Coast to Coast Bicycle Adventure: Thursday, August 23, 2012

Williamsburg, VA to Yorktown, VA (31 miles) (Total for entire trip = 4,470)

Due to Kim's brother being in the hospital, Walt and Vera left to return home at the same time as I was peddling out of the campground to meet the Ocean. It was sad that they did not get to see the destination, but they felt it was more important to head for home. They planned to drive straight through for 13 hours. Although we tried to convince them to wait a couple hours so all of us could head back together, Kim and I expected their decision to go on their own.

Right out of the Chickahomony County Campground, a very nice bike path started my ride for the first 8 miles. Even after I departed the path and started on the Colonial Parkway, the early morning provided light traffic and a very pleasant ride. If there was anything to complain about, it would have been the road surface on the Parkway. It appears they used a very pebble filled concrete substance that caused a very rough ride for the last 23 miles. But, I was willing to endure almost anything today, as the destination was near and the smell of ocean was in the air. As I rounded a bend in the bike path, a doe and fawn deer was standing not 10 feet away from me. They seemed to freeze as I paused, told them "Good Morning", and took their picture. The little fawn was so cute with the little white spots on his back. It was not 10 miles later along the Parkway that I was started by another doe and fawn that were next to a guardrail about 5 feet from me. The second pair bolted into the brush, so no picture this time.

The route was designed to take me through historic Jamestown, Williamsburg, and destination Yorktown. In order to detour around a short tunnel prohibiting bicycle travel, the Williamsburg route went directly through the old colonial buildings. Of course I was too early to see the town in action, but it was still pretty cool! As I came along side the York River, I could see some huge Navy battle ships docked at the US Naval Supply Center. The smell of ocean increased and my excitement escalated. It was about that time that I saw a bald eagle fly right over the road and land in a tree along the road. Of course, I stopped and took some pictures of the eagle as he ate his morning catch. He got nervous about my picture session and took off. How amazing was that!

It was about 10:00am in the morning and I saw my lovely bride parked next to the Yorktown Victory Monument (the official end of the TransAm Bicycle Trail). It was a very exciting moment. We took some pictures at the monument and made our way down to the beach. More pictures were taken of the ceremonial dipping of the front bicycle tire into the Atlantic Ocean. It was 80 days ago that the rear tire of my bicycle was dipped into the Pacific Ocean. Now, 4,470 miles later, I have bicycled across the United States of America. It was bitter sweet, in that I completed the ride, but now it was over.

I loaded the bicycle on the top of the Durango and we started driving West toward home. About 5 miles back on the Parkway we passed Whitney and Promise as the peddled toward victory. I honked the horn like a crazy man and they waved with excitement. Another team was about to dip their tire in the salt water.

The 12 hour drive back home was now ahead of us. We drove about 6 hours as far as Beckley, West Virgina and decided to stop for the night. After setting up camp at a county campground, Kim and I had celebratory dinner at the Texas Steakhouse.