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Saturday, September 13, 2008, Bonheims house, Lynchburg, Virginia
Well, It's been over a week since I have updated the blog, and still no pictures to add because I don't have the right attachment to upload pictures to the blog. Sorry. I will try to give a daily summary until today. On Saturday, after breakfast at the Bonheims, we went with Coach Bonheim to Liberty for a tour of the campus. It was a walk down memory lane on one hand, but on the other, it had grown so much that I could only really recognize a little bit. Very impressive school now, about 13,000 day students, and still growing. Then Coach Bonheim showed us the new Thomas Road Baptist Church. Afterwards, we went to the all-you-can-eat pizza place, Cici's. Goooood. Then we hobbled over to the one dollar (you heard right) movie theatre, within walking distance, and saw Indiana Jones & the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Only $9 for the whole family. Later in the evening when we returned to the Bonheims, we watched the USC football team slaughter Ohio State, not a very good game. Great day though.

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Friday, September 12, 2008, Coach Bonheim's house, Lynchburg, Virginia
Well, today marked the 100th day of our trip, and it ended in an eventful way, staying the night at my old college wrestling coach's house.
Gloria and I had to get up in the middle of the night because it started to sprinkle, so we set up the tarp. I didn't sleep very well last night. I was still feeling under the weather, and last night I woke up three times in sweaty clothes. After the third time, I had to take a shower, but I felt better. The rest of the gang got up pretty early because we wanted to make it to Liberty University before the admission offices closed so that we could show Becky and Adriana around. We had hills with lots of climbing at first, but we finally made it to the beautiful Blue Ridge Parkway, which was right along the ridge of the mountains. Very nice. We all rode and Gloria drove the van. There were some fun long descents and a tunnel, which the kids liked a lot. About 15 miles from Lynchburg, we saw a guy directing traffic into a gas station. Kinda strange. Turns out the gas prices were set to go up to over $5.00 at 5:00 pm and there was a "gas run" going on. Apparently Hurricane Ike in Texas was affecting the refineries, which affected the prices. Lucky for us we had a full tank. Getting into Lynchburg, we had to detour because of bike restrictions. After getting complicated directions, and Becky's flat tire, we finally arrived at Liberty University, my old Alma Mater, at around 7:30 pm. By the time we parked, dinner in the cafeteria had closed. Everyone was hungry and we didn't have a place to stay, so I tried to take care of sleeping arrangements while everyone went to Little Caesar's to eat. The college had grown unbelievably. I only recognized a few of the buildings, one of them was the old building we used to practice wrestling. Still the same, but the wrestling room had been changed into a dance studio. So I went looking for the new wrestling room. Finally, I found it - it was in the field house of the football stadium. Once in there, I saw names of people I knew on the wall, including my own, who were All Americans, had won a certain number of matches, and were team captains. After reminiscing, I got permission to keep the bikes locked in a bike rack overnight. I still hadn't found a place to camp because I hadn't made plans with Jesse, so I called Coach Bonheim, and he invited us to stay with him. It was great to see him and Brenda again. Not only was he my coach, I had spent several summers with them in Maui in the 70s and 80s, when they were directing summer camps there. Actually, it was in 1978, right after finishing Sacramento City College, while visiting my dad and sister in Maui, that I decided to come to Liberty. The students on the summer team were so gung-ho about their school and the Lord that I couldn't resist trying it out, so I enrolled. It was one of the best decisions I ever made. A great school with great people. 61 miles.

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Thursday, September 11, 2008, Long's Campground, 5 miles north of Lexington, Virginia
Well, quite a bit of interesting things happened today. After our usual morning routine of eating, packing, Bible reading, and prayer, we headed out of White Sulfer Springs, West Virginia, toward the Virginia border only a few miles away on Hwy. 60, at around 9:30 am. After only a mile or two, Hwy. 60 merged with Interstate 64. Not wanting to deviate from Hwy. 60 and not seeing any signs prohibiting bicycles, I continued on. The shoulder was nice and wide and the grade was smooth with only gradual climbs, a nice road to bike on. Right before the Virginia border, a West Virginia patrolman pulled us over and said we couldn't be on the interstate. I told him the two roads merged and that we had no choice. After going back and forth like this a little, he let us go, saying that in a mile we would be out of his jurisdiction. We continued for about 5 miles, gradually going uphill; then we began a long, gradual decent for about 5 miles until another patrolman, this time from Virginia, pulled us over and said the same thing. This time, however, he wouldn't let us continue, and after making a phone call said he would escort us to the next exit and explain how we could catch Hwy. 60 outside of following I-64. It was a blessing; the road was good and the directions easy, plus we saw some interesting things along the way. The best was the Island Ford Cave. As we were pedaling along, we suddenly noticed a wide opening on the left side of the road, a cave. It went in about 150 feet, so far you couldn't see the far end without a flashlight. We had plenty of those for the bikes, so we went in and marveled and took pictures. It was fun. Right before we were ready to leave, Paul came up and said, "Dad, I found another opening!" It was a narrow passage on the right side, low to the ground, but big enough to fit through if you tried. So Willie, Paul, Adriana, and I went in. The space opened up once we were in and had a narrow but passable passageway that wound its way through the mountain. The walls and ground were slick and muddy, and there was a creek winding beneath us also. We kept going. It was unlikely we would get lost because the passage led in only one direction, as far as we could tell. We went in about 100 yards before turning back because we didn't want Gloria to worry too much; we had already gone so far that we couldn't hear her voice any more. What a thrill following a cave to unknown places and adventure! I had never explored a cave either so it was just as fun for me as it was for the kids. At one point, we turned off our flashlights and experienced total blackness. After we left, we continued riding and shortly came upon fresh water springing from a pipe sticking out of the mountain. Delicious and refreshing, the best water! We filled our water bottles up and continued riding. We made a stop at Hardee's for food and drink. By the time we arrived in Lexington, it was getting late with only about an hour left of daylight riding, so we continued on to the campground 5 miles away and made it right before it got dark. 68 miles.

