A little bit about you

- From Blog Admin -

I don't know your name, your phone number and/or where you live. In fact, I don't know anything about you but since the conception of this blog till today...

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Thank you for your visit, support and comments. We'll be posting more post-BRAA articles so please stay tuned....

Peace,

Akira

Day 48: Final Day, Washington DC

WE MADE IT!!!

(T-racer, Janet, Patty, Diana) The Sweep golden girls getting ready for the last day's ride.

Chuck and Patty at lunch in the Old Post Office Pavilion

In love at last! Sorry Bob!

Chuck getting into his truck. He stuck to his vow. He has not been in a vehicle for 48 day.

Maureen and Larry, Chuck's sister and brother in law, making us a celebratory dinner at their home in Potomac.

Day 47 - Clarksburg, MD

- Pictures from Patty (more in the album) -


This is Scott Powell, he works with Chuck at Frito Lay. We ran into him on our ride today just outside of Chuck's home town of Frederick, Maryland


Em these are your last frogs from my trip. they are playing checkers.. from Maryland with love, Mom


Chuck is so happy to be in his hometown. We are only about a mile from his apartment


This is Best Farm, near the Monocacy battlefield in Frederick, MD. I left Chuck back in Frederick. He is going to spend the night at his apartment and meet us at our sag stop tomorrow. I am staying at camp in Clarksburg since it is our last night together as a group. It's already sad to start saying our goodbyes


Our last evening together. Everyone is happy but kind of sad at the same time

- Text Message From Patty -

Made it to Clarksburg, MD. I can't believe that we are just 50 miles from DC. Got to get a short tour of Frederick, MD, with Chuck as my tour guide.

Clarksburg Weather Forecast, MD

Day 46 - Rest Day in Gettysburg, PA

Pictures from day 42+ updated in the album

- Text Message From Patty -

Laid back rest day at Gettysburg.

Tomorrow we enter Maryland and the day after is our final day ending in DC. I'm off to bed.

Gettysburg Weather Forecast, PA

Day 45 - Gettysburg, PA

- Email From Patty -

The day started off bad. I got a call from my daughter at about two in the morning (EST), that there was some commotion going on involving my neighbor (I won't go into the details) but it kept me up till about 3 am. I finally fell asleep about 4am but then had to get up at 5am. I just knew that it was going to be a hell of a long day.
I took a shower and then Chuck and I ate breakfast at the hotel before going back to the campground to meet up with everyone else. As we were riding over there we realized that it had rained during the night (that's two rain storms that we have missed because we were staying in a hotel for the evening). When we got to camp, I looked for my bags but the building that we left them in was locked up. I asked Mark, one of our support people, where my bags were. He said that all the bags were loaded on the truck. I hoped that they were, and proceeded to get ready for the days ride. The only bad thing was that my prednisone was in one of my bags. That meant skipping a dose

- text cut off -

Chuck took off before me as he is a strong climber and I am not. Climbing is a very individual thing. Its really hard to climb slower than you like to go and waiting at the top oh a hill really breaks up your cadence. So I rode with Tracy and Diana as we more closely ride at the same speed.

The first 50 miles of the ride was extremely hilly with very steep grades. Our cue sheets for the day at the top of the page even said that this would be our final Big Ride Examination...They were kidding.

At about the time we reached our lunch sag, I knew that I was a hurting pup. Lack of sleep and skipping a dose of prednisone was taking its toll. I I wasn't tolerating the heat and humidity very well either.

The only good thing at that point in time was that the lunch sag was at a lake, so I went down to the lake and waded up to my thighs (after pulling up the legs of my biking shorts). Talk about white legs above the short line and a funky looking tan line. Rachel and Joe were doing the same thing.

- More Email From Patty -

I dunked my head and went up and got a soft serve twist ice cream cone. After the lunch stop I felt a little better and the hills were now rolling instead of having such steep grades.

We had one last long 3% grade climb on highway 30 going into Gettysburg and then the last 10+ miles were don the same % decline.

I made it to camp at about 6:15pm. Janet was already at the camp and took one look at me and knew that I wasn't doing very well. I told her that I had missed a dose of prednisone and I needed to find my bags so that I could take one.

We found my tent and camping gear bag, but couldn't find my bag with everything else in it. I was beginning to worry that my bag had been left at the last campground in Bedford. Luckily Janet had some prednisone (she has bad asthma so needs to take it every once in awhile) so I was able to take the dose that I needed.

Nick, our ride bike mechanic showed up and my other bag was in his car. It was good to have both of my bags but

unfortunately they both had gotten rained on the night before. I found out later that the building where I had left them had had to be locked up the night before. My bags had to be removed and no one bothered to put them on the gear truck.

So I put up my tent up and threw all of my wet belongings into it. My clothes were actually dry because they were in air tight water proof bags (thanks sis Pam).

After a shower I had a couple of pieces of pizza and a pepsi that Sharon had brought out to the campground. At this point in time it was too dark to ride my bike into town to meet Chuck at the Travel lodge where a bunch of the Big Riders had gotten rooms for our rest day in Gettysburgh. Amy and her son Sam offered to give me a ride into town after Mark got back from the grocery store as they were staying there too.

