 

Tips for reentering (polite) society

Do not refer to your food as fuel.

Don’t panic when sleeping in the same location for multiple nights.

Bro, thanks for including me on your cross country trip.  It was a great experiance for me, and I really enjoyed sharing it with you.  Let’s do it again sometime, but not too soon.  Have a great final ride and I’ll see you in Yorktown….Dan

Day 50

Day 50 was an easy ride of just under 100 miles from my wonderful hostel in Charlottesville to a hotel in Ashland. Although it was cooler today than the past couple days, it was still hot, so I did all my riding fairly early.

Thanks to some squeaky bunkbeds which kept me up at night and my 5:30 alarm, I managed only 4 hours of sleep. Although I woke up feeling reasonably rested, I felt awfully sluggish when I got on my bike.. and started to wonder if my formula of 3 beers + 4 hours sleep would make this a difficult ride. Fortunately, I started feeling alright after a few miles.

The ride was mostly flat and pleasant, taking me over some rather undistinguished roads

but there was one very pretty stretch where the route crossed Lake Anna three times.

I took a few short breaks on my ride, and rolled into the town of Ashland around 3. I found a tourist info center on my way in and walked in to see what Ashland had to offer. The town turned out to have plenty.. coffee shop with internet, pool, restaurants, and hotels. Although I was planning to camp, there was a coupon offering a room at the Super 8 for $45, and I decided to treat myself. So, I headed to the Super 8, got myself a cheap room, and relaxed – it was feeling good to be under 100 miles from my destination! Dinner would be at Cracker Barrel, and bedtime would be a little earlier.

Day 49

Day 49 was a fun day consisting of a good 70 mile ride from Mallard Duck Campground to a hostel in Charlottesville, followed by a fun evening spent with three interesting people met at the hostel.  Today was another crazy hot day, so I did a shorter ride and finished early, leaving me plenty of time to enjoy myself in Charlottesville.

Although the serious mountain ranges are past, the toughest climb of the trip was encountered this day - it is the climb from Vesuvius up to the Blue Ridge Parkway.  I was camping just 9 miles down from Vesuvius, so I hit the hill early.  I went up strong and controlled – pushing about 25 gear inches. 

At the top of the hill, I came onto the Blue Ridge Parkway – a scenic parkway which is forbidden to commercial traffic and has a strictly enforced 45 mph limit.  The parkway was wonderful riding – you are high enough to really see out across some of Virginia’s beautiful hills and valleys, and there is very little traffic. 

I was surprised to discover that the parkway had some good hills.  I had guessed that the term “Ridge” appearing in the title would mean a pretty steady elevation.  Although these hills weren’t terrible, I think they surprised me a little, and I felt a little slow here.  Fortunately, I wasn’t going far on this day, and it was a good place to take in some scenery.  Photographs of these type of vistas never seem to really capture them.. but here is my feeble attempt.

Over the last few miles I was on the Blue Ridge Parkway, I lost a fair bit of elevation.  I was headed down pretty quickly, and nearly had an accident..  There were two motorcyclists stopped in the oncoming lane and watching two deer.  One of the deer was off on my right, the other crossed left to right in front of me.  Then, just as I approached, the one who had just crossed the road, jumped back out into the road.  I hit my brakes, but the deer quickly crossed back, and there was no trouble.

After getting off the Blue Ridge Parkway, I just wanted to get to Charlottesville as soon as I could.  It was already hot and getting hotter.  I stopped once at a gas station to fill my water bottles, and only once more – when I saw the following sign.

I fueled myself here with an excellent peach and then zoomed into Charlottesville.  The first thing I found was a coffee shop with wifi, so I had an iced coffee while blogging.  Then, I called to get a room at a hostel, and headed there. 

The hostel, Alexander House, was clean and pleasant, and had a number of interesting guests.  I first met Carell, a cute singer/songwriter who is interested in sustainable living, and came to Virginia to spend some time in a like minded community. Later I met a fellow named Matt who is studying Thomas Jefferson for his PhD, and a fellow named Daniel who works as a rescue diver and was on his way to his newly purchased house in Virginia Beach. I was in a celebratory mood since Yorktown was a mere 200 miles away, and I joined these three on a late trip to a karaoke bar. Although our bunch was ecclectic, we got along quite well, and had a most entertaining discussion at the back of the bar. I drank a few pints of Dos Equis and stayed up to 12:30.. breaking all of the rules.

