Days 15 and 16: Elkhorn City, KY to Booneville, KY.

Miles on Day 15: 70.
Miles on Day 16: 65.
Total miles: 904.
New max speed(!): 40.9.

Lots more dogs in Kentucky, steep hills and intense sun. Did get one quick thunderstorm, and it actually felt great to get some relief from the sun, but had to stop and wait out the more violent parts in the safety of a gas station cover. Met another cyclist, eastbound. Chris is from England and is traveling from Los Angeles to New York, and he brings our Trans-Am count to 11! Stopped in Hindman and found $4 footlongs at the Subway there. Um... awesome. Stayed last night at Hindman First Baptist Church; had met the pastor's wife in the grocery store and she, a registered dietician, was pretty incredulous about the number of calories I must be burning. They very graciously offered to let us stay in the youth center they have, and we got to spend a night inside. Apart from a few miles on a very trafficky, very dusty, very uphill state road, today wasn't too bad. Staying at another church tonight at a pretty nice camping setup they have out back for cyclists. The four of us have definitely been noticing our appetites catching up to us; we ate two dinners. And two desserts. Exciting things for tomorrow: Berea, meeting up with Matt, and laundry!

Day 14: Rosedale, VA to Elkhorn City, KY.

Miles today: 50.

More climbing today. Was chased by the first actually vicious dog, and this was before we even got into Kentucky! As soon as we rode past (up a hill, of course), the dog was viciously barking and biting my back tire. The best part: his owner was literally watching this whole thing happen, and was ignoring me asking him to call off his stupid dog. If I hadn't been so petrified with irrational fear it would have been very satisfying to mace that dog right in the face with his owner watching... but I didn't. Probably a good thing. Obviously I survived, but that one was not fun. Other than the dog drama, we met THREE new cyclists: Greg from Connecticut, bound for San Francisco as well, and Andy and Caleb, eastbounders who go to school in Knoxville. Greg fell in with us for the day, and the four of us including Danny are camping by a river in a formerly important railroad town a few miles from the state line. Got invited to a party by one of the locals, but we're too worn out to think about such things; it's bedtime.

Day 13: Mt. Rogers to Rosedale, VA.

Miles today: 60ish.

Today started out super easy: 20 miles of consistent downhills! FINALLY!! Stopped in Damascus after about an hour and we found it a little odd. Damascus is basically a tourist town for people who don't really ever ride bikes; the town has everything they need to rent a fleet of bicycles for their group and be bused up the mountain, bikes and all, and ride down the Virginia Creeper Trail back to Damascus at the bottom, and spend more money at the restaurants. The town consists of three bike shops, which were basically rental outlets and not repair shops, a coffee shop (named, of course, "Mojoe's"), and a "country store"/restaurant. We stopped for breakfast at the "country store". The quotation marks are deserved because of the Country Crock margarine, Aunt Jemima syrup and boxed-mix pancakes we were served, and the mass-produced country-style home decorations they had for sale. We understood what they were going for, but felt that it really missed the mark.

We went on and ended up meeting yet another cyclist on a water break. Danny is going to San Francisco as well; he just graduated from Georgetown last year and is heading to San Fran to visit his parents who live there. Danny's a great person to meet on this sort of travel; positive attitude and has a way with words that just makes you laugh. We ended up sticking together for the rest of the day.

We came upon the abomination called Hayter's Gap after the water break; I Hayted it. Several miles of steep, winding uphill climbing. That's all I will say about that.

Stopped to eat in Rosedale and decided that the Gap took too much out of us to continue on to where we'd been intending, so we started looking around for a place to camp. Asked for suggestions at an antiques store and ended up receiving a very generous invitation to camp behind the store. The woman who owns it sent us some food to eat with her daughter, and her son who lives in an apartment next to the store entertained us with some great conversation. Food, a place to sleep, good conversation, and a shower: life is good.

Tomorrow: Kentucky!

Day 12: Rural Retreat, VA to Mt. Rogers.

Miles biked today: 30ish. Miles hiked today: A MILLION.

Took a short day today and climbed the whole time (of course), but it wasn't too bad because it was a lot less steep than it has been recently. Met up with Clay, the cyclist from yesterday, at a roadside restaurant and had a nice lunch with him, including some amazing sweet potato fries. Set up camp and were going to hike up the tallest mountain in Virginia, but we didn't have enough time to get all the way to the top and back before dark- 7 miles each way! Oh well. This campground has the cleanest bathrooms I've ever encountered, so we're turning back now and a nice shower awaits us at the bottom. Probably won't have service later, so this is all you get tonight!

