Day 63 - (August 3rd, 2024)

City To City: Richmond - Toano

Miles: 67
Miles Total: 4,264

Flats: 13

Video: https://youtu.be/5kYCkEmxKF4?si=p2-1z7wI_OAptQT7

Over The Bridge

And Through The Woods

Caution Tape Stuck On The Bike

Building Chairs

    We left Pat and Steve's house after a filling breakfast.  With only sixty-six miles to go, and most of the way being on a bike path, it was a relatively easy and relaxing day.  Along the bike path, passed a bicyclist who had stopped on the side of the bike trail.  The biker, Ashley, quickly started up again but was very patient and too polite to pass us.  So, I invited her to ride with us.  While all the men were in the front, Ashley and I biked behind them chatting.  Ashley is a person who is confident, upbeat, and optimistic, and has a heavy job working for Virginia's governor.  All the while we're chatting, Matt, Mark, Henry and my dad are occasionally glancing furtively in their mirrors, watching the conversation happen with amusement.  

    When we stopped, Ashley was able to help my dad understand the directions.  Ashley rode on ahead and we rode slower until we reached a rest stop.  There, we met a man in his late sixties, and early seventies, named Al Speed, who was training to do an Ironman in the fall.  Al's wife also did Ironmans, and soon had an Ironman to compete in, down in New Zealand.  There, at the rest stop, we also met a man in his late twenties named Randy.  When he found out what we were doing, he said, "You are the craziest people I've ever talked to who are going across America!"  He asked us questions about the journey, and finally, he had to leave, but before he did, he asked us to take a selfie with him so his wife would believe that he met us and have the picture as proof.

    We got back on the trail, and we saw two younger men serious about biking stopped on the trail, so my dad called out, "We'll race you!"

    One of them replied, "Okay, we'll catch up with you."  Sure enough, it didn't take long before they caught up with us.

    We went by farms and trees.  At one farm, there was a stand that had free cantaloupe, and once Mark was told, he biked across the street and strapped that melon to his bike.  

For the night, we were going to stay at Matt's college friend, Ron, and Ron's wife Kim's house.  So, instead of making it to Williamsburg, a city along the Trans Am route, we were going to go a few miles north of Williamsburg.

Shortly before we got off the bike path, a caution tape had been tied to a telephone pull and a post, blocking the path.  Well, Mark slowly rides up to it, grabs it, pulls it up over his head, and continues riding without stopping.  Henry goes by, and my dad follows.  Well, my dad got it over his head, but not over the rest of his bike.  So, my dad only gets a few feet further before the caution tape is pulled tight, and my dad has to stop.  I was going to go under the caution tape like the rest, but then I went around the telephone pole.  Then Matt, who was in the back, flies by going around the entire caution tape fiasco.  

    Ron and Kim were very welcoming and excited to host us.  After we took showers, we decided to go down to Williamsburg.  

    Ron dropped us off, but we got a late start, the last tours were starting at 5 pm, and we had a  couple minutes to spare to try to make it after arriving into the downtown area. Well, we thought the tour bus would take us there quicker, but it turns out that we were already in the downtown area but it wasn't.  The bus driver was super excited to talk to us, and didn't warn us about the sign above his head: "Do not talk to the bus operator while the bus is in motion."

    We then went to a restaurant and got milkshakes and fries.  Ron came and picked us back up and had dinner at their house.  Ron told us stories of where his job had taken him and often we visited in China.  Ron told us that stinky tofu that smelled like sewage was luxury food there, and being a special guest, got to have the joy of trying the slimy tofu first.

    At one point we built premade and cut outdoor chairs for Ron and Kim, and between the five of us, we tackled it in a short amount of time.  Then we went to bed went we wanted.  Because I was tired I went to bed first, and I had another queen-sized bed to myself.  Kim had newly furnished the room, painted the walls, added new curtains, and even had a little fan attached to the wall that swung on a little arm.