Day 48

Day 48 was a pleasant trip of a little over 100 miles which took me from my ugly tenting site in Christiansburg to Natural Bridge and then to a plain camping ground in between Lexington and Vesuvius. Although this day grew uncomfortably hot and was rather long, it was fun to see Natural Bridge, and I enjoyed the trip.

The morning was again nice and cool, and once again I found myself not pushing hard, but just kindof watching the scenery roll by. Many long stretches of the ride were alongside rivers or train tracks, and the riding was easy. Here are a couple photos I took.

A bit after noon I arrived in the town of Buchanan feeling very very hungry. Much of my food intake is in the form of snacks, and I am definitely growing a bit tired of this. Though my front bag is was stuffed with Cliff Bars, snack crackers, Fig Newtons, and some cookies, I really wanted something else and picked a simple looking little restaurant along main street. I had a Philly Cheese Steak (not quite like the ones from Philadelphia) and then headed over to the library (while crossing my fingers for wifi). Luckily, the library had wireless, so I blogged and surfed the web while giving my stomach a chance to work on lunch. When I left, it was around 2:30, and I was shocked to see that the temperature reading on the bank sign had gone from 89 when I pulled in up to 100. Although I doubted it was actually 100 degrees, it wasn’t too far off.

I inched along the road to Natural Bridge while thinking a little about some camping trips taken long ago. I don’t really remember when the tradition started, but for many years when Dan and I were young, Mom & Berta would take us kids on a Summer camping trip. These were always wonderful adventures which were undoubtedly also very formative. I find it hard now to remember what happened on what trip.. it all seems to be rolled up into one big ball of happy memories.. but I’m sure this is one of the reasons I so love camping now. I had these camping trips on my mind because one year when I was away, our good friend Albert went in place of me, and the trip was to Natural Bridge. So although I’d never been there, it was one of the Summer camping trip destinations.

When I hit Natural Bridge, I was a little disappointed by the entry point.. it was very ugly touristy. Fortunately, after you get through the giant gift shop, you follow a little trail that brings you to the magnificent Natural Bridge, and then on to a handful of other pretty little locations along the river which cut the bridge. Natural Bridge is incredibly stunning, and has an interesting history.. first a revered site of Native Americans, later a young George Washington would carve his initial into it, and then later it was owned by Thomas Jefferson. Here is a shot of me standing in front.

I took my time walking through the area around natural bridge, and chatted at length with a couple of other groups of tourists. Although I still had about 25 miles to go, I wanted to wait out as much of the heat as I could, so I was in no rush to go.

When I did finally hop on my bike, the first thing I saw was a sign for the Luray Caverns. Doug had asked if I would see them on my trip, and although I didn’t know exactly what or where they were, I responded that I wouldn’t have time. That was probably dumb of me.. I will have to go back and see them some other time. Anyway, I had left myself a comfortable, but not excessive, window of daylight to make it to my campground, so I moved along. I stopped quickly at a store to get some dinner (pasta again), and made it to my campground with just enough light left to set up camp, and eat dinner before bed.

Day 47

Day 47 was an easy stroll of about 100 miles from Grindstone Campground to Interstate Overnight Park in Christiansburg (this would have been 5 miles shorter if not for a wrong turn). Although I haven’t seen a weather report in a few days now, the day was very comfortable, and this really makes things simple.

I had a terrific night’s sleep, and woke up early feeling great. My plan was to zip into Christiansburg as early as was reasonably possible and then to spend the rest of the day there.

Nice morning riding has been a repeated theme of this blog, and was again a feature of Day 47. Another bonus of morning biking (not yet mentioned) is wildlife viewing. A few days ago I was delighted to see an elk crossing the road in front of me (but I forgot to mention it in the blog), and today I saw bunches of deer. Sadly, me and my bicycle seem to frighten the animals before I have any chance of capturing them on film.

The hills this day were much smaller than the past few days, and the ride was quite simple. I wasn’t pushing.. I was just watching the day roll by. Around 2, I rolled in to the town of Christiansburg which would be my final destination.

Christiansburg is a town of around 15,000, and the good news was that this is big enough for it to have a coffee shop with wireless.. the bad news was that this coffee shop was a Starbucks (where you pay for your connection), and it was located in a sea of superstores. This is unfriendly territory for bikes, but I rode in carefully, and soon found myself enjoying an iced coffee in a Starbucks in a Barnes & Noble. When I sat down to turn my computer on, I was preparing myself to pay (for the first time I can remember) for a connection. I looked at the chap sitting in front of me typing away and wondered if he was online or if he had spent his last $5 on that fancy drink in front of him. Fortunately, my machine managed to pick up a weak signal from somewhere else, and I wrote my blog and surfed for free.

