Day 7: Chesterfield to Sunbury

Route: Chesterfield, VA to Sunbury, NC
Mileage: 92 miles

Today was our 7th day of riding and we have made it to our 7th state!  Today's theme: extreme heat.

It started off quite pleasantly.  We woke up early after our day off and Lydia had prepped us a nice high protein breakfast while the kids played around us.  Julia and I held Tinker Toys between our noses, what's not to love? We even got a very special escort out of town.  Police and the chair of the BODs has nothing on Jon and Julia who made it a whole block and yard, respectively :)

I feel like I don't have too much to say about the ride itself.  It was pretty flat the whole time.  We saw a bunch of animals including pheasants, baby calfs and ponies (and their adult counterparts) and a bunch of vultures at the end that wondered why we weren't dead yet...and really wished we would die so they could eat our remains.

That's the real story of the day--how freaking hot it was.  As I lay here writing this, it still says there is a heat index of 98 degrees and it was way hotter today.  And, fun fact, there is no A/C at this Bed and Breakfast we are staying at.  I am laying right in front of the fan but it's going to be a miserable night's sleep.  I get nightmares when it's too hot.

Feels like 98...at night...even hotter in this room!

Anyways, back to the ride.  We were pretty much on a country road in the middle of nowhere the whole time.  We left at 8:30 and it was great to get so much mileage out of the way early.  We actually road for 60 miles straight (with breaks every hour to put on more sunscreen and get sweet tea or fill up our water bottles).  It was just so hot you had to get out of the sun for even a few minutes.  There was no cloud cover and very few trees to shield you.  Even if there were, it was overhead most of the time we were riding.

For my dad :) Ricky Skaggs!

Flat open road with no tree cover

Tea break 

Still no shade

So, Hot.

Confederate flags everywhere right as we cross into NC

So we finally stopped for lunch at a place I found on yelp, the first place in about 25 miles.  Of course we get there, and it's closed.  There was some random guy sitting outside of the joint even though it was closed and he said there was a place a few blocks further, so we went there.  More southern fried food.  Seems to be a theme.  But it was nice and cool in the restaurant and the waitress couldn't believe we were out there biking, said we were crazy.  In fact, a lot of people have told us this (starting to believe it).

We then only had 30ish miles left, which in theory should be about 2 hours.  But they were the worst 2 hours.  The sun rash on my thighs has gotten so intense, I could barely stand being in the sun.  It stung every time the sun hit it, which was pretty much constant because of lack of shade.  I put on so much sunscreen but nothing was enough.  My legs started to swell underneath it with edema. I was the GPS and I was just waiting for the mileage to tick down and it felt like it never would.  We also then had a headwind and I was mustering all I had just to get there and get out of the sun.  Every time we got to a tree lined area, my legs let out a sign of relief as there was a brief moment of shade.

The mileage was up there with our top of the trip.  The body felt good otherwise.  Muscles aren't sore, joints are doing well, it's just the sun rash that's killing me. And it stings a little but no big deal, check out my nice infected road rash from our crash too.

When we got to the B&B, the host came out to meet us.  We had been there all of 3 mins when another older couple on a bike tour rolled up.  They are riding from Key West to Montreal, they're smart to be doing it that direction where they have a tailwind and the weather theoretically gets cooler as they go! They are also probably retired and taking their sweet time to do it.  We are on a mission for speeeed!

We got showered and then set out for food.  I had messaged the host ahead of time asking if there was food around since we weren't going to be getting back on the bike.  She told us there was a gas station that had fried food and then a couple of stores down the road.  We set out on foot and first came across the gas station.  Fried BBQ at an authentic restaurant is one thing, but fried food from a gas station just sounded (and looked) horrid, so we passed on that.  The host had said there were two stores next to each other--Family Dollar and Family Foods.  She had said go to Family Dollar because Family Foods doesn't get fresh food in so often.  So we went to Family Dollar, and it was like a Kmart or a glorified CVS or something.  It had some cold cuts and other snacks but nothing delicious.  We decided to check out Family Foods and were absolutely horrified by the place.  I couldn't fathom eating food from a place like this.

At Family Foods...it was scary

Read these ingredients...yikes.  What honesty.

So we went back to Family Dollar after all and bought a few things.  The turkey meat was actually pretty gross.  And we didn't have a spoon.  So really we pretty much had 4 pieces of string cheese each after a day of burning probably around 8000 calories in the hot sun.