Days 10 and 11: Troutville, VA to Rural Retreat, VA.

Miles on Day 10: 63. Miles on Day 11: 64. Total miles: 629.

Left the very welcoming town of Troutville and realized the reason why Cecil, the man who takes care of the city park we camped in, sounded so familiar: I'm pretty sure he narrated the movie Charlotte's Web. Were intending to stop for the night in Radford at the Lees', a family who hosts Trans-America bikers, but it turns out they were on vacation. It appears that Virginia has some underground network of people who have places for cyclists to stay, perfectly spaced along the route, who know about each other and advertise each other's existence; the Cookie Lady told us we should stop at Mallard Duck campground (the one owned by Larry the Cable Guy's brother, who asked about the Cookie Lady), then the next night in Troutville Cecil assured us that the ride to the Lees' wouldn't be too difficult. It would have been really nice if the Lees had been home, because Lou experienced some trouble with his front wheel and we had to stop for the day in Radford anyway. The owner of the only bike shop in town, a short, middle-aged man with a crowded little shop and a cat he brings to work, was kind enough to keep the shop open an extra hour for us to get there and then another hour to fix the wheel! This guy was super helpful and even made sure to ask me (twice!) if my bike needed anything looked at, two hours after closing time. It was getting late by then, so we ended up just getting a hotel in Radford, which the shopowner in his extreme helpfulness called to find the most, um, economical.

Today was really hot and had a lot of uphills, but we stopped to pick wild blackberries on the side of the road and ended up running into another Trans-Am'er! Clay Bedford is a teacher from Washington state. We saw his entry in the guestbook at the church we stayed at last week and had been hoping to run into him! He's a super nice guy and took a picture of us to put on his blog. Camping tonight in Rural Retreat by a lake. Rode up the street after dinner to hear what we thought would be live bluegrass music, but it turns out the place was closed, so it's early to bed and (hopefully) early to rise!

Day 9: Another middle of nowhere to Troutville, VA.

Miles today: 50.

Split with the other bikers we spent the last couple days with, which was a little sad. Less steep hills (although they definitely made their presence known), and the sun was intense today. Tried to take the opportunity to get rid of my glove tan line, but it didn't work out so much. I figure it's pretty much hopeless. Went through some really cute towns and met some nice people on the way to our destination tonight: a city park in Troutville, 15 miles north of Roanoke. The man who takes care of the park offered to take us with him to an all-you-can-eat buffet for dinner and we had a nice conversation with him about some of the local history. He's a great guy and really went out of his way to make us feel welcome and help us out. I feel really lucky to be meeting all these wonderful people!

Funny/weird moment for the day: chugging my way up a hill, a van pulls up next to me and the window rolls down. The guy driving says, "Hey, man, where y'all headed?" I only had enough energy to tell him "California", and he replied with a very enthusiastic "Alright! Ha-ha-haaa!" before he drove off. It was actually quite hilarious.

Day 8: Afton, VA to a campground somewhere between Vesuvius and Buena Vista, VA., or "Just Keep Spinning", Finding Nemo style.

Sorry about the late post, guys. No service at the campground. Believe me, I looked... for a while.

Miles today: 44 laborious miles.

Let me just say that I CLIMBED A MOUNTAIN RANGE TODAY, and I'm feeling pretty victorious about it. Got up early and Saz and I made pancakes, oatmeal, bacon and tea for everyone at the Bike House, then said a sad goodbye to the Cookie Lady and all headed up the mountain to the dreaded Blue Ridge Parkway. The climbing was pretty tough, and it was hard to even enjoy the downhills because you'd just worked so hard to get up all those feet and would have to be earning them all over again. Even though the ride was really demanding, I felt really good all day. I'm realizing that the difficulty (and your enjoyment) of this sort of travel has a lot to do with attitude, and having other people riding with us was so valuable for motivation and keeping our spirits up. We all took a side hike up a mountain to Humpback Rock, a rock formation that offered some pretty awesome views of the Shenandoah Valley. The hike up was steep- I don't know if we would have done it if we'd knew what we were in for- but sitting up there looking out onto the valley, I couldn't help but think about how lucky I am.

