Hi Everyone,
Today is my final blog. After biking 1200 miles and almost having a fatal collision with a coal truck yesterday, I have decided to come home. I wasn't injured, but the truck was so close that he clipped my mirror - I don't know why it wasn't my elbow or my leg!! Anyway, it has made me very paranoid and after a night of tossing and turning in my tent, I decided that it was best at this time for me to head home. It was a very difficult decision to leave my fellow cyclists as well as to abandon my adventure. I'm currently at the library in Chester, IL waiting for my husband to pick me up. Thank you all for your support over the last several weeks and I'll see you soon!
Love, Joyce
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Day 22
Just a quick update. Today we are biking from Utica, KY to Marian, KY a total of 69 miles. I'm now a little over half way. It is 94 degrees outside so I decided to cool off in a library that I was passing. Yesterday I biked 83 miles - that was the most miles I have ever done in one day! We had a lot of rain so it kept it cool, but made it a little more difficult. When you wear glasses, it is like looking through a windshield without wipers!! The countryside now is rolling hills with lots of cornfields. Tomorrow we enter Illinois - yeah, our third state! We will only be in Illinois for 5 days with one of those a rest day.
Next posting will be from Carbondale, IL.
Next posting will be from Carbondale, IL.
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Day 17
We have now been traveling for 4 days in Kentucky with one rest day in Berea. Eastern Kentucky (the Appalachians) is an area of tremendous contrasts. If you look up, you see beautiful mountains, but along side the road is trash and garbage (of course, right next to the sign that states "$500.00 fine for littering"). I saw shacks with $40,000 loaded pick-up trucks in their front yards. This is an area of coal-mining and the trucks loaded with coal would come barreling past, almost blowing me off the road. What was really startling was when they would blow their horn right as they were passing!!
Yesterday, we had a wonderful rest day in Berea, KY, the home of Berea College. I didn't realize this, but the students attending this college pay no tuition, they all work in different industries that support the college (e.g. furniture making, pottery, farming, etc.). I also didn't realize this, but Berea College was one of the first interracial colleges in the south. I spent most of my rest day visiting the different artisans and watching them make jewelery, etc. I met one woman who makes beautiful glass jewelery - she calls them "Hot Flash Beads," since she only started making them when she was going through menopause. She was a cytotechnologist for 30 years before she decided to make her hobby of jewelery making her full time occupation.
Today's ride was wonderful! We are now finally entering flatter country with just rolling hills rather than mountains that we have to cross every day. We passed through lovely expansive horse farms. The route generally takes narrow little back roads with minimal traffic. Every now and then we have to get on a major highway for a short distance, but generally we are seeing the best of what the countryside has to offer. Many of the barns that we passed today had gorgeous quilt patterns painted on the end. Usually the barn was black so the contrasting colors were beautiful. I've been told that these patterns have to do with the Shaker culture in this part of Kentucky.
Tonight instead of camping, we are staying in the gym of the local YMCA here in Harrodsville. We make the snorers stay in one corner of the room when we all have to sleep together. Luckily, the gym is quite big - I just hope that the snores don't echo. I prefer sleeping inside rather than pitching my tent. Even if it doesn't rain, the tent gets wet from the dew and you have to worry about drying it out later.
I'm not sure when I will have time to post another blog - our next rest day is in 6 days in Carbondale, IL.
Talk to you soon.
Yesterday, we had a wonderful rest day in Berea, KY, the home of Berea College. I didn't realize this, but the students attending this college pay no tuition, they all work in different industries that support the college (e.g. furniture making, pottery, farming, etc.). I also didn't realize this, but Berea College was one of the first interracial colleges in the south. I spent most of my rest day visiting the different artisans and watching them make jewelery, etc. I met one woman who makes beautiful glass jewelery - she calls them "Hot Flash Beads," since she only started making them when she was going through menopause. She was a cytotechnologist for 30 years before she decided to make her hobby of jewelery making her full time occupation.
Today's ride was wonderful! We are now finally entering flatter country with just rolling hills rather than mountains that we have to cross every day. We passed through lovely expansive horse farms. The route generally takes narrow little back roads with minimal traffic. Every now and then we have to get on a major highway for a short distance, but generally we are seeing the best of what the countryside has to offer. Many of the barns that we passed today had gorgeous quilt patterns painted on the end. Usually the barn was black so the contrasting colors were beautiful. I've been told that these patterns have to do with the Shaker culture in this part of Kentucky.
