T minus One and Counting

Monday June 3, 2013

Larry - Wow. The last few days have been a blur. Martha and I each had a hectic last week of work (holiday shortened at that) to get things ready for a 11 week hiatus.

 

 We took Baxter to his summer home on Thursday and had a wonderful home cooked meal with Donna and Tom. Bax seemed a little nervous with all the new things, but was already on the couch napping with one of the other dogs by the time we left.

 

Love Birds - Baxter and Martha

 

Our local bike club had a little sent off supper for us at one of the local eateries on Friday (thanks Janey!) before our departure. We had a great time with our friends.

 

Bike friends before the Big Chomp

 

Bike friends Bob and Zack came by bright and early Saturday a.m. to pick us up for the ride to the airport. Thanks guys!

 

I'm leaving on a jet plane...don't know when I'll be back again...

 

We arrived at our Alexandria hotel and got reunited with Barney. Barney jumped out of his box and was rarin' to go in no time. Right now he's just chillin' in our room.

 

Just waiting to go....

 

After church, we did the D.C. tourist thing yesterday - The Mall and a couple of the Smithsonian museums. Ran into 1,500 Knoxville area 5th graders on their annual field trip to D.C. Lots of energy and some tired chaperones.

 

St. Paul's in Alexandria, VA (for Polk and Colin)

 

 

     

Martha and Lindy

 

The Mall

 



A big nasty rainy cold front starting blowing through late yesterday afternoon and looks like a day long rain today. Fortunately, we don't start riding until tomorrow and our present accommodations are quite comfortable (Martha's snoozing away as I write this).

 

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

 

The first three days or so of THE BIG RIDE is on the C & O Canal Trail. It's essentially a dirt road. We've been on it before and know what to expect. With all today's rain, those fenders we put on Barney will be very welcome.  The next journal entry will be from the trail!