We then came back and ate our delicious cheese sticks as I jumped on an Arthritis Foundation conference call.  I don't have cell service so quickly had to figure out how to call using google voice over the internet.

Then my next project was to figure out what to do about my legs.  So many fabulous people are watching out for us online and giving what sound like amazing suggestions.  Unfortunately, we are in the middle of nowhere (please see string cheese dinner) and none of those options were available.  So I had to think like a pro.  First, I did do an Amazon Prime order and had it shipped to our host's house in Jacksonville NC where we will be in 2 nights time.  But in the meantime, I needed to do something.  I legitimately cannot have my thighs exposed to the sun AT ALL.  So--I sacrificed a pair of my cycling shorts and cut the legs off of them to make mini knee sleeves that would essentially extend my pants down past my knees.  The rash has spread to my left calf and ankle, but nowhere near as bad as my thighs, so I figure this will hold me until I can get leggings somewhere.  People have offered to bring us things or have found stores for us to stop at along the way.  I really do have amazing people looking out for us.  And I promise once I get back into civilization I will try all of those things!

Step 1: Cut legs off shorts 

Step 2: Pull legs over knees to close gap with normal shorts.  Dance around because you feel like Peter Pan.

Step 3: Pin back Peter Pan floppy pants to make mini knee sleves!

And now, I am hot, tired, and ready for bed.  The sun takes a lot out of you.  Naturally, I am nervous for tomorrow. I have long sleeves to put on if my arms need it, but I'm really more concerned for my legs.  We have 95 miles to go tomorrow.  I would love to get an earlier start, but breakfast at this place isn't served until 8 (and we know there are no real breakfast options around!).  So we will just leave as soon as possible after that.  It's supposed to be another scorcher tomorrow.  Ugh.  Pray for us...my legs!!

I have to say, so many unexpected people have donated to this fundraising effort.  I'm so touched.  It means more to me than you know.  Today was really tough, I seriously worried about whether I can physically do this in these conditions, but it's worth it to feel like I have connected with so many others and am raising money for a cause I truly believe in.  So if you wanted to send me a bottle of aloe or a pair of leggings, please consider donating to the cause instead.  On our 7th day and 7th state, I had hoped we would surpass the $7,000 mark -- we are close, but $180 off as of right now!  I know we can do it.  Donate here!

Thank you all for following along!!! (this mileage is wrong, it kept stopping and you can see a chunk missing--it was 92 miles and a bazillion calories burned).

Day 6: Chilling in Chesterfield

Route: Bed to the kitchen and back
Mileage: 0

Today we took the day off from riding.  We contemplated breaking up our mileage to ride shorter distances, but felt a day off could do us some good.  We had thought we'd have time in the evenings to work, but that has yet to happen.  People continually ask us "so, you guys are 31--do you have jobs?" Yes.  We have jobs, they are flexible and/or accommodating to us taking this trip, but it doesn't really mean we are on vacation.  We both have a ton of work today.  Keegan got some good work done today.  I mostly worked on the trip and have been trying to map out our next legs, find places to stay, etc.  It's a surprising amount of work.  I still need to finish my slides for the JA Conference (sorry Katie!!!).  Maybe tomorrow.  We are staying at a random B&B out in the middle of nowhere Sunbury, NC.  We needed somewhere and it was really one of the only places that came up so we took it.  Doesn't even look like there are any restaurants close enough for someone without a car to reasonably go to, so we need to remember to pick up food on our way in.  I still haven't found a place in Greenville. I thought as it was a more "major" town we might have some luck, but I'll need to book that tomorrow for the following night.  I booked a place in Southport as we didn't have anything in the Wilmington area.  Then the last piece to our puzzle is in GA, somewhere in the Darien area.  We have some really long days towards the end, so trying to conserve mileage.  We have 115 miles between Myrtle Beach and North Charleston.  110 between North Charleston and Hilton Head and likely 100 between Hilton Head and Darien, GA.  So that stretch is going to be rough.  We have another day off schedule between now and then, and we can't figure out where it makes the most sense.  We may even choose to find a place between Myrtle Beach and North Charleston because that will be our longest haul.

So at any rate--that's what I've been doing all day.  Otherwise we've totally just been raiding Lydia's kitchen and stocking up on calories.  We worked from the porch for awhile.  Then we came inside and that's when a family of deer came.  There were even two baby/teenager fawns!  Look at all their spots!

