Day 2 May 19 Williamsburg to Richmond

 Our hosts for the prior evening, Deborah and Camilla, sent us off with full tires, full tummies and a good night's sleep.  We first went back to Jamestown and spent the morning in the Jamestown Archilogical dig site.  Amazing how much of our history has been discovered this way.  We toured the site, listened to a presentation and toured the museum.  We started on the Virginia Capital Trail around noon.  As the temperature got hotter, we made the best of it. Bill got  us help in the form of ice cream bars.  The trail was amazing.  All away from cars for 54 miles.

In Richmond, we did go into the city to stay at the Holiday Inn Express. Bill made friends with the front desk folks and we got a great room for 4 people and 4 bikes. Our dinner that night was Thai food, Yum! The amount of food at first looked tremendous but our ride that day led us to eat every bite!  So far the people, trails and history of Virginia have been treating us great!

Day 1 May 18 Debra and Camilla: Jamestown Trail Angels

We can’t say enough about Debra and Camilla our amazing Warmshowers hosts. They went above and beyond. For months I was trying to figure out how to get us and our bikes from Norfolk to the start in Yorktown. The problem is the James River and Chesapeake Bay are in the way and all the bridges are car only. I put an ad in Craigslist for a truck driver for hire, Uber wouldn’t do it. I found a guy that would drive us over but it had to be too early. Finally we decided to navigate the buses and public transportation. So we notified our first Warmshowers host, Debra and Camilla of our plan and Debra insisted on driving a total of 2.5 hours out of her way to come pick us up in her Sprinter van. She dropped us off at Yorktown for our official start then returned to her home to get dinner and accommodations ready for our visit. We arrived to a bed for each of us, laundry, spaghetti dinner and great stories and advice as they had done the TransAm, the Northern Tier, the Southern Tier, the West Coast and the East Coast on their tandem! They made such an impression on us and we are better people for having known them, just their leading by example. Debra is a retired volleyball coach and Camilla is a retired OB/GYN. They are generous, loving to each other, have a tight knit family and have a dog. Hooray for dog people!

Day 1 May 18 Ceremonial tire dip at Yorktown

  Today started in grand fashion with a huge trail angel gift from Debra Hill and Camilla Buchanan. Debra picked us up at the hotel and shuttled us to the official start at the Yorktown designated beach launch point. 

We then proceeded up the Colonial Parkway to Colonial Williamsburg where we walked around and had a leisurely afternoon checking out the area and sampled the local ice tea and lemonade. The statue above includes Commander in Chief George Washington, Admiral de Grasse, General Lafayette and General Rochambeau. This dynamic group of military leaders defeated the British led by Lord General Cornwallis. The fearsome foursome had a winning military strategy including naval and land warfare. The decisive battles took place in October, 1781.

Debra and Camilla then hosted us at their beautiful home to include dinner and tea. I’ll add a couple of pictures of Yorktown and Williamsburg and let another of our group add pictures and descriptions of our gracious hosts.

Flight to Norfolk, VA

This day was a long day of flying.  All of the flights were on time and full.  The airports in Salt Lake and Atlanta were packed with travelers.  Luckily Norfolk was quiet and we had room to put our bikes together. The bikes all arrived safely. Don't know if this is just a senior problem or not but each of us could not find some item we had packed.  How can you forget in 4 days were you packed a part of a bike?  Once we got to the hotel and had more time all items were found!  We were all worried about today being full of problems, instead it went smoothly. We are now sitting at the hotel enjoying dinner.  Temps are going to be nice for a number of days.  The rain gear has gone to the bottom of the pack!
 

Rocket Market Send-Off

 

We had a send-off for the group at the Rocket Market after the morning ride today.

Eric, Bill, Angie and Leisa are set to go! 

Packing Day

People have asked how we get our bikes to the start. Here is the answer: The bikes are semi-disassembled and put in bike boxes that we got from local bike stores. Thank you, Eric.  We added any more items that we need but kept the weight under 50 lbs so that they ship as luggage. Disassembling is a process. With the help of veteran cross-country rider, Tim Ice, I learned how to do it properly and how to reassemble it on the other end. Tim also helped us pack all 4 bikes, load them to go to the airport and is taking us at 4 am in the morning. He is the best of friends. Look for a post showing us in the airport at Norfolk, Virginia putting these bikes back together and riding off!

-Leisa