Kelly Johnson

We made it to Williamsburg! The ride from Richmond along the capital trail was smooth and scenic. It felt like an easy day, which is such a gift. In addition, the weather was perfect. This is a huge contrast from the tornado and flood warnings that hit the area yesterday and forced us to delay our push to the finish line. Tomorrow morning we’ll bike the final 12 miles out to Yorktown beach and then drive home to DC almost immediately thereafter. I must say, despite all the challenges, it’s bittersweet to reach the end. I cannot deny that I am relieved and glad to be done biking. The daily anxiety related to being in traffic and climbing hills has certainly taken a mental and emotional toll. That said, I’m going to miss the sense of adventure and challenge that permeated each and every day. I also love the camaraderie and can-do attitude our team has developed during the last two and a half months.

As of this morning, we have 310 miles to go! It is so surreal to be in the final stage of this adventure. If everything goes according to plan, we’ll arrive in Williamsburg Friday afternoon and then bike out to the Yorktown coast Saturday morning. When we’re done biking, it’s back to DC and back to reality. Not sure if I know how to do anything other than bike touring at this point, though.

Later today, in less than 10 miles, we will cross the border from Kentucky into Virginia! I am so excited and proud that we will have reached our last and final state of the trip. It’ll take us about a week and a half to reach the coast (Virginia is a big state), but the end is neigh! We also still have a good bit of climbing ahead to get us over the the Appalachian Mountains. Part of our Virginia route will be on the Blue Ridge Parkway, which should be quite scenic.

Kentucky has been a real challenge. Despite the fact that the elevation is rather low, we’re doing more climbing than we did crossing the Rockies. The roads are just a constant up-down, up-down. It is exhausting. It feels like we spend all day climbing with only very short payoffs. Due to the ever-evolving landscape, we are forced to constantly change gears. There is never a long stretch where we’re just cruising. Instead, we’re constantly shifting from high to low gears. It’s rough on the knees as well as the drive train. My front derailer came out of alignment yesterday. Luckily, Jordan was able to fix it and it worked just fine today! Impressive handyman skills!

We’re officially back on the TransAmerica Trail! Jordan and I decided to stick with the original plan and get back on the TransAmerica route after the Missouri Katy Trail instead of the Eastern Express. We decided that the Eastern Express went too north and risked running into rough weather. According to Julie’s very helpful and detailed route planning, we’re on track to hit Yorktown by 15 November.