It was about 7pm when Lydia and family were out at the pool and going to have pizza (they were totally gracious and invited us along, but we hung back) that my mother's cousin, Anne, messaged me!  With my day off I was finally going through old messages and I saw one from Anne, who I knew lived in NC.  In my head, I thought she lived much farther west, but I was wrong!!  She lives just down the street from where we were staying!  I messaged her midday and couldn't believe it.  She had just gotten home from a long day of working outside at a food bank and immediately messaged me when she saw my message and offered to take us to dinner!  She is just the sweetest!  So she came and picked us up and brought us to an amazing BBQ place.  I had fried catfish and pecan pie!  Feeling southern and satiated!  It was delicious but I am so full I am almost angry at the place for making me feel so full! :) It was so great to see her, I haven't seen her in probably 5-6 years.  She checked out our route out of town and gave us the heads up for what to watch out for.

So that's pretty much how the day went!  We did laundry since we will be on our own for a few days and don't know where we will be staying so we wanted to start fresh!  So back on the saddles we go tomorrow!  We want to start early since it is going to be 95 and humid tomorrow.  Yuck.  I also have a conference call at 7pm so I need to try to get in before then! Wish us luck in the heat!

And as always, if you are able to donate, it is very much appreciated!  We are almost halfway to our goal of $14,000!!  Every bit helps!  ya.kintera.org/jointbikeride

Much love!

Day 5: Stafford to Chesterfield

Route: Stafford, VA to Chesterfield, VA
Mileage: 90 miles

We tried to get an early start to the day, but it didn't happen.  Luckily our next host for the evening, Lydia, had given us a pass for getting in early.  She also has juvenile arthritis and understood how exhausted we must be.  So we took our time getting up and out the door.  We went downstairs to where Raquel had a whole spread of breakfast options for us.  Keegan snagged a muffin whereas I went for fruit, granola and hard boiled eggs!  Raquel helped us figure out our next route, since we will now be double checking with guests to confirm Google has not lost its mind and is trying to send us on ridiculous routes.  We wanted to stick to main roads.  Google said 301 instead of Rte 1.  She called a colleague to confirm this sounded like a good option.  When she said it would be shadier, we were already sold.  So we loaded up and headed out!

We went through Fredericksburg as we were getting out of town and on our way to the 301.

Once we got on 301, we were so happy when Google told us to just go straight for every and ever.  It was a great route, it was only one lane in each direction, but not busy, no stop lights, so we just cruised.

There were rolling hills, but we were getting good at accelerating so much during the down hill that we could get a portion up the next hill without much effort. It didn't always work out that way, but it was tolerable.  Our top speed was 37mph!  We mostly just went through farmland.  We saw lots of cows and corn and even alpaca!

It was super hot, so we just stopped every hour to reapply sunscreen and fill up water bottles as needed.  I am still having a huge problem with this sun rash.  It's only on my thighs and wore my shorts that are slightly longer, but it just extended past there.  I started to think I had an allergy to lycra or something, but I've worn lycra my whole life--it's the sun.  I'm just surprised it's nowhere but my thighs.

We wanted to stop for food a little over half way, so we would feel good about our final stretch.  There wasn't much on 301, so it was either Bowling Green or the next town which was 20 miles past that, so we picked the later and ate at Houndstooth Cafe.  We locked up the bike and headed in for a big southern meal.  We were the only ones there and ate an impressive amount.  Just as we were leaving, another touring cyclist came in.  His name is Derek, and he is in the middle of a 5,000 mile tour.  He had just rode 120 miles the day before and was putting us to shame.  He's also doing it right by stopping in major areas and spending a few days.  We are riding with a mission and speed is key for us!

Just across the street from where we stopped was an antique shop with an unusual name--and too good to pass up!  It was called Two Frogs On A Bike and actually had two frogs on a tandem as their sign.  We NEEDED that picture.  We were going to bust out the selfie stick, but Derek came running across the street to help us capture such happenstance properly.  So photo cred: Derek!

We then road through Richmond as we got closer to our final destination.  We did have to turn off of our beautiful country road, but Richmond had bike lanes marked (how much cars liked us there is unclear).  We passed by a lot of Confederate monuments (that's Stonewall Jackson) and rode through a pretty park.