I finally reached the hotel at about 9:30. Chuck gave me a big hug when he saw me because he knew I had had such a stressful day. We called it a night shortly after that. Boy what a day.

Gettysburg Weather Forecast, PA

Day 44 - Text Message From Patty

- Text Messages From Patty - Sorry for this late posting, sometimes I have to work.... (Akira)

standing on an overpass on the allegheny highlands trailk near meyersdale. First time I've had service in two days.

Tracy, Diana and I are walking the last two miles of the trail to our Support vehicle because Tracy's front tire has had three flats in under 10 miles.

She'll be able to change out her tire there. They have no way to get to us so we have to walk to the,. So, can we call this the Big Wlak Across America?

Hopefully we will make it into Bedford sometime today. Ha!

The trail was nice yesterday, but today it sucked. Rain equals mud on a dirt trail.

Nick our mechanic rode out and met us a mile from the end of the trail. We have finally made it to our first sag stop. 30 miles done with 50 more to go.

It's already noon and we have 50 miles to go. It's going to be a late one today.

Bedford Weather Forecast, PA

Day 44: Bedford, PA

So I textd Akira this morning, but it looks like he hasn't been able to update the blog yet.

The list few days we have been riding on the rails to trails bike trail that goes from Pittsburgh all the way to Washington DC. We did the first 40 miles yesterday from Washington, PA to Confluence on up and down roads and then did the last 50 on the trail. Today we rode the first 30 miles on the trail and then the last 50 on up and down roads (the last 20 were almost all down).

I won't spoil what happened earlier today because Akira will post the txt messages and pictures later today or tomorrow. I'll just say that Diana, Tracy, and I finally made it to Bedford at about 5:15 this evening. We got rained on during the day, but beat the really severe weather into camp. Bless Chuck, he had gotten a hotel room for me and him at the Hampton Inn about 2 miles from camp. We rode our bikes over from the camp to here (I'm on the hotel's computer). It was nice to soak in a tub and order pizza in. We will be heading to bed soon.

Tomorrow we have one of the toughest rides of the whole trip. We ride from Bedford to Gettysburg (100 very steep hilly miles) and then we have a day off. After our day off we have just 2 more days of the ride and each is only a 50 miler. We finish on August 9th.

I can't believe first of all that I made it clear across America on my bike ( minus the 3 days in Minnesota and 1 day in Montana that I sagged due to being to ill to ride) and second that it is almost over. To tell you the truth, I think after Burton, Ohio, most people are just ready to be off their bikes. Everyone is getting a little homesick (I am).

I would like to thank everyone who has visited my blog and also to those who have contributed. I will go back and completely fill out my blog when I get back home to Puyallup, so those who have a desire, please revisit my blog in a few weeks and then you will see the completed version.

I think that I will extend my big ride blog to include my stay in DC and also my first week at home since Chuck will be coming back with me for a week. We are going to San Juan Island the day after we get back (Aug 12th) to kayak and relax with my daughter Em and her Boyfriend.

Regis from St Rita's Parish if you read this please email me (patharm2@yahoo.com) a picture of the front of the church and the grotto out back. My pictures didn't turn out. I really want to write about my wonderful impromptu visit to your beautiful church.

I will keep on texting pictures and messages to Akira (as long as I have reception on my phone), so keep on checking on my blog.


Again, Thanks all, I'm off to bed, wish me luck on my 100 hilly miler tomorrow.

DAy: 43 Confluence, PA

Confluence Weather Forecast, PA

Day 42 - Washington, PA

I'm on someone else's computer and she is ready for bed. I have no reception on my phone so I can't send any pictures, texts or email. I will hopefully send something tomorrow if I have reception. We are in Pennsylvania today. Today we either went up or we went down.... nothing flat. the next 3 days are going to be about the same.

Talk to you later, Patty

Washington Weather Forecast, PA

Last Mail Stop

We have one more mail stop left and the cutoff date is 8/6.

For detail, please see here.

Big Ride Across America Finish in Washington D.C.

It might be hard to fathom now, but the Big Ride will come to an end, well, let's call it a Finish Line - the impact of this event on your life is such that it never really ends!

Finish Date: Saturday, August 9th

Finish Location: 23rd Street & Constitution Avenue (adjacent to the Lincoln Memorial) Washington D.C.

Estimated Arrival Time: 1:00 EST* (as this is the age of cell pones, we anticipate that you will be in contact with your support crew who will be meeting you so you can update them as we get close. Your crew will also provide an updated ETA on the last night in camp.)

The Big Ride Finish is approx 3 blocks from the State Plaza hotel. Upon completion of the finish, the Gear truck will be available at the hotel for offloading/loading of gear & bikes.

State Plaza Hotel
2117 E Street, N.W.
Washington D.C. 20037
202-861-8200
800-424-2859

Day 41 - New Waterford, OH

32 pictures have been posted in the album. Patty will send us email tomorrow.

