Tim O'Reilly And Our Bikes

With Steve Pitliangas

With Jim Rives

Straw Bales in Carlyle, Illinois

Crossing the Mississippi River on A Ferry

WIth Nancy and Gollie in the Sedalia, Missouri Train Depot

With Casey in Adrian, Missouri

With Rosalie and Carrie in Adrian, Missouri

THE FINISH LINE!!!

Hello everyone,

On my way to Virginia, I had to go through a tunnel at Cumberland Gap National Park at the point where Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee meet. They would not let me go through the tunnel on my bike and there was no way around the tunnel. So I loaded my bike on a hazardous waste escort truck and it drove me through the tunnel. The Cumberland Gap was explored by Daniel Boone who was hired by the government to create an East to West route through the mountains. I visited the Daniel Boone State Park in Tennessee that had some very interesting exhibits.

I spent the Fourth of July in Radford, Virginia. I did not go to the park to see the fireworks, as it was two miles away, and I was too tired and did not want to ride in the dark. In this part of the country, they really take the Fourth seriously. Everyone had an American flag out and some people had three or four.

The Blue Ridge Mountains were the last mountains to cross. The Blue Ridge Parkway was built in the 1930's. It was built by the government to basically create jobs. There were two major climbs, one was four and a half miles and one was three miles at 4000 feet elevation. After you cross the Blue Ridge Mountains the elevation drops to zero.

I stayed at the Northbend Plantation that is over 200 years old and is in Charles City. There are many huge plantations in this area. I spent about two hours talking to the plantation owner's daughter and daughter-in-law about life, family, kids, and work. The only thing we did not get around to talking about was religion.

If I had been with other riders on this trip, I probably would have stopped more and taken more side trips. It really was about the ride and meant total involvement in preparation, the bike, maps, routes, nutrition, distance, weather, places to stay, and mental focus. You really cannot plan more than two to four days ahead as it is imperative that you do not get ahead of yourself.

At last, I reached the Memorial Monument in Yorktown. The finish line is here; I really cannot believe it. My equipment performed great. I started having some tire problems toward the end of the ride. I blew a tire and tube and then had a flat all in a 24-hour period. This is not surprising considering all the different surfaces you ride on off of the pavement such as gravel, grass and dirt. I am very glad to be here; however, I am very tired. Total mileage for the trip was 4,409 miles.

Nancy met me at the finish line and we are staying in Virginia Beach. The Historic Triangle is centrally located between Richmond and Virginia Beach and consists of Williamsburg, Jamestown, and Yorktown. Each town is full of little shops, taverns, and antique stores.

Last night, we had dinner with Nancy's brother, Brad Tisdale, and his wife, Susan.

I will write one more blog next week to summarize my trip. Thanks to everyone for their encouragement and support.

Talk again next week,

Larry

ALMOST FINISHED

Hello everyone,

Hope all is well. I left Kentucky and Tennessee and am now in Virginia. I made it through the Appalachian and Blue Ridge Mountains. The mountains were every bit as as hard as I thought they would be. I am glad to be out of the mountains, but am now dealing with the humidity and heat. Yesterday was very hot and I knew that it would be important to take in additional fluid, so for the first time on my trip, I stopped and purchased three containers of Gatorade and drank all of them.

Unfortunately, my GPS system bit the dust. It stopped working a couple of weeks ago.

I did want to mention that while I was riding in Missouri, my sister, Rosalie Wooten, my neice, Carrie McLiney and her husband, Casey McLiney drove to see me. We had a very nice visit and it was good to see them.

I have now ridden 4000 miles and am getting very close to the end of my journey. Nancy, my greatest supporter, is driving to Yorktown to pick me up. It will be good to see her again. I did get a chance to see her in Clinton and Sedalia; however, these were not rest days so I did not get to spend as much time with her as I would have liked. I really appreciaate the fact that she took over the completion of the constuction project that we had going on at our home. She has been a real trooper in her support of the journey.

Talk again soon,

Larry