We then got to a bridge we weren't sure if we could cross as we have grown suspicious of bike laws, but Google told us to so we went on what seems to be a sidewalk/bike path.  The view from it was gorgeous so we stopped for pictures!

We then made it to Chesterfield to my friend Lydia's, a fellow JA-er I know from the JA Conference many years ago (she gave a terrific talk for the Young Adult Program on body image).  She had said not to rush, so we didn't, but she was going to her son's swim meet.  She was still there with her daughter, Julia, when we arrived.  They were headed to the meet, but she had prepped us a delicious taco dinner.  Although we would have loved her company as well, we were happy to just get there, shower, eat and zone out.  We were just contemplating bed (seriously, I was) at 8:30 when they got back home.  We got to meet the whole family, her son John and husband Bryan, and watch both Julia and John show us how real bike riding is done.  John can bike down all the way to the white line at the end of their driveway!  Impressive.  

I was then totally beat and worn out from the sun.  I popped my methotrexate and was ready to sleep in.  Keegan and I debated whether we should take a day off or break our ride into smaller portions and keep going.  We decided to take the day off because we both had a ton of work to catch up on and resetting so we could get an earlier start than we have been on the next day sounded like a good plan.  So I crashed.  My brother-in-law just noted that the app's calorie count has got to be inaccurate, which of course it is.  The app is programmed for 160 pounds, but does not take into account how much weight we are hauling.  Between the two of us, our bike and all our stuff, we are at least 400 pounds.  So we are burning a lot and pretty tired! 

Thanks everyone for being patient with the blog today!  I'll bust out another tonight, I promise (it will be short!). If you haven't had a chance to check out our donation page, please do.  Any amount helps!  our last blog post was read 301 times.  If everyone that read gave just $10, we would have $3,010 more!  We are at 6k of our 14k goal!  Please share and donate here: ya.kintera.org/jointbikeride

THANK YOU!!

Day 4: Ellicott City to Stafford

Route: Ellicott City, MD to Stafford, VA
Mileage: About 81 miles

Last night I was way too tired to write this, so sorry for the delay. Yesterday was a rough day!  So let us begin the recap.

I woke up in pain.  My spine was killing me I could barely stand up straight.  I also have ankylosing spondylitis, which affects the back, spine and tendons and anything else from there blends in with my JIA.  My spine hasn't bothered me in a very long time but only started to show it's ugly head the morning we left.  Great.  But this morning, oh man, it was not good.  I tried stretching, I had Keegan push on me.  Nothing helped. So I just had to make do.  Luckily it wasn't so bad when I was flexed forward, how one rides, but every now and then on the ride I would move and pain shot through my body.

But let me back up.  We woke up to Mike cooking us a delicious and hearty meal to get us going with energy! He had offered to ride us out of town to a bike path, so we tried to pack up and get out of there so he could get on his call with Ann Palmer, CEO of the Arthritis Foundation.  We probably made him late for the call, apologies to Ann!

We felt pretty spoiled, having a police escort the day before and now the Chair of the Board of Directors escorting us out of town.  The southern states are really going to have to go big! ;)

We wound around through trees on a beautiful paved bike path.  Mike took us so far and then had to head back.  We were twisting and turning, going up and down hills, and really only about 5 min after Mike left us we were making a left turn on a slick piece of pavement that had a thin layer of mud and we wiped out.  We both lay there for a moment, picked ourselves up and made sure the other was ok.  We went down really hard.  I may have taken more of the fall as the back went down first with the weight. My left hip really hit hard.  And somehow my right shin was hit too, probably on the bike frame or handlebars.  My left elbow was cut up as well, but all survivable. We walked it off as we inspected our bodies and our bike.  I had the forethought to bring baby wipes to wipe off sunscreen on days, but not a first aid kit.  So we wiped the mud off of our bodies as best we could, and luckily we both had a pair of spare riding gloves because ours were covered in mud and we would spend the whole day just wiping our faces with dirt.  Some kind runners stopped and asked us our plan heading forward on the trail.  We said we didn't really know, we did what Google told us, which by the looks of it looked like for miles and miles and miles.  Mike had showed us on a map where to cut out of the path and we assumed Google would tell us, but no, Google only wants you on bike paths so we were a bit lost and now wanting off this path.  They warned us the path turned muddy up ahead and helped us to figure out how to get out of there.  They both got stickers!

