Riding4Hope – Day 42, 8/8/09, Franklin VA
DAILY REPORT: Weather — It was predicted to be cloudy in the morning and then sunny and hot in the afternoon. High 80’s.
We were a little slow in getting on the road this morning. I needed to spend a little time to get yesterday’s journal out. We knew we would have about 6 hours in the saddle today so we weren’t too worried. Before we left we had the opportunity to meet the owner, Grover of Sheldon’s Motel and Restaurant and thank him for his generosity.
The ride in the morning was cool and over cast on secondary back roads. In general, we had small rolling hills and were continuing to head towards sea level. Lots of farms, horses, corn and tobacco fields. It was a nice easy morning. We stopped at Lawerenceville for lunch.
Today we met Walker and Josh who were riding cross country. This was unexpected since we left the TransAmerica route over two days ago. They started from Florence OR on 15 June and were planning on finishing tomorrow as well in VA Bch. They were in a hurry since they were also supposed to catch a plan tomorrow. All the best you guys! Congrats on a great accomplishment.
Observations of Virginia. One of the things we noticed over the last several days was the number of churches. It appeared there were more churches than houses!! Also almost all the drivers have very little patience for bikes. Unlike KS and MO; the VA drivers speed by regardless of the location (hill, valley, curve, etc.) Everyone seems to be in big hurry. And this is on the rural back roads. Made us feel a little uncomfortable. Lastly, the amount of litter along the road ways. There was a tremendous amount of trash. Of the 11 states we have been in, VA appears to have the most roadside trash. But I digress……
The afternoon ride was along RT 58. This was a four lane highway that was pretty busy. There was a small shoulder that had a fair amount debris on it. This required a lot of concentration the entire time to prevent having an accident. On the good side it was a fast ride and in general we felt safe. We will be continuing our ride on this road tomorrow for aprox 30 miles before we get back on some secondary roads in Deep Creek.
We want to thank Days Inn for giving us two rooms for our final night. We really appreciate your support for the Riding4Hope Team!!
Tomorrow is our final ride in to Virginia Beach. It is supposed to be very hot; near 99 deg and muggy. Seems like a perfect day to head to the beach!! We are planning on stopping by Maria’s folks first since they are on the way to the board walk. Maria my wife, will be taking the red eye and will be arriving in the morning. It will really be nice to see her. And yes I do miss her!! Love ya!!
We will arrive at 24th street access at 6 PM. We have our celebration there on the boardwalk. We are aware of a number of family, friends, sponsors, media and Boys and Girls club planning on being present. Should be a great way to close out a 3,900 mile trip. Tom Seifert (my old Soutmaster from many, many moons ago) has been invaluable in coordinating all the logistics here in VA Bch for our arrival. I expect tomorrow there will be a number of emotions as our trip comes to a close. Elation of a major accomplishment and the remorse of it being over. This has been a great opportunity for the boys, myself and Skip. I have been very proud of the twins for their stamina, perseverance, and accomplishment. I doubt they will really appreciate (or comprehend) what they have just accomplished for another 10 years or so. But we’ll see…..
Thanks for joining us…..ride safely and keep the wind to your back!!
The Riding4Hope Team
(David, John, James & Skip)
Signing out 8/9/09; 0130
