Mechanicsville to Mineral, VA May 22, 2015

Friday, May 22, 2015.  Janet fixed a nice breakfast of pancakes, bacon and eggs.  Her husband Nick was asleep when I got in last night so I got to meet him at breakfast.

 Nick and Janet Nicklaus

 Getting my dashboard ready.

 Leaving the Nicklaus' home.

 Met Tracy Adams in Ashland.  She recognized that I was from Arizona so she stopped to talk to me. She went to Mountain View High School but then lived in Scottsdale before moving to Virginia.

 Just a real homey country road.

 Log cabin s still exist.

 Now this looks like an upscale farm with the corn off to a good start.

 Looks like this silo has been around for a long time.

 Beautiful view.

 It is so nice riding thru these tree tunnels.

 Dashboard and map.  In case you're wondering where the phone is, it's in my hand taking the picture.

 This is Ashlee Patterson.  I was at a junction trying to figure out where I was and where to go when she stops her car in the roadway to help me out.  She was so excited and friendly.

 This is Gwen at the D and L Country Store.  She has a notebook that she asks all the bikers to sign into.  So I left my signature and where I was from and what I was doing.  Then I bought my dinner and sat on the store's steps and ate.

 This is what I ate.

 I like the porch around this house.

This is looking back down a hill I am in the process of pushing my bike up.  It has to be at least a 12% grade.  My Garmin won't calculate the grade if moving slower than 4 mph.  So, without the proof this grade is anything I say it is.

Williamsburg to Mechanicsville May 21, 2015

Thursday, May 21, 2015.  Found a bicycle shop about a mile from the motel, but had to wait until 10:00 am for it to open.  Conte's Bike Shop opened in this area in 1957.  Easy to remember.  That was the year I graduated from High School.  It's raining pretty good now as it will all day, but I'm prepared for it.  Just a good hard drizzle.  Makes riding enjoyable.

John Lawlor fixed the problem and now it's rolling good as new.

Met Doug in the shop while John was working on my bike.  He was looking over the mountain bikes.  That's his forte.  He said they have some really nice biking trails through the woods nearby. He just has to ride on the street less than a mile and he's on a nice trail.

 Might have stopped to take a picture of the plantation itself, but it was about five miles out of my way.  That's five out and five back.

 I look at this picture again and I can just smell that clean air after a rain.

 This is the light at the end of the tunnel.

 A bridge over part of the Chesapeake Bay water drainage system.  That's what the sign said.

Another plantation coming up.

 This is where I got stranded.  Nine o'clock at night, raining, I'm cold and hungry, and still ten miles from the nearest motel and not in the mood to sleep under the stars, even if I could see any thru the clouds.  So, I called Earl Greenwood's sister, Janet Nicklaus, as I was going to stay at their house.  Earl's wife, Susi works at SSRC where my office is and that's how this was arranged.  Well, she came and rescued me and got me to their house.  It was about midnight before I closed my eyes for some needed sleep.

Mesa to Williamsburg, VA May 19, 2015

Wednesday May 20, 2015.  Left Phx Sky harbor at 1:20 am.  Had a 3 hour layover in charlotte, NC.

I sure don't look like your typical world traveler here.  This ride better reduce that paunch some.

 Inside the Charlotte terminal

 This is Bill Leland.  He introduced himself to me in the Charlotte Terminal.  He and his wife do tandem cycling and she doesn't mind being a backseat driver.  And it gets them to where they're going at the same time.  He lives in North Carolina in a town near Leland, but probably not named after him.

This is the cab driver that finally got me to the Fed Ex store.  I had to help direct him with my phone GPS.

 Everything is here but not assembles.  Now the fun begins, unwrapping christmas.

 Now the work begins, putting the christmas toys together.

All together and ready to roll.  It's 4:00 pm, rush hour traffic.  Kind of scary.

 Rough riding here with the road under construction.

 Lush forests right up to the edge of the road.

 More lush green.

This is Patel from India.  Speaks very broken english and was hard for me to understand.  He pointed out something that he thought was wrong with the bike tire.  There was nothing wrong with what he was pointing out, but it caused me to lift the bike and spin the rear tire and that's when I discovered the rear brake disc must have been damaged during shipment and was bent and was rubbing the disc brake pads.

Bon Voyage Party at Curtis and Denise's home May 17, 2015

Sunday May 17, 2015  Curtis and Denise posted a bon voyage party at their home for family and friends. It was a lot of fun as they came do wish me farewell and safety on this journey. Here are a few of those attending:

 Granddaughter Kimri Clouse

 Son Scott and his wife Angie

 Great grandson Porter Kilgore

 Four generations here: me, son Curtis, grandson Sheldon, and great grandson Crew.

Daughter Kathy, her husband Wayne Smith and grandson Brigg

Great granddaughters Sophia, Eliza, and Camilla Gambell

Larry's Coast To Coast Bicycle Ride--Summer 2015

Hello family, friends, and strangers who are now friends!!!

     On Wednesday May 20, 2015 at 1:20 a.m. I will depart from Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport and arrive at Newport News, VA Airport at 12:11 p.m., after a three layover in Charlotte, NC.  My bicycle and BOB trailer were shipped via FedEx on May 12 to a FedEx store three miles from the airport.   After a short cab ride and assembling the bike and trailer then I'm good to go. 

     From there I will ride 10 miles to Yorktown, VA, which is on the Atlantic Coast and is the official starting point of my coast to coast ride, then another 13 miles to Williamsburg, where I will find a very comfortable motel bed and rest from the cross-country plane ride.  Then it's across Virginia, Kentucky, Southern tip of Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, and California, arriving in San Francisco  about August 1st.

There must be a way to get this rotated but I haven't been able to figure it out. So either tilt your head or tilt your device.  But anyway, this my route.

    The desert here in Arizona is beautiful in the springtime, especially after a good rain.   Here are some pictures of the desert scenery in Arizona I took on my training rides:

 Sunrise on the Eastern Horizon

 Sunrise in Las Sendas community

Superstition Mountain at Sunrise

 Directional sign for lost pilots

 Looking down Usery Pass backside

 Four Peaks

 Usery Pass backside again

                                                                  Cholla (cho-ya) cactus

Ocotillo (oh-co-tee-yo) tree

 Red Mountain and Cholla cacti

One of the bike paths along the canals in Mesa, Gilbert, Chandler, and Tempe where I have logged many miles