hello family and friends,
we have officially started our cross-country journey. we arrived at our host site in nag's head, north carolina on friday afternoon for orientation. saturday was more orientation information and a "shake down" ride. we rode 16 miles roundtrip - our destination at 8 miles was a famous north carolinian light house. and we spent some time with our new friend john, who was one of the last people to live in it. he's 91. and full of energy and stories. our last task before we rested up for the first westward ride was to paint the trailer. the trip has a support van that pulls a trailer with all of our gear and food. we painted a silhouette of the united states with our route on it, a biker with flames coming out of his back tire (because we're so frickin' fast!), a "share the road" road sign, and the classic bike and build bike tire. if you don't know it, visit the website! (bikeandbuild.org - also on the trailer)
this morning we got up early to partake in a ceremony on the atlantic! we had such distinguished guests as the mayor of nag's head, the family who hosted us in nag's head, several nag's head police officers, the program directors, family and friends. after the ceremony we all lined up on the shore and dipped our tires in the ocean at the same time! and we were off...
we rode 66 miles from nag's head to swan quarters. into the wind. the whole day. the route was flat as flat can be so we rode hard, past swamps and forests, with horse flies and birds, along alligator river (which harbors more turtles than anything). it took our group about 5 hours - beating the van to the host site! we stretched as we waited for the rest of the group - celebrating each rider as (s)he arrived! when (almost) everyone was here, we did our push-ups and sit ups and hit the showers. now everyone is enjoying the shade under a beautiful, leafy tree, anxious for dinner to be served. our hosts are offering fresh-caught sea-food and tons of side dishes. we're sure to sleep well tonight, unless we are too anxious for breakfast: fresh strawberries and pineapple, biscuits and gravy, eggs and bacon... mmmmm.... we're hungry from today's ride!
we think of you all often and we hope you're enjoying the journey along with us. if you want more general information about the trip there is a great resource on the website - the route tracker. the map will follow our location each day, it will advertise how many days we have ridden, have built and have left, someone will upload pictures, and someone from our group will journal each day.
pura vida,
molly and eric
3 comments:
Hi Molly and Friends,
So good to hear that your first day went well! Enjoy your well earned dinners and sleep well. We're all thinking of all of you.
Deb & Paul Barry
say hi to Jen for us
Glad to hear your first day went well. Sisty six down adn 3400 to go. Well the longest journy begins with the first step or pedal!
my "daughter" in London is biking from London to Paris. it'll take her three days. I told her she was weak-tit compared to you too.
Pedal on.
(the hungarian word for bicycle is BICIKLI)
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