We continued on and finally made it up the last big climb, then after a frighteningly fast descent we pedaled the last few miles to a campground near a river. The owner, Alan, might as well be Larry the Cable Guy's brother. Kyle had stayed at this campground last year when he made the trip solo, and the two of them cracked a lot of jokes at each other's expense, although I think Kyle got the shorter end of the stick on that one. Alan volunteered (insisted, even) on driving us in his pickup truck to the nearest grocery store, and as a result of his kindness we all enjoyed a filling dinner to end the long day.

Day 7: Charlottesville, VA to Afton, VA.

Miles today: 31. Total miles: 401. Avg. speed today: 10.2. Went for one last ride to downtown Charlottesville to buy Matt a birthday present (which, Matt, the shopkeeper informs me you will be receiving on Wednesday), then headed out of town. And climbed. And climbed. We eventually came upon an oasis in the form of a peach orchard and stopped for fresh peaches, cider, and peach ice cream. As we were sitting there devouring, two cyclists rode up with loaded bikes! Aaron and Saz are siblings from New York on their way to Seattle, and were planning on stopping for the night at a Trans-America legend: The Cookie Lady's House. June Curry is a sweet elderly lady who has been hosting cyclists since the Bikecentennial ride which started it all in 1976. She has a whole house that has memorabilia dating back to that ride, and a huge following of bikers who have stayed there over the years. The four of us spent a while talking to her on her porch, listening to stories and watching the neighbor's rooster and peacock (you read that right: peacock) stroll through the yard. We went to check out the Bike House and three more people showed up. Kyle and Chris graduated from Salisbury last year and had met Aaron and Saz a few nights earlier at a fire station where they all spent a night. Dave is eastbound, almost done with his trip, and we squeezed some useful information out of him on what we'll be encountering. Showers and plentiful food (hooray!) and now sitting out on the picnic table enjoying the first conversation with other Trans-Am cyclists we've been able to come by. Super excited to meet other people following the same route, and a great day in spite of the constant hills. This will give me something to think about to keep my mind off the brutality I'll be subjecting my body to tomorrow. Appalachians: prepare to be dominated. Or at least rode over.

Day 6: Rest Day in Charlottesville.

I think we pretty much picked the perfect city to take a rest day in. Decided to give our knees a break before the big climb coming up. This town is super cute! Lots of action, really welcoming people, and lots of things to look at and do. Charlottesville has free concerts on Fridays in the summer, and this one was a British classic rock cover band. Seems like everyone in the community was there. Booths in the historic downtown area were selling clothes, jewelry, sunglasses, etc., and a few art installations were there to look at. My parents drove down to meet us for the day and it was really good to see them! There's definitely a bike culture here- lots of people riding bikes, and even the road signs acknowledge bicycle traffic. Saw lots of bike hats and t-shirts; my favorite was "Bike Charlottesville- Earn Your Downhills". Judging from the few miles we've done actually in Charlottesville, I think "earn" is entirely appropriate. I'm a little sad to leave here, but we've got more places to see and things to do!

Day 5: middle of nowhere to Charlottesville, VA, or, "Oh, the humidity!"

Miles today: 78. Total miles: 365. Avg. speed today: 11.4 (are you seeing a pattern as we get closer to the mountains?)

Hills, heat, and humidity are the words of the day. As I pedaled up one of the nastier hills, I glanced down at my bike's computer displaying 4mph and seriously considered the possibility that that truck who passed me way too closely a few miles back had in fact killed me, and I was now pedaling through hell.

Lunch, a bright spot in the hours of despair, was beautiful and perfect: a tomato, an avocado, strawberries, Greek yogurt, and crackers and green pepper with hummus, enjoyed in the sunshine on a picnic table which are quickly becoming one of my favorite things.

But hey, that long day is over and we're in Charlottesville... in a hotel room WITH A SHOWER! Sorry for the lack of posting last night, loyal fans and concerned family members, but I was just too occupied with removing the layer of grime and getting to sleep in a real bed. Selfish, I know.

Day 4 Update: Glendale, VA to the middle of nowhere, kinda close to Coatesville which is not a real town.

Miles today: 64. Total miles: 287. Avg speed today: 12.6 (ugh). Not much more to say other than we stopped at what the map indicated was camping and apparently used to be a general store but now just has a sign in the window saying "Cyclists are welcome to camp on the property". No big deal; property and permission is all we need. Dinner was trail mix, potato chips, and a mini bagel with peanut butter and honey. Primitive camping in the (now pouring) rain tonight, but hey, it's free. I think we'll take as many of these nights as we can get.

