And...He's Off

As Joe has no internet service tonight, he has asked me to write this blog for him.
Here goes - Biker Joe's first day from the vantage point of the wife who waved bye-bye.

Friday evening, May 15th we arrived, by car, in Williamsburg, VA. As Joe and I neared our destination we were greated by an omen that would portend the beginning of this amazing adventure: a gorgeous rainbow hung like a decorative valance over the highway. Surely this was a sign that all would be perfect as he started his cross-country ride.

That same evening we had the opportunity to meet the tour leader, Andy, along with John and Jerry, two of the other riders. We even shared an pleasant dinner with Jerry. It was fun discussing the upcoming trip with him over big bowls of spaghetti (they have to load up on carbs for the ride. Me - well I had to load up on carbs for the fun of it)

On Saturday afternoon Joe had a meeting with the entire group after which they went to Andy's room where he cooked their first of many, many meals together. Leave it to a man to boil up a mean box of spaghetti with canned tomato sauce. Joe and I met back at our hotel room and I eagerly listened to stories about the terrific folks who are to be Joe's constant companions for the next three months. And I watched in quiet fascination as Joe frantically went about tossing clothing, books and unnecessary articles out of his duffle. Each of the two duffles can't weigh more than 25 pounds and he had just discovered that Andy really meant it. I had to stay out of the way of flying jackets, paperbacks and electronic paraphenalia.

Today, Sunday, May 17, 2009 - the day Joe has been planning for and dreaming about for the last two years - the trip began.

At 6:30am he wheeled his bike and duffles to the van. The bikes were put atop, the duffles put in Andy's room to be picked up later in the day. The cyclists piled into the van. They then took the fifteen mile drive to Yorktown, PA where they unloaded the bikes from the van and dipped
the rear wheels in the ocean, planted their bike shoes on the pedals, their bottoms on the seats and rode away into what would eventually be the sunset. If there was any sun. But there wasn't any sun.

Remember the rainbow that greeted us as we arrived in Williamsburg? It did, indeed, tell us of the future. We had it slightly wrong, however. That rainbow was warning us about today's weather. Rain. Lots of rain. All day. Rain so heavy that it often seemed to be coming down sideways.

Undaunted, however, Joe and his new buddies took to the open, if soggy, road and began their long journey with great excitement and enthusiasm.

I must say that he looked adorable in his "Boopah" bike shirt. Shame it was covered by the raincoat he was forced to wear.

He arrived at today's destination by 2:00 and set up camp, along with the others, in the basement of a local church. Good thing because they were finally able to come in from the rain and try to dry off their clothing. And, the kind folks at the church - who were in the midst of a gospel event - shared their apple pie and other goodies with my very hungry biker husband.

It was a good day. A great day. A perfect beginning - for now he knows that if he do 60 miles on a day like today, the rest will be a piece of cake.

Caryn