ROUTE:
Franklin to Virginia Beach, VA |
DISTANCE:
73 miles |
TOTAL CLIMBING:
2,347 ft |
Click here for
Garmin daily ride data
Click
here for Summary Data sheet
(This is cool
if you like lots of data! It may take a few seconds to load but you can hit play
and time compress our ride. )
DAILY REPORT: Weather
-- Today there is a heat advisory warning. Temperature is supposed to reach 99 deg. Cloudy in the
morning with clear/sunny skies in the afternoon. Could possibly break the record
high of 100 deg.
First,
my apologies for delaying getting our final day's ride out. As you will read,
there was a lot going on This is our last day of riding. We rode from
Franklin to VA Beach. We ate our last continental breakfast and eagerly started
our ride and continued riding along Rt58. For the most part there were good
shoulder but it was busy. We made our way into Suffolk.
I received a call from my wife,
Maria in the morning around 0930. She had taken a red eye the night before and
was scheduled to arrive in Norfolk later this morning around 1020. She asked me
to pull over so we could talk. It turned out she had passed out while on the
plane and was taken to the emergency room in Newark NJ. She was
dehydrated and nauseated. The hospital was going to monitor her for awhile and
then make the determination if she could be released. She had already
called her folks in VA Bch and they were looking into options for her to catch a
connecting flight to Norfolk. This is one of those times of feeling completely
helpless and having faith in the Lord that everything will work out. All we
could do is keep riding our remaining 50 miles and check-in with Maria and her
folks to check on her status.
As we were passing through
Suffolk, James got his first flat tire for the entire ride. Not bad considering
he traveled 3850 miles on these Continental Gatorskin tires. I have been really
impressed with them. Especially since I haven't had a flat either on the same
brand of tires.
We
met Skip for lunch in the vicinity of our old house in Riverwalk which we are
currently renting out. Stopped by to make sure everything looked good and say to
our neighbors. Surprised our neighbors Loretta and John who had not seen the
boys since they were 4 yrs old. It was a good meeting and of course they told a
few stories to twins about when they were young. It's hard to believe they are
both over 80 yrs old. Where has the time gone??
We
biked through Chesapeake, across the intercostal water way and into Virginia
Beach. We biked the roads that I used to train on back in the 90's when I was
stationed here in Norfolk some 15 yrs ago. One of the most notable changes in
the area is the amount of traffic. There was a lot. We arrived at Maria's folks
house to a warm welcome from her family. It was really great seeing her family
again!! And good news, Maria had been released from the hospital was trying to
get on the next flight to Norfolk. If everything worked out she would be
arriving at the Norfolk airport at 1700 which would allow her Dad and sister
pick her up and still be able to attend our arrival celebration at the beach.
After
getting a chance to cool down (it was really hot out) and have a nice lunch that
Maria's Mom made it was time to finish our final 6 mile ride to VA Beach ocean
front. The traffic was quite heavy at the waterfront which delayed our 6 PM
arrival by a few minutes. We were greeted with an enthusiastic crowd - Maria
(she just made it!), family, friends, the Boys and Girls Club from NAS Oceana, a
large representation from First Command, WAVY10/FOX43 TV, the base newspaper,
boardwalk onlookers, etc. It was great!! After all the congratulations we
walked our bikes to the surf where we dipped our front tires into the Atlantic
Ocean completing our biking trek of over 3,900 miles in 43 days. As a final act,
John poured the Pacific Ocean water we had carried into the Atlantic symbolizing
the completion of successful journey!! The boys took advantage of the beach and
cooled off in the ocean. We did a couple of interviews w/ the TV station
(see news and info) and the base newspaper and then
headed over to Murphy's restaurant for some more celebration and dinner.
What a great day!! I would like to
thank everyone who showed up to make this such a special day - Maria, her
family, Tom Seifert and his family, the Markle's who traveled from DC, Mike
Itamura also from DC, Nancy and all her youth from the Boys and Girls Club, and
anyone else I might have forgotten. Thanks so much for all your support and
encouragement.
Today we also received a Silver
Sponsorship from DOMA
Technologies, LLC which allowed us to reach our goal of $10,000!!! We really
appreciate all the contributions and support received to raise monies for the
Wounded Warrior Project and the Boys and Girls Clubs! Thanks so much!!
Tomorrow (Monday) we have been
asked to be on FOX43 morning show at 0740 and then at lunch we will meet the
Boys and Girls club on NAs Oceana for lunch and a presentations.
Thanks for joining us.....ride
safely and keep the wind to your back!!
The Riding4Hope Team
www.riding4hope.org
(David, John, James & Skip)
Signing out 8/12/09; 0530
YOU DON'T
SAY:
John - while
waiting for James to fix his flat; "It's about time James got a
flat tire!!"
James - after stepping
outside from Maria's house and getting ready to bike the last 6 miles to
VA Beach "Are you sure we can't put the bike in the back of the
trailer and drive to the boardwalk?"
John - "Hey James,
guess what you just got another flat tire." occurred while the
bikes were sitting out in the sun.
David - "Wow look at
the crowd that is here to meet us!!"
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DID I REALLY
DO THAT?

The boys and I travel
safely 3,900 miles by bike and Maria ends up in the hospital after a
four hour flight. You have to wonder......thankfully she is all right as
you can see here.
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PHOTOS OF THE DAY |
You can find anything along
the highway. This is the second cell phone we had found in the last 50
miles. "Can you hear me now??"
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The "new" bike
path into VA Beach.
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The Great Bridge Locks for
the intercoastal waterway.
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We are getting close now.
You can almost smell the ocean!!
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Enjoying a break from the
heat and a nice lunch prepared by Maria's mom; Graciana.
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The NAS Oceana Boys and
Girls Club cheering group!! They were great !!
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John, Megan, & James.
Megan recently moved from Silverdale to DC and convinced her Mom to come
down to VA Bch to see the boys finish. They are all great friends!!
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The Riding4Hope
"Groupies" who were celebrating at Murphy's.
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More
photos on Facebook Album
And
a few more Facebook Album
Yesterday
Tomorrow
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