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Wednesday, September 10, 2008, Campground, White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia
It rained a little last night but not on the tent since we put it on the concrete under the pavilion. It was a little hard though, even with the air mattress. Phil Dawson rode out today on Billie his horse to continue his journey cross country. We left the park at 9:15 under a thick overcast sky, and the bank thermometer said 50 degrees. I was feeling tired, not my self, and cold. The terrain was gentle for the first 8 miles east then began to get hilly. We made a long hour rest stop after about 28 miles, and I just lay down and tried to sleep. Closing my eyes probably did me good. A mile later, in the town of Lewisburg, we took another break at a gas station for popcorn and soda. I just tried to sleep. Now we are at the Lewisburg library taking another break after less than a mile. Lots of breaks. Actually, I have to correct an error in the blog that Adriana reminded me of: Phil and Nona's dog Sophie is a BULLDOG, not a boxer [Sorry it took me so long Phil]. Hopefully, we will make it to Virginia today.
To be continued...
Well, we rode to White Sulphur Springs, only 5 miles from the Virginia border, and found a motel where the lady said she would charge us only $15 and open a room to let us use the shower. So we did it, even though we quit early. I was glad because I was run down. I need a good sleep. So after setting up the tent and showering, we went back to the library where I am now. I took a picture of a silver painted car... done by an amateur. Earlier, I emailed Jesse Castro, my old Liberty wrestling buddy to see if we could meet tomorrow or the next day when we arrive in Lynchburg, only 70 miles away.
To be continued...
Before going to bed, we stopped at a grocery store and bought food for dinner. Everyone was hungry. I was tired, so I went to bed right after. 42 miles.

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Tuesday, September 9, 2008, city park, Rainelle, West Virginia
Well, at about 3:30 am I woke up to the distant thunder of an approaching storm. Gloria and I dug out the tarps and set them over the tent just before the downpour started. We placed towells in strategic places throughout the tent floor because the two tarps we have don't entirely protect the tent from a side wind. We made it through the night with only a few of the sleeping bags getting partially wet. Since I knew we wouldn't be riding through the rain, we all slept in, something everyone appreciated. After eating and hanging the wet items on the picnic tables to dry under the pavilion, we packed up and headed to the library, where I am right now, updating the blog. It takes a while when I haven't posted anything for a week.
To be continued...
At night I started feeling tired, like I was coming down with something, so I ate some soup and went to bed early.

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Monday, September 8, 2008, city park, Rainelle, West Virginia
We slept in. I woke up first and went to the store to buy some milk. It was amusing to watch a man in line glaring at his mischievous son who obviously had both parents wrapped around his finger, unable to control him. After monkeying around, he finally drops the soda which explodes over everything within 3 feet, luckily not me. I had to laugh, but those poor parents have to live with him, but it's their own fault. A fisherman showed us his big catfish he caught today and John took a picture with it.
I think the Appalachians started today. Up, up, down a little, up, up, repeat. It was a hard 30+ miles today, pretty though. The kids wanted to go to the library, but it was closed on Mondays; the next town's was too. Oh well. We finally arrived in Rainelle at around 5:30. After finding no nearby campgrounds or police to ask, a nice lady told us where the mayor lived; he might be able to help. So I went to his house and he told us we could camp in the city park. When we got there, there were three horsemen, and two of them, Phil and Patty Dawson, were riding horses across the country from Idaho to Virginia, raising money for families with children with diseases, a great cause, and Dennis was their support man. I was very interested in talking with them, so we camped next to them. Such an interesting group, and they had a lot of amazing stories to tell of all kinds of people helping them along the way. They were a great encouragement and they let me use their grill to cook up some pork chops. The kids liked their puppy, Shortstop, and played with her. Before we went to bed, they brought over a chocolate cake for us, delicious. Before going to bed, I called my mom. It was great to talk with her and update her on our trip. About 35 miles.