One bonus of this big Barnes & Noble was its magazine selection. I love The Economist, and I have been keen to read what they had to say about the recent volatility in the stock market, but this isn’t a periodical you’ll find at a gas station. They had it here, so I grabbed a copy.

I had dinner in a rather forgettable chain restaurant (Charlie something, I think) while reading my magazine, and then headed out to a camping area called Interstate Overnight Park. I stayed at an “interstate” park called Breaks two days ago and it was wonderful.. there the term “interstate” referred to the fact that the park lay between Kentucky and Virginia. Here the word “interstate” was used because the camping area was just off the interstate highway – close enough so that you could hear the cars all night long. I wasn’t very happy with this place – $20 for an ugly spot to put up a tent and no facilities. However, the hotels were all over $80, so I took the campground, set up my tent, read a little more, and then went to bed.

Day 46

Day 46 was an enjoyable ride of about 95 miles from Breaks Interstate Park to a campsite in Grindstone Campground. The weather was a bit cooler again today, and the biking went well. This was my last day in the mountains of the New Appalachians, and it was nice to make it through this range.

I got a bit of a slow start in the morning since I wanted to have a little early light to take down camp.. but the day was structured fairly conveniently, and I wasn’t in a big rush. The early riding was once again hilly but pretty. Long stretches of the ride were along various rivers and creeks. Here is a sample.

A portion of my morning ride was along the same route Daniel Boone travelled. Evidently he came this way long before there were conveniently located gas stations providing a wide selection of refreshing beverages.

As is my present routine, I took only rather quick breaks in the morning and early afternoon, and this had me rolling into the town of Damascus a bit after 2pm. I saw on my map that Damascus had a bike shop – despite having a population of only 921, and I thought this was encouraging, so I planned an extended stop there. Indeed, Damascus turned out to be a wonderful little town. It lies at the crossing of the Appalachian Trail and the Trans-America bike route, and is also a hub for mountain biking. Although the town is tiny, it was very friendly, and obviously catered to the hikers & bikers passing through. I did my laundry, had some pasta, and then went to the library to get online and relax + digest. After writing a blog entry and then wasting a little time online, I hopped back on the bike to ride another 18 or so miles mostly along Laurel Creek to Grindstone Campground.

When I pulled into the campground, there was a collection of about half a dozen people seated around the office chatting. They asked me where I had come from and where I was headed, and I shortly found myself talking at length about my trip. After telling them many little tidbits about my travels, I payed my registration fee and headed in to my campsite. Although this campground didn’t have much in the way of services, it did have wonderful showers, and that was exactly what I was looking for. I set up camp, ate some snacks, had a good shower, then went to bed.

Day 45

Day 45 was a nice – and surprisingly easy – ride of a little under 70 miles from Hindman to Breaks Interstate Park. It was hotter today, and the hills were a bit bigger, but the scenery was really wonderful.. big tree-covered hills and valleys.

Bicyclists love to talk about terrain, and I have been hearing about this stretch for a long time.. this is supposed to be the one of the hardest parts of the Trans-America trip. In truth, I didn’t find it nearly so difficult as expected.. in fact, I didn’t touch my granny gear (small gear in front) all day. The Rockies had a couple climbs which I found taxing just because they were long climbs in the sun. Here the hills are shorter but steeper and they come in bunches – most people find this much tougher. Today there were a few good climbs, but each of them was similar in difficulty to the hill on my ordinary commute, and I found them quite manageable.

Dan and I had a few miserably hot nights in the tent, and in an effort to stay as cool as possible, we stopped using the rain cover when it looked clear. I did this again Saturday night, but it was a bad idea this time.. I awoke feeling a little cold, and everything exposed was drenched with dew. When I woke, I didn’t have access to a bathroom, and didn’t have much to eat for breakfast, so I packed up quick and headed to a gas station to get myself together.

Apart from that stop, I didn’t take too many other breaks on my way to Elkhorn City. The ride there was quite pleasant really.. the scenery has changed to the kind of pretty hills and valleys that I am most familiar with, and this has me feeling closer to home. When I arrived in Elkhorn City, I found a nice cafe where I had a good meal, and I had expected to spend a little time in their library (hopefully online), but was once again surprised by Sunday.. everything was closed. In light of this unpredictable misfortune, I just took a couple pictures (see below) and headed out.