We knew we needed to stop at a pharmacy anyways because we were pretty much out of sunscreen.  So once we got off the path we put in pharmacy and road towards a Walgreens.  However, there was no Walgreens there, we were in some industrial park.  But the bike was making noise so we stopped to fix it up and make sure all was ok.  Then we road 30 min to a CVS where we stopped, bought supplies and regrouped while I iced my hip.  It took us 2 hours to get 15 miles (that were very windy an not sure how much net progress we actually made), we were not off to a good start.

So we then set out again, long day, GPS said we still had 78 miles to go.  Ugh! We twist and turned all the way until we made it to DC.  We road past all of the major sights, but we were feeling pressed for time so didn't really stop too much.

We also needed food but didn't have time for a restaurant, so grabbed some quick hot dogs/chicken sausages and scarfed those down (Keegan loves cheese).

From there, more windy bike paths.  Some of which were quite nice and were lovely to take.

But then the bike directions turned a bit crazy.  Google so desperately wants you to take bike paths over roads it is hardly practical.  The directions had us weaving through suburban streets. It even had us hit a major road and then proceeded to say we needed to be on some bike path across the street that took you over what looked like a little bridge/boardwalk.  So we waited to get across traffic and when there was an opening we took it--Keegan is a great captain!  But then a truck came barreling around the corner and I won't go into too much detail about what it was like on my end because I know my mother is reading this, but it was close.  We made it across and I was pretty shaken up so we just continued along.  But when freaking Google then had us crossed the very same road where we had almost been killed to get to a bike path on the side of the street we were originally on--which we did, and had us go back to a cul de sac that had 3 flights of stairs to get back up to the bike path--we  had had it.  We were done.  No more bike directions, Google.  You're fired.  Keegan suggested we put in walking directions, because it always gives you the fastest route.  So we did that, which put us on a major road, Rte 1, but we are used to driving in traffic.  By Google's calculations, we had either 43 miles left of biking or 30 miles with walking directions down Rte 1--it was a no brainer.

We finally started to fly--it was about time.  My brother-in-law had even asked earlier in the day if we had really gotten up to 30mph on the bike like the Cyclometer said.  Oh yes, we can bomb down hills.  We were finally moving.  It was again very hilly, but that's just the way it's going to be. We did get a flat towards the very end, but otherwise we made it just at 7pm.

We were greeted by Raquel and Cy Carandang, my friend Kristine's parents who were kind enough to take us in.  Oh, and Elmo too.  They had a seriously beautiful spread prepared for dinner, I felt a little ridiculous as I hate dishes full of food all for me to gorge, but it was so great.  We had a great conversation, what fabulous people.  They even told us about their neighbor, who was in Germany at the moment, that also has JA.  What are the odds!  My friend Kristine has RA, although it sounds as though she was developing symptoms in early high school.  I also learned Kristine still holds the high school record in breath stroke!  Go Kristine!! :)

We stuffed ourselves and then went to bed.  I actually had some ergo reports to catch up on, so I did those and then didn't have the energy to write this, so crashed.  Tonight we stay with my friend, Lydia.  We were trying to get there early in the afternoon before she and her family had to be out, but she was gracious and empathetic enough (she has JA too) to say take our time.  Which is a relief, because I'm a bit beat up.

And you may be wondering how my body is holding up.  Well, it's ok.  But truthfully I feel pretty beat up.  My hip definitely hurts.  It's just very bruised with a nice hematoma the size of a golf ball in there, so I felt it with every pedal.  My shin is bruised to the touch, but otherwise fine.  My cuts on my arm/elbow sting with sunscreen but are alright, a little mini hematoma with the big cut.  Luckily it was my better elbow (second time the left has taken a blow when biking).  My right elbow is probably my most damaged/fragile joint so it would not have done well in the same instance.  Otherwise my back is iffy but a little better.  I also have way more sun rash on my legs, I just can't keep up with the sunscreen I guess, I should be wearing pants.  I also have a canker sore, which I am prone to from the methotrexate, that won't heal for a week or so.  So I'm hanging in, but feeling it.

This is definitely not accurate mileage, you can even see a chunk missing from the mileage markers.  It kept shutting off.  By our calculation we were supposed to do 93 miles and then took a 12 mile short cut, so we think 81 miles for the day.

We have actually never done four days in a row on the tandem, let alone loaded as it was.  So this was new territory.  And now we are off for Day 5!  Wish us luck!!