Day 95: Yorktown, VA

Day 95

August 19, 2015

Miles: 18

Williamsburg to Yorktown


We made it!  We are now in Yorktown and the end of our bike adventure. Wahoo!  Its hard to describe how I feel right now, so I'll fall back upon my usual blog format to continue.

Di and I arose at the astonishingly late time of 8:30am.  We knew we had only 13 miles to ride, so there was no reason to rush.  We lounged around our room for a bit and then went to the hotel restaurant for some breakfast.  We both had the pancakes and afterwards proceeded to lounge in the restaurant drinking cup of coffee after cup of coffee.

I forgot to take a breakfast picture so am posting this picture of Di at dinner last night

We finally had our fill of coffee and went back to the room to lounge around some more.  The cleaning folks knocked on our door a little past 11am to ask if we were ready to check-out yet.  "We haven't finished lounging around yet", we replied.  Actually, we didn't say that.  We said we would be out shortly.  They saw our bikes and asked us about our trip and were shocked when they learned we had ridden from San Diego.  As we left our room and were walking our bikes down the hall, we went by a group of people who also asked us about our bike trip.  We told them our story and they expressed their amazement at our journey.  We continued walking through the lobby and a woman came up to us and she, too, asked us about our bike trip.  We told her our story and she, too, expressed her amazement.  Di and I finally made it out of the hotel and I looked at Di and said, "Sometimes its a pain when so many people want to talk to us about our bike trip."  "Well", said Di, "it won't happen anymore after today."  "Yeah", I said, "I'm going to miss it."  

We rode the short distance to Colonial Williamsburg and weaved our bikes in and out of the streets and pathways.  We could have bought tour passes to go into the buildings, but I found myself getting excited to ride on to Yorktown.  After riding around for less than 30 minutes, I told Di I was ready to get going.  So we checked our map to find the bike route and started on our way.  Our way was the wrong way.  After riding a little over a mile, we checked our map again and realized we had to ride back to where we started.  We rode back and checked our map again to find the bike route and once again started on our way.  Our way proved once again to not be the right way.  It wasn't completely the wrong way, but what we thought was an intersection with the bike route was actually a bridge over the bike route.  We ended up on the bridge looking forlornly down on the bike route, not knowing how to get on.  Once again we checked our maps and once again started on our way.  Our way, this time, proved to be the right way.  We had spent four miles being lost and adding to that the one mile we spent riding around Colonial Williamsburg, today was now an 18 mile day instead of a 13 mile day.  I remembered when we left San Diego on the first day of our trip we got lost and add around four miles to our trip, so our bike journey began and ended with days of being lost and adding extra miles.

Colonial Williamsburg scenes:

Hot rod cruising down Main Street

Di's bike is the modern horse

Buggy with its top down

The hopping streets of Colonial Williamsburg

The Colonial Parkway is the bike route to Yorktown

The route looks like path through the woods (except for the occasional car)

Soon the James River was on our left as we rode

Posing next to one of the many signs that say "On this sight something happened"

Returning from checking out the water 

Stopping to read the historical markers and visit the shoreline were more reasons to prolong the end than anything else.  I found myself both excited to finally complete the adventure and reluctant to have it happen too quickly.  I needed the end to unfold in a manner that felt right and fitting, though I didn't know what that was.  So we resumed riding.

On the Colonial Parkway

Closing in 

Taking our time

A relaxing ride

 When we were about a mile away from Yorktown, Di checked the map and discovered we had gone the wrong way.  We had missed a turn about a half a mile earlier, but we could still get to Yorktown by going ahead on the road we were on.  So that's how we discovered the right way for us to let the end of our trip unfold: by getting lost one last time.  We rode into Yorktown, but because we were coming from a different direction, we didn't know how to get to the Victory Monument, which is the official end of the TransAmerical Bike Trail.  We rode around Yorktown going down many dead-ends and having to turn around when finally, in the distance, we saw the top of the monument.  Di and I both laughed at how absurd it was to be riding around Yorktown not knowing how to end our trip.  It felt the perfect way for our trip to end.  We rode the short distance to the monument, got off our bikes, and gave each other a big hug and a big kiss.  Our ride was over.

A few minutes later, Toni-Ann and Bruce pulled up in their car.  It was great to see family again and we all would have hugged if Di and I weren't in such the unhuggable condition that bike riding on a Summer's day creates.

We made it!

Victory Monument and Di and me

Toni-Ann, Di, and Bruce

Toni-Ann, Di, and Bruce behind the monument overlooking the water

The four of us talked for a while at the monument, but then it was time to ride to the shore for the dipping of the front wheel in the ocean.

At the East Coast (literally)

Enjoying our moment

My Lawrence of Arabia moment

Di needs more than just her front tire in the water

Di has to touch the water to make sure it is real and she is not just dreaming

She believes

Toni-Ann recording our finish

Man in Yellow Jersey and Two Bikes Looking at Distant Shores (For Some Reason)

We loaded the bikes onto the rental car and Bruce drove us back to the campground and the RV.  It is so comfortable in the RV, I immediately started feeling sleepy.  Apparently, my transformation back to a lazy person has already begun.  We relaxed for a little while before heading to Margie and Ray's Restaurant for dinner.

Di, Toni-Ann, and Bruce

The bike adventure is finished.  I thought I would have mixed feelings about completing the ride.  Di and I have lived a bicyclist's lifestyle for over three months and at times it felt that was the normal life for us.  Its extremely satisfying to carry everything you need on your bike and to escape from the typical worries that nag everybody.  But, I did not find the ride's end to be bittersweet.  It was only sweet.  I loved every part of it.  I loved being with Di every minute of every day.  I loved our conversations and the games we played to amuse ourselves.  I loved riding the flat lands and the ascents and the descents.  I loved figuring out where we would ride to each day and where we would stay.  I loved stopping at service stations and convenience stores to stock up on drinks and snacks.  I loved that we laughed as much as we did.  I loved that friends and family came to visit us on our journey.  The thing I love most, though, is that Di and I loved this trip together.

 Di has promised to write one more entry tomorrow, the Epilogue Blog.