Day 4: Mechanicsville, VA

I'll post the stats by text later on tonight when we get done. Right now I'm in a public library in Mechanicsville, Virginia. Feeling great today despite the rain and increasing hills because LOU THE BICYCLE GENIUS FIXED MY REAR DERAILER THIS MORNING!! Climbing is so much easier than it was yesterday. Have more energy than yesterday too; I think it has to do with the amazing facilities we were provided with last night in addition to having a better-functioning bike.

Other things to be happy about today: Drivers we've been sharing the roads with have been really courteous even with the lack of shoulders, everyone we've talked to has been super nice, and... wait for it... we've located the first Chinese food place, and it's right across from this library! We've both been craving Chinese and I'm pretty sure this is a sign that the world is on our side.

Sorry for the lack of pictures on all these posts so far. I'll make it more interesting when I can steal some of Lou's photos, since my camera is pretty much a useless weight in my left rear pannier at the moment. Kinda wish I knew why, but it's really not the worst thing that could happen.

More updates tonight. Thanks for all the comments so far!

Day 3: Newport News, VA to Glendale, VA, or "Beans, Beans, They're Good For Your Heart"

Miles today: 68. Total miles: 223. Avg speed today: 13.4 but felt like 1.34.

Made pancakes this morning- was kinda fun, but took kinda forever. Don't think we'll be doing that again for a while. Ended up riding through historic Williamsburg which was nice. Quote for the day is from a little kid who as we rode by exclaimed, "Wow! That one's got TWO drinks!" Funny how the most remarkable thing to him about what we're carrying is the second water bottle cage.

More hills today, in which the derailer trouble I've been having became a factor. A very frustating one, to put it mildly. For lunch, stopped at what the map indicated would be a grocery store, and turned out to have available a lot of expired canned goods and a single can opener that lasted about 1.1 cans. A blonde in a baseball cap very generously offered to bring a working one back from her house up the street. Another very important way we benefited from the help of strangers: tonight we're staying in "The Hut", an outbuilding of a church that hosts Trans-Am cyclists quite frequently. They made us feel more than welcome, like we belonged there really. I wish we could have told them just how much we appreciated their hospitality. One last thing- if anyone could forward this letter to the town of Williamsburg it would be much appreciated:

Dear Williamsburg,

Please use asphalt next time instead of that rocks-in-cement bullsh!t. A thousand cyclists will thank you.

Love, Mallory.

Day 2: Accomac, Va. to Newport News, Va.

Miles today: 88. Total miles: 155. Avg. speed today: 14.0.

Today was a little more stressful; had to deal with the Bay Bridge-Tunnel and the traffic around Norfolk, which took some effort and patience, but we made it. Said goodbye to Andrea and Charlie (wonderful people) and headed south. Found a super cute roadside restaurant/store, The Machipongo Trading Co., on 13: all local/sustainable crafts and food. Wish I'd taken a picture, but it turns out my camera's inexplicably not working. Fabulous. Got to the Bridge-Tunnel and a man in a bright yellow safety outfit drove us across in a pickup. Lots of traffic around Norfolk, but we fought through it and got to the bus transfer station, where a bus brought us and the bikes to Hampton Roads. Continued north toward Yorktown, but started looking for campgrounds several miles earlier since our map only showed three expensive hotels to stay at in Yorktown ($129? No, thank you...) Some nice people in a church directed us to the Newport News Park a few miles up the road, and after a few discouraging moments we found the place. We did discover one thing that made the whole day worth it: showers. Two days in a row- how luxurious!

Day 1: Ocean City, Md to Accomac, Va.

Miles today: 66. Total miles: 66. Avg speed today: 14.4 mph.

Tried to get up to watch the sunrise today, but the clouds weren't cooperating. A little more later on than we'd planned, did the wheel-dipping ceremony amid lots of stares and headed out. Couldn't ask for better riding conditions, really: partly cloudy, light breeze, relatively wide and relatively clean shoulders most of the way. Spent most of our time avoiding rumble strips and exchanging bad jokes about things along the road. Made it past our first state line and stopped in Accomac, where we asked the only two people who seemed to be alive in the town about camp grounds. Turns out they're cyclists too, and they offered their "Florida room" for us to stay the night. Spent a couple hours talking with Andrea and Charlie; they're hilarious! Quote of the day, from Andrea: "We don't get a lot of visitors here. But I think there's room in the freezer for a couple more!" Tomorrow we tackle the Bay Bridge-Tunnel and the Norfolk area with the help of an escort and public transportation (respectively), and are aiming to end up in Yorktown for the official beginning of the ACA Trans-America route.

