118

Tuesday, September 30, 2008, Tom Doerr's house, Westminster, Maryland
We slept in today; no reason to get up early because the bike store didn't open until 10 am and they had at least another hour of work to do before they finished. So Tom brought out the bagels, eggs, and ham, and I got a couple more boxes of Lucky Charms and we all had a great big breakfast before we headed out to town. The rest went to the library while I went to the bike shop to see the status of the bike. They had opened up late and were working on it when I came. I decided to use the time to tune up the other bikes. Johnny's front tire had three broken spokes he never told me about. Finally they finished the bike after about 4 hours of labor. They only charged me $100 labor but with the cost of the part and yesterday's labor, the total was over $300. We better get to Maine quickly. Well, by now it was already past 2:00, too late to get many miles in, so we decided to spend another day. Tom told us before we left that we could spend another day with him if we needed to. So we pedaled over to his house and told him, then went to Gettysburg to see the famous historic site. The museum was big and interesting and took longer than we expected to go through. We didn't see everything because it closed after a couple hours, 6:00 pm, so we went to see the actual battlefield before it got dark. It was well preserved in the way it must have looked in the 1860s. The battlefield covered an area of 10 square miles, so it took a long time to see everything. We didn't see it all because the sun went down, but it was interesting. We did see the sight were Lincoln gave his famous Gettysburg address: "Four score and seven years ago...." We got back to the house late around 9:30 because we went to the store first for tomorrows snacks. Hopefully, we will have a good day of riding tomorrow and be able to arrive in Philadelphia in two days.

117

Monday, September 29, 2008
Well, we got up groggily from inadequate sleep but managed to get everything packed up and in the van by 7:30 before the school children arrived. David, the facilities manager, wished us well before we left and I got a picture. Also, John Zurn came by to say goodbye. A great bunch; we had a great time there at the school. May God bless them for their hospitality. We drove the van over to the restaurant where the bikes were parked and ate three of the eight boxes of Lucky Charms before pedaling off toward the Pennsylvania border 40 miles away. The weather started out clear then changed to overcast after a couple of hours. The road was too busy with little or no shoulder for the first 10 miles, then improved some after that. I ended up missing a turn, so we took an alternate route, Hwy. 97 north. When we were a few miles from Westminster, Adriana's crank, which had been creaking too much, began to wobble slightly, a bad sign. I thought we could hobble in to Westminster before it got worse, but I was wrong. About a mile and a half outside of town, the crank detaches completely. A man who saw what happened offered me tools or a garage to fix it. He gave me directions to the nearest bike shop. He even gave me his card and told me to call him if we needed a place to stay for the night. God provides. I thanked him and coasted almost the whole way to the bike store. While the man at the bike store looked at the problem, the rest of us went to the library.
To be continued...
Well, the problem with the bike was worse than expected. The bike shop tried to fix it, but could only do a band aid repair because they didn't have the right part. Not feeling too good about taking my chances with it, I asked if they knew of a place that had the part. They did. A shop about 20 miles from Westminster had a wide selection in recumbent bicycles and parts. So while the kids stayed in the library, Scott, the nice mechanic, drove me and the bike all the way there in his truck and help work on the bike, swapping out parts. Anyway, we took the bike back to the shop in Westminster to finish the job, and it became more complicated than we thought because I wanted to keep my original gear assembly which had wider gear ratios than the one they were going to replace. It took forever; they didn't get it fixed that night, so I called Tom Doerr, the nice guy who offered me a place to stay. He was very hospitable and made us feel at home. He had a beautiful 100 year old house. He gave us his three upstairs bedrooms and bathroom, and we all slept well. Before going to bed we went to the store and bought rotisserie chickens and food to eat out of the back of the van in the parking lot. We ate well and then went back to Tom's and showered before going to bed. 31 miles.

116

Sunday, September 28, 2008, St. John's Episcopal School, Olney, Maryland
We slept well last night with the soft mats. We woke up and made it to the church service next door at 9:00. It was similar to the Lutheran Church we went to in Kansas; the congregation and pastor participated in the service by reading alternately seperate parts of the message. After the service, we were invited to partake of their Sunday brunch. Later some of the kids walked across the street to the public library while others went back to the school gym; I took a much appreciated nap for about an hour. Later on John Zurn came by to see how we were doing and let us go back into the school library where I am right now updating this blog. Later tonight I plan to go back to the restaurant where we left our bikes and fix the tire so that we can get an early start tomorrow.
To be continued...
Well, I finally got the back tire patched, 10 pm. I was at the school library till around 9:30 doing the blog, putting on old pictures I couldn't do before. Becky went running. Everyone stayed up late watching Iron Will; we went to bed after midnight.