New Waterford Weather Forecast, OH

Day 40 - Rest day in Burton, OH

- More Text Messages From Patty -

I'm on my cell phone, so it is a little hard to type this email on the little keyboard.

Yesterday after we left the camp, I rode all day with Diana and Janet. It was supposed to be a 92 mile day, but with detours around construction it turned into almost 97 miles.

We spent the majority of the day riding along the shore of Lake Erie. The mansions along the lake were palacial. Most of the morning we had a bike lane on SR 6. The road was tore up in places. One of the riders {Eddy} went down after hitting a rut in the road. He suffered only minor injuries.

I stopped at one point to take pictures of this guy's flower beds. He was so nice... Talking to me, Janet, and Diana. He offered to fill our water bottles, and I think he would have fed us lunch too if I had stayed there much longer talking to him. Janet and Diana just laughed and shook their heads. Now they know what Chuck means when he says that I'll stop and talk to anyone.

Chuck says that I talk to complete strangers as if I've known them all my life. I Told him its an Iowa thing and especially rampant in my family.

Nathalie, you wondered if I would become more introspective on this trip. Well nope, afraid not. I look at this trip as giving me the license to talk to as many people as possible from sea to shining sea. LOL. I think that I am even more gregarious then before.

We stopped once in Cleveland at a local eatery for lunch. I am so glad that we did because the next 25 miles through Cleveland were the most hair raising on the trip so far. Between pot holes, rude and unaware drivers, trying to find our way by looking at the cue sheet, and trying to avoid parked cars and buses we were all a little frayed when we got to the outer edge of town.

We finally made it to SR 87 that took us the rest of the way from Cleveland to Burton. The rolling hills were a blessing after the traffic in town

Almost everyone else is staying at the fairground at Burton..

Chuck got us a room at a very romantic B & B. Ware having a great time Had a nice breakfast and did laundry at the local laundromat. I'm going to a bike shop this afternoon, but Chuck will have to find something else to do as he has vowed not to get into a car until the end of the trip.

We are going to walk around the town (Its small and charming), and then we have a sit down Amish meal reservation at the B & B tonight. I'll send pictures tomorrow and tell you all about it.

Thanks Nora (Chuck's sis) for the cookies. CHUCK DOESN'T KNOW IT BUT HES GOING TO HAVE TO SHARE.

Day 39 - Burton, OH

- Text Message and Pictures From Patty -




More pictures posted in the album section.

After the sag stop yesterday, we rode onto Fremont. In Fremont, we stopped by the house that I sent you a picture of.



We talked to the man who owned the house (he was sitting on the porch with his dog and cat). He told us a little bit about the house's history.

The house was build in 1824. He and his wife painted the house near to the original colors.

The house had dormer windows. Over one of the windows was a Quaker Hex Sign to ward off evil spirits.

Chuck was afraid that the man was going to ask us in for a tour because he knew that I would have gone.

He kept envisioning us getting into camp at 6 pm. Ha! he is usually the first one in to camp. We went on though and were amongest the first in.

I even got to help unload the truck which was a first and probably the last for me. We are headed for the hills and Mountains of Pennsylvania.

We had dinner at TGI Fridays last night Our waiter was so funny. We asked how to get out to see Lake Erie, and he said that there were no bike paths there.

We just laughed and didn't even try to explain to him that we have pedaled several thousand miles on all types of roads and freeways.

I din;t think he would have believed us. Sandusky is definitely not a biker friendly town. The drivers are just plain scary.

I wonde what it will be like riding thru Cleveland? We hit Cleveland about mile 50 today. Well gotta roll. ttyl.

Burton Weather Forecast, OH

Day 38 - Sandusky, OH

- Morning Text Messages and Evening Pictures From Patty -


Me drinking a beer at the end of the day today. I actually made it in in time to unload the truck


Grounds for thought in Bowling Green. Cool coffee shop and used book store. Talking to a few of the locals


Chuck enjoying a cup of Joe

This is what you call a big ride congested sag stop. We have a tail wind and flat roads. Everyone is in a hurry to get done. People are going to Cedar Park tonight. Its a huge amusement park

I'm laying here on my air mattress and it is rainin outside. It's around 5 am and all I want to do is to sleep in. Chuck is already up.

Thanks Erich for reminding me about the silicone earplugs. Those and a good dose of benadryl got me to sleep last night.

We're riding only 90 miles today. It's so funny to hear me say that, but it's true. After doing over a 100 miles for several days in a row, anything under 100 - text cut off -

Well, I can hear everyone else's tent zippers. Gotta quit being a slug. I'm up and moving.....

Oh, by the way with the time change it's completely dark out... Any wise person would stay in bed. ttyl.

Just got back from the bathroom and had the struggle of a lifetime to pull on biking shorts onto my sticky humidity drenched body.

Oh, great mosquitoes just found me!

Nice easy flat 27 miles this morning. I feel good. Riding with Chuck this morning and we are averaging 17 mph. Stopped now for coffee and tea.

Sandusky Weather Forecast, OH