Tonight instead of camping, we are staying in the gym of the local YMCA here in Harrodsville. We make the snorers stay in one corner of the room when we all have to sleep together. Luckily, the gym is quite big - I just hope that the snores don't echo. I prefer sleeping inside rather than pitching my tent. Even if it doesn't rain, the tent gets wet from the dew and you have to worry about drying it out later.
I'm not sure when I will have time to post another blog - our next rest day is in 6 days in Carbondale, IL.
Talk to you soon.
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Day 11
Today is our first rest day - we have bicycled for 10 days straight. We are in Damascus, VA, a little town made famous by the Appalachian Trail that goes right through the middle of it. I have talked to several through hikers who now have been on the trail for 6 weeks - after talking to them, 10 days doesn't seem too long.
We had our first rain this morning. I was feeling a little homesick as I sat in my tent with the rain beating down. I called Bob (my hubbie) and soon I started getting phone calls from friends and my son and started feeling better!! The sun is now starting to peak through the clouds and everything is on the up-and-up.
Tomorrow is a shorter day (only 40 miles), but we have a long steep climb before the end of the day. The rest of the group seems able to go up these mountains much more easily then me. My way of going up the steep mountains is to bike and rest, bike and rest... I look ahead to the next shady spot and aim for that. I thought I was in good shape - boy, was I mistaken!! I have accomplished the end point each day without having to call the sag wagon! My new philosophy is, "I bike to coast!"
One of these days, I will learn how to upload some photographs from my camera to the computer.
I'll talk to you soon. Our next rest day is in 6 days in Berea, KY. If I don't post before then, I'll post from Berea!
We had our first rain this morning. I was feeling a little homesick as I sat in my tent with the rain beating down. I called Bob (my hubbie) and soon I started getting phone calls from friends and my son and started feeling better!! The sun is now starting to peak through the clouds and everything is on the up-and-up.
Tomorrow is a shorter day (only 40 miles), but we have a long steep climb before the end of the day. The rest of the group seems able to go up these mountains much more easily then me. My way of going up the steep mountains is to bike and rest, bike and rest... I look ahead to the next shady spot and aim for that. I thought I was in good shape - boy, was I mistaken!! I have accomplished the end point each day without having to call the sag wagon! My new philosophy is, "I bike to coast!"
One of these days, I will learn how to upload some photographs from my camera to the computer.
I'll talk to you soon. Our next rest day is in 6 days in Berea, KY. If I don't post before then, I'll post from Berea!
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Day 8
We'ev had a busy few days with little access to computers. I've made it over my first big hurdle - the Appalachian Mountains. This was on Thursday, then yesterday we had a long day of 73 miles. We have had beautiful, but hot weather! As you can imagine, the Virginia countryside is magnificent. I'm really enjoying the people I'm traveling with.
Every evening 2 of the group has to cook for the rest of the group. It seems every evening the cooking team is trying to outdo the previous cooking team. Last night we had tomatoes with mozzarella and fresh basil for our appetizer, then pesto pasta and fresh asparagus and salad. Then for dessert (the Brits call all desserts "pudding") we had fresh berries with cream. I don't know how anyone can best that, especially, on camp stoves!!
I will post again in 2 days when we have our first layover in Damascus.
Every evening 2 of the group has to cook for the rest of the group. It seems every evening the cooking team is trying to outdo the previous cooking team. Last night we had tomatoes with mozzarella and fresh basil for our appetizer, then pesto pasta and fresh asparagus and salad. Then for dessert (the Brits call all desserts "pudding") we had fresh berries with cream. I don't know how anyone can best that, especially, on camp stoves!!
I will post again in 2 days when we have our first layover in Damascus.
Monday, May 24, 2010
Day 3
We started our adventure on Saturday by backtracking from Williamsburg to Yorktown. There we put our back tire in the Yorktown River (symbolically, the Atlantic Ocean). We returned to Williamsburg and spent another night in a motel. Yesterday, we headed out on our first full day. This is a historical area with both Revolutionary battlefields as well as Civil war battlefields everywhere. We got 50 miles under our belts, only 4,150 more to go. I'm posting this to my blog at a little computer fix-it shop that I passed in Mechanicsville, VA on my way to Ashton. They were kind enough to let me use one of their computers. I need to hit the road again and will talk to you soon.
Love,
Joyce
Love,
Joyce
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