115

Saturday, September 27, 2008, St. John's Episcopal School, Olney, Maryland
Well, we finally decided to leave no matter what the weather. Yesterday on TV they called for a 50% chance of showers. This morning Mona made us another delicious breakfast. They have been such friendly hosts. I hope we can see them again some time. After saying our goodbyes, Fuad led us in his car to where we could pick up the trail toward Maryland, only a few miles away. It was a beautiful 14 mile ride through a wooded area. The ground was very soggy and the bike path slick. Johnny fell first and skinned his knee. Later Adriana and I slipped down but didn't get hurt. In places, the path was covered with a mixture of mud, algae, and water, which made an oil-like surface. When we fell, it was on such a surface, on a very slight curve at slow speeds. After that, we went very slowly and carefully. After a few miles, Paul told me I had a low back tire. Sure enough, it couldn't hold air for more than about 10 minutes. That's when the rain started coming down harder and began to dump buckets on us. We found temporary shelter at the Oakley Cabin, a historic cabin built around 1820. Two nice ladies gave us a tour even though it was already 4:00, closing time. After the tour, the rain died down and we pedaled toward Brookville. I asked the manager at a fancy restaurant about a place to stay in the area but he didn't know of one but told me where some churches in town were. He also said we could keep our bikes at a sheltered place out of the rain on the restaurant grounds, so we did (since I had a flat tire anyway) and drove off to investigate the church possibilities. It was still raining when we saw a lot of cars in one of the church parking lots. I went to where the crowd was and asked for the pastor. He wasn't there, but the principal of the school, John Zurn, was. He was very helpful and friendly, giving us permission to sleep in the gym for two nights and use the bathrooms. He even let us use the school library. This was very helpful since I hadn't updated the blog for a week. While we were in the library, he came in and asked for volunteers to help him get some pizza and food. He came back with four pizzas, two salads, a big bowl of fruit, a case of coke, two boxes of ice-creams and a video for after dinner. Everyone was so hungry and appreciative. What a blessing! He had done some bicycle touring himself in England and some sailing in Europe when he was younger and had some interesting stories. After that, we played basketball and watched Star Wars III. We ended up going to bed late, and it was a real treat to sleep on soft exercise mats. 21 miles.

114

Friday, September 26, 2008, Mona and Fuad and family's house, Washington D.C.
Today we wanted to get an earlier start, so we left at around 8:00 to begin our sight seeing. But first we had to get some food for snacks. We ended up buying 10 boxes of Lucky Charms because they were on sale for $1.88 a box, and if you bought 5 boxes, you saved an additional $5 with the coupon they gave you after you made the initial purchase. The nice clerk let us buy the first five without having a discount coupon, so we paid only 88 cents per box for 10 boxes. Pretty good. It was raining from the start, so, since we didn't have umbrellas, we were soggy all day, off and on. We visited the Lincoln Memorial, Jefferson Memorial, the Archive Museum, the Portrait Gallery, and, my favorite, live sessions of the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives. We saw the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the Magna Carta, and the Bill of Rights, among other documents. We saw paintings by famous artists, including Leonardo De Vinci. Very educational. I wish I could spend months visiting the different places. I think if I were homeschooling in D.C., I would spend the entire school year curriculum visiting the different museums, spending plenty of time in each. Seeing the things in person instead of just reading about them in a book makes the information seem more relevant. Because it was raining so much, we couldn't set up the tent, so we stayed with Zaid's family again. So nice. We watched the first presidential debate between McCain and Obama. I thought McCain came across like he had more experience, but the commentators seemed to favor Obama. I don't know how much the debates will sway anyone; I think most have already made up their minds by now.

113

Thursday, September 25, 2008, Mona and Fuad and family's house (Ziad's parents), Washington D.C.
Mona made us a delicious breakfast before we went sightseeing in D.C. Great way to start the day. We left our bikes at their house, planning to pick them up the day after tomorrow and continue our bike journey and use the van for sight seeing purposes. Parking was a problem. We finally found free parking, but for only 3 hours. It was raining off and on all day. Our first tourist stop was the Washington Monument. At the top were spectacular views of the White House, The Lincoln Memorial, The Jefferson Memorial, and the Capitol. Next we went to the Smithsonian museums. My favorites were the gem and mineral gallery, the aerospace center, and the American art gallery. After we were exhausted walking all day on empty stomachs, we decided to make our way to the only nearby campground about 15 miles away in Maryland and look for a place to eat along the way. We spied a Chevy's Fresh Mex and ate there, eating several bowls of chips and salsa before the main course. We also filled up on their homemade tortillas. All were full when we left. We were planning to spend the next two nights at a campground, but after Chevy's, it was already around 8:00 pm and the rain was coming down pretty hard. Mona had told Gloria we could stay longer if the weather was bad, so we returned to their house for the evening. They were gracious, as always, and made us feel at home.

