Day 87, Short Pump to First Simple Church Williamsburg, VA

Miles – 60

Miles From Start/To Finish – 4,135/29

Ave Riding Speed – 6-20 mph

Hours Start to Finish – 7

Weather – Cloudy and 82

Happy 87^th Birthday Dad! I love you!!

It was quite a storm last night here in Chesterfield, with all the good stuff; thunder, lightening and rain. I woke up to the crackle of thunder like a soothing lullaby in the late-night hours. A good storm puts me to sleep, so I rolled over and passed out again. I was up at 5am after a short 6-hours of sleep, well short of my needed beauty sleep of 8-hours. I went to the kitchen and made Keurig machine coffee for Kim and I and returned to find Kim awake as I delivered her morning cup of Joe.

Being that we are staying with my friend Scott for a few days we are a little scattered and out of our normal routine as some of our gear and belongings are already finding themselves about the house. I wanted to make sure we at least had our essential riding gear with us like bike repairs items, lights, water bottles, cellphone, wallet, helmet, gloves and rain gear.

We left a few things back at the house today, including laptops, sleeping bags and sleeping pads, to lighten our load. We didn’t want to travel too light and mess with everything we’ve been doing for the last 86-days. Kim fixed up some oatmeal for us and Scott and then we loaded our bikes and gear into Scott’s truck and left the house at 7:30am for the trek back to where we left off yesterday, Whole Foods in Short Pump. Scott dropped us off at Whole Foods a little after 8am. The air was humid and the sky was overcast. It felt like it was going to downpour at any moment. We fiddled around there for a bit and got on the “trail” about 8:30am.

The plan was to get back on Hwy 250 for 15-miles and take that all the way into Richmond, but the 3-lanes of traffic going our way was really heavy and Kim wasn’t comfortable, so we rerouted a few blocks south and hopped on Three Chopt Rd. It was 2-lanes, but not as busy and there was a little shoulder to ride. After a little zigging and zagging we jumped on Cary St and rode it into the heart of Richmond, through Virginia Commonwealth University and onto the 52-mile-long Capital Trail heading east. The Capital trail runs parallel to the James River, but far enough away to where the river isn’t visible.

Along the paved trail there was standing water and in many places the water was draining across the trail. There weren’t many places to stop along the route, but riding a paved trail is easy on the body, as well as the mind. I texted Scott about 2:15pm while we were pulled over in Charles City to let him know that we’d be at our pick-up spot by 3:45pm as he was roughly an hour away from us. We pulled into the First Simple Church Williamsburg at 3:30pm and sat on a couple boulders near the road. Scott came along in about 15-minutes with a cooler of cold refreshments. We never did get that rain we anticipated today.

We originally had planned for about 47-miles today, but we knew that Scott hasn’t been able to get out on his bicycle much lately, so Kim and I pushed out another 13-miles to shorten up the last days ride to about 27-miles, as we asked Scott to join us on the final leg into Yorktown.

We’ve been really working hard at concentrating on each day in front of us and all of a sudden, we’ve put 87 days together and now within 29-miles of riding our bicycles across America. Eleven states later we’re within 29-miles of accomplishing our riding goal. We’re still pushing hard to accomplish our fundraiser goal as well. Tomorrow I’m going to put my socks on the same feet in the same order one last time while we try to remain consistent with what’s gotten us to this point.

Josh, whom we met and had dinner with in early August, back in Falls of Rough, KY reached out to me today and said he is finishing up at Yorktown tomorrow as well, so we’ll plan to see him at the finish line at the Yorktown Victory Monument. We’re also super excited to see an old friend and neighbor, Patty, who lives within an hour away, and my relatives, Dennis and Leiska, coming up from North Carolina. And, we’re very excited to share the final leg of this adventure with our good friend Scott. You know when someone is a good friend that no matter how often you see or talk to them, you are always able to just pick up where you left off.