Family goodbye dinner, and Ocean City tomorrow!

Tonight we had family from both sides come over for dinner to say goodbye, which included the most important food group (to Maryland natives, at least): steamed crabs with Old Bay. Almost everyone was able to make it out and I'm really glad to have been able to see everyone before I left. Every time my family gets together I think about how lucky I am to be related to such amazing people, and tonight kinda blew my mind. Monetary donations and other gifts for the trip came from all sides, which was completely unexpected, and I'm incredibly grateful for everyone's generosity. Thanks, family!

Tomorrow my parents, sister and I will be driving down to Ocean City to meet Lou and his family and stay the night. We'll be dipping our rear wheels in the Atlantic (documenting it, of course) and leaving on Sunday morning from Ocean City on what hopefully won't be a too-stormy day. Tonight I'm finishing up with packing, and I'm actually surprised at how little I have. Pleasantly surprised. To say the least. As a result of all this packing, I've updated the equipment list, if you care to reread. If you don't care to reread, be assured that you won't be missing much.

The requisite Equipment List

(Updated 6/12/09)

It seems to be traditional on bicycle tour journals to include an equipment/packing list, and I've read many of those lists while deciding what should make it on mine. I've gotten a lot of questions about how I could possibly carry all my things, so for the uninitiated, touring cyclists carry their gear either with a trailer pulled behind their bike, or with bags called panniers that attach to front and rear racks and hang over either side of each wheel. I'm not really into the idea of having to control any additional wheels, so panniers are the way I'm going. If you're interested in pictures of such a setup before I get any up here of mine, go on over to fullyloadedtouring.com and check out the gallery where touring cyclists post photos of their loaded bikes.

After months of careful research, these are all the things I will be carrying across this great big country of ours, subject to revision and redistribution for weight/bulk/necessity after I get everything situated (oh yeah, I did a LOT of revision for placement when all was said and done):

On self

• Helmet
  
• Sunglasses; ridiculous red plastic that are going to give me terrible raccoon eyes, but I do enjoy them.
  
• Zip jersey
  
• Cycling shorts
  
• Socks; carbon from coconut shells incorporated into the fabric cuts down odor. I have tested them, and this, miraculously, does work.
  
• Cycling shoes; these clip directly on to my pedals for more efficient power transfer.
• Cycling gloves; the half-fingered variety which help cushion the palms and support the wrists.

On bike

• 2 water bottles
  
• Bike computer; keeps track of statistics such as speed, mileage, cadence, and their averages and maxes.
  
• Front and rear lights
  
• Frame pump
  
• 2 bungee cords wrapped around the rear rack, in case anything needs to be strapped to the rack, and for hanging laundry to dry.
• Fenders

Handlebar bag- detaches easily to be taken with me when I lock up the bike somewhere. These are things I'd like to have accessible and/or really especially don't want to lose.

• Camera; Fujifilm FinePix F470. I wish this ran on regular batteries, but I'm not about to buy another.
  
• Cell phone; switched to my old, less crappily-made one.
• Wallet; ID, medical insurance card, debit card, small amount of cash.
• Journal; in this bag because if it's lost, I'd be super pissed.
• Mace; for ill-intentioned dogs, murderers, and zombies.
  
• Folding knife; if I do encounter a zombie, maybe I'll skip the mace and use this.
• Headlamp; instead of a regular flashlight, to keep hands free, and to look really cool of course.
• Quick flat-fixing or bolt-tightening tools: tire levers, a patch kit, and a bike-specific multi-tool
• Sunscreen and chapstick
  
• Sanitizer gel and baby wipes
• A couple energy bars
  
• Ziploc bag with a length of rolled-up toilet paper, to be replenished along the way as needed (camping-store "emergency toilet paper"? What are you really paying for?)
  

Front right pannier

• Cooking equipment: MSR Pocket Rocket (I still chuckle at the name), fuel canisters, a cooking pot whose lid doubles as a frying pan (genius), a lighter, 2 stainless steel plates, 2 collapsible silicone bowls, 2 fork/spoon/knife sets, and a tiny pancake flipper that I couldn't resist which can be used also to scrape the pot clean, a sponge (cut in half to save a little space)
• Spices/herbs: garlic powder, cumin, cayenne pepper, oregano; these spices seem to make me feel full for some reason, salt and pepper packets to be replaced along the way, a little squeeze bottle for olive oil, gatorade mix, the night's dinner and the next day's breakfast
• A frisbee for playing