Just a few miles from Elkhorn City, I crossed into Virginia. My final destination is Yorktown VA, so my original problem of bicycling across America has now been reduced to the easier problem of bicycling across Virginia. Hooray!

There is a big park called Breaks Interstate Park which lies in both Kentucky and Virginia, which I instantly fell for. Here are a couple photos I took on the way in.

Breaks had plenty of facilities including a lodge and restaurant, so I pulled in to wait out a little more of the afternoon heat – if not the rest of the day. First, I went to the restaurant and had an excellent slice of key lime pie while enjoying this view.

The riding was easier than I had anticipated, and I was really feeling good. I had originally planned to stay at Breaks, but was now reconsidering. While weighing my options, I asked at the desk about wireless, and was informed that there is a weak signal there in the lobby which I was welcome to connect with. So, I grabbed my computer, a comfy couch, and got online to post a couple day’s worth of blogs and to read my mail. Time seemed to pass quickly, and before I knew it, it was already a little late to try to push on to the next town. Since I’m ahead of schedule, and Breaks was so nice, I decided to stay there and camp. I went back to the restaurant with the nice view for some dinner, then found a relaxing place to sit and do a little math, then went to the campground to set up my tent and go to bed. This was a nice ending to a nice day.

Day 44

Day 44 was a great ride of about 125 miles from my hotel room in Berea to Lee & Missy’s lawn in Hindman. The heat eased a bit – down to a high of 95, and I took advantage.

Dan and I had seen a bunch of foggy mornings in Kentucky, but this morning the fog was thicker than I’ve ever seen it. The first 30 miles were very nice in terms of traffic – almost none, temperature – nicely cool, and road – perfectly smooth. However, the fog was so thick I had to stop about once a mile to wipe off my glasses! The thick fog also meant that visibility was extremely low.. fortunately, it was a very still morning, so I could hear cars well before they got close (and I only encountered a couple of them anyway).

The heat has been terrible the past few days, and you feel it even early in the morning. This day was finally different.. it started off sensibly cool, and I wouldn’t see the sun until about 9am. This gave me a chance to put in some miles, and I decided to do so. I know there are some hotter days coming, and the terrain will be difficult in parts of the Appalachian Mountains (reportedly tougher than the Rockies), so getting a little further along is a good bonus.

When the fog cleared, I found myself riding through some beautiful countryside. Rolling hills, rivers, and lots of big outcroppings of rock (I think shale). Evidently I was enjoying the scenery too much to take many pictures.. sorry. I did get one shot of the road, and one picture of a church with a funny name. Here they are.

By about 3pm I had already made just under 100 miles and was feeling ready to take a break. Although there were a bunch of restaurants in the area marked on my map, they were all fast food. I didn’t feel like riding any further, so I settled for a Papa Johns with an indoor seating area and a television. I relaxed for a long time there, eating pizza and watching the PGA championship (Tiger Woods show).

A little before 6, I decided to make the final push of the day into the town of Hindman. Maybe I was just tired, but this stretch seemed slow and required rather more effort than I expected. When I did finally arrive, I went to the all-in-one Historical Society/Bed and Breakfast/Camping place and was most disappointed to find it closed. I called their number, expecting that they would let me put my tent up somewhere.. but no. I then called the number for the hotel & hostel in the next town ahead, and didn’t get through. It was a little late to bike anywhere, so I decided to ask for some help. This is something I would have been very reluctant to do prior to this trip, but so many people have been so generous toward me.. just about everyone seems most willing to help me when I’m in need. I pulled up to an inviting looking house, and rang the doorbell. A pleasant woman holding a puppy answered the door, and I explained my story to her, and then offered her $20 to let me put up a tent on her lawn. She said she’d ask her husband, and quickly returned to say that I was welcome to put up my tent – and they didn’t want my $20. I thanked my hostess, Missy, graciously, and then chatted with her a little about bicycling and dogs. While setting up my tent, I met her husband, Lee, who turned out to be the fire chief. Then, when I was all set and ready for bed, one of the next-door neighbors pulled in. She was a young lady who, as she mentioned, was interested to chat with the “funny” bicyclists. I told her a bit about my trip, but I was ready to crash, so I wouldn’t talk long. Somewhere during our conversation, she mentioned that her husband was the chief of police.. so my bike was leaning on the fence in between the fire & police chief’s houses.. and I went to sleep feeling pretty safe and secure.