112

Wednesday, September 24, 2008, Mona and Fuad and family's house (Ziad's parents), Washington D.C.
We woke up pretty early and went walking in the beautiful forest surrounding our camp. We saw red mushrooms and an outdoor movie theatre, showing movies on Fridays. We finally left the camp pretty late and went to the National Museum of the Marine Corps., very interesting and motivating to make you want to be a marine. We took lots of action shots of the kids in staged battle scenes. Once on the road, we pedaled toward Dale City, where I had to pick up my last set of Adventure Cycling maps. It took forever to find the right post office, delaying us for an hour. The wind and the traffic lights slowed us up too, so we ended up in a race with the sun to make it to Washington D.C. before dark. The maps put us on a scenic route, the Mount Vernon Trail, which was beautiful. We finally made it to the D.C. area and what a thrill to see the Washington Monument. It was big, tall, and majestic, lit up and towering into the fading sunlight. Our biker friend, Ziad, who we met in Kansas, had told us to give his mother a call when we got to the D.C. area and we had called her yesterday, but didn't make final arrangements until tonight. After crossing the Arlington Memorial Bridge to the D.C. Mall, we got directions to her house, 6 miles away through busy night time city traffic - thrilling. I enjoyed it. Finally we arrived at her house around 9:00 pm. They had a delicious dinner awaiting us. We went to bed content and thankful for God's provision. 41 miles.

111

Tuesday, September 23, 2008, Campground in Prince William Forest Park, Triangle, Virginia
I woke up early and mounted the horns on the bikes. I think it will be important as we enter city areas with lots of pedestrians and bikes. We got a fairly early start, 7:30. Highway 1, sounds like a nice highway, doesn't it? The worst road of the trip: no shoulder on most of it, hilly, with semis and lots of traffic. Unfortunately, the wind was blowing hard against us too. We were stuck on that road for a long time, and I could never relax. No incidents though. We had some safe stretches where we could participate in a bike honking chorus. Willie's was the odd sounding horn and Paul had a bell, which added for more variety in the compositions. We stopped occasionally for snacks, sunflower seeds being a favorite. Since there were few campgrounds, we decided to camp in Triangle and only ended up riding 73 miles.

110

Monday, September 22, 2008, Grass field behind the fire station, Tappahannock, Virginia
After eating a cereal breakfast, we said goodbye to Mr. Castillo and son, and pedaled off north toward Washington D.C., crossing over the York River bridge which passed by historic Yorktown. We had a nice ride on Hwy. 17, taking a ferry across the James River and stopping at Kentucky Fried Chicken. The weather was nice, blowing a little against us, but sunny and cool. We saw a bunch of vultures devouring a deer off the side of the road, interesting. After about 60 miles, it began to approach sundown so we did the usual; we began looking for a place to stay. Unfortunately, this time we had trouble finding accommodations. Finally Gloria managed to find help from a police dispatcher who contacted the fire department and made arrangements with them to let us stay in their field. They were very nice, opening up their restrooms and letting us set up our tent there. After setting up, we went to the Shoney's Buffet and ate a lot; I liked the fried catfish best. 62 miles.

109

Sunday, September 21, 2008, Castillo's Garage, Newport News, Virginia
Today, Mr. Castillo brought over breakfast for everyone from Burger King. He also gave each of the children money. So nice. Later we went to to the First Baptist Church and it was an unusual experience for us. The pastor called us up in front and prayed for us and our journey. The congregation participated a lot in the sermon and chimed in on many occasions with "Halleluyah," "Amen," or some other affirmation. Lots of singing and even some dancing, voter registration and eating after the service. After the benediction, one of the members offered to take me to a bike shop and the trailer store because I mentioned I was interested in maybe buying a cheaper trailer in Virginia rather than wait until Maine where they would probably be more expensive. Later we drove the kids to the Barnes and Nobles and Gloria and I went to Best Buy to receive our camera which would replace the unrepairable one we sent in for repairs in Clarksville, Indiana. The new one was a much better camera. Later we drove to Williamsburg to see the historic sites and then to Jamestown. When it got late, we ate four Little Caesar's pizzas, (not enough, we need five now to feed our family). So we stopped at McDonald's and bought more food and sodas. Later we dropped the kids back at Barnes and Nobles while we washed the clothes at a "Laundry and Grill." I had never seen one before. It had a fast food section in the laundromat with TVs and places to sit while you waited for your clothes to finish. A good idea and comfortable.