Front left pannier

• Rain jacket and rain pants, which will probably be used only if it's cold out while raining
• A shower cap, for rain, to cover my precious Brooks saddle when I'm off the bike and to cover my helmet while I'm on the bike if it's really pouring and making my head wet and uncomfortable. I probably couldn't look much weirder to non-cyclists anyway, and the cyclists will understand.
• First aid bag: Ace bandage, ibuprofen, Excedrin Migraine (and the hopes that I don't get one in June, July, or August), band aids, roll of gauze, neosporin, burn spray, antihistamine, tweezers
• Emergency blanket, for um, emergencies... and rain cover, shade, etc
• Flip flops
• Bike repair: patch kit, spare tubes, folding tire, extra spokes, old toothbrush for cleaning; since I'm not exactly what you'd call a "bike person", and Lou is, I'm trusting his knowledge of the other tools we'll need and hopefully I'll learn to use them along the way.
• Zip ties, rubber bands, duct tape, super glue: the things that hold the world together
• A Sharpie (may come in handy) with some electrical tape wrapped around the handle; don't need a whole roll, but may need a little, and this saves the space.
• extra Ziploc bags
• Chargers for various electronics

Rear right pannier

• In a waterproof bag, to do double duty as a pillow, because I'm a thinker like that: extra cycling shirt, high-visibility shirt (the thing is ridiculous bright yellow, but it's actually great in hot weather, and could be useful when bad weather makes me harder to see, my pride be damned), 1 extra pair cycling shorts, tights, 2 extra sports bras, 1 regular bra, 3 extra pairs of socks, 2 pairs undies, 1 pair of off-bike shorts, 2 off-bike shirts, a bathing suit, bandanas
• Zip jacket for warmth
  
• A camp towel; got a MSR Personal towel in XL and cut off a little extra length to be used for hands and clean cookware.
• A drain plug, for doing laundry in sinks that lack stoppers; recommended by many veteran tourers
• 6 clothespins; the amount that the aforementioned tourers deemed sufficient
• The Plastic Tomato (details on that particular item to come; something for y'all to look forward to)

Rear left pannier

• Sleeping bag & sleeping pad
• A book; a gift from Matt for my birthday
• Toiletries: a bar of Castile soap (for hands, body, face, hair, dishes, clothes, and everything else), deodorant, toothbrush, toothpaste, dental floss, nail cutters, spare pairs of contacts and solution, razor and spare blades, bug repellent, comb, Divacup (someone in the bike-tour blogging world had to address this issue: guys, don't click on that link unless you want more information than you bargained for, but ladies, you should check that out, even if you never plan on riding a bike ever in your life: it is awesome)
• Water filter
• A 4L dromedary bag, which is basically a Camelbak minus the whole wearing-it-on-your-back thing. I know my limits, and I would not be able to handle having a big heavy bag of water plastered to my sweaty back for hours on end. It probably won't be needed and therefore not filled most of the time (because water is heavy), but I do need to be able to carry enough water for the Nevada desert.

That's everything! I'm planning on doing a post at the end of the trip reviewing the things I bought for the tour as a reference for those who may be looking at this to plan for their own, so if you'll kindly wait 3 months I'll have that ready for you.

Text update, just because I can: CHECK OUT THAT SWEET BANNER I PHOTOSHOPPED ALL BY MYSELF :)

I just registered my phone to be able to text updates to this when i'm not at a computer. We'll see if this works...

UPDATE, two minutes later, from computer: Hooray.

I had a brief moment of fun with Photoshop...

...and created this here picture showing the route we'll be taking: the Adventure Cycling Association's Trans-America until Pueblo, CO (where the dot in the middle is), and then rather than following the rest of the Trans-Am northwest to Oregon we're picking up the Western Express to San Francisco. I didn't feel like figuring out how to add the tiny amount of blue line connecting our starting point in Ocean City, MD to the beginning of the Trans-Am (because, being from Maryland, we aren't fooled into thinking Yorktown, VA is on the actual coast and not the Chesapeake Bay), but you get the idea.

Nine days until we leave for the trip, and getting pretty excited about it. Right now I'm off for another bike ride, because honestly, what else would I be doing (besides maybe studying for finals, but hey, I took one today already!)

UPDATE: Immediately after posting this, I went over to check Lou's blog and sure enough, he had already outdone me by doing this exact thing, adding the Ocean City to Yorktown part, labeling the beginning and ending points, and turning the whole thing green, which is pretty much exactly what I'd planned on doing when I had more time. Fantastic.