We finished our registrations, getting our t-shirts, numbers, water bottles and I got my 2nd biking jersey!! But I was a nice lil girlie and let dad have one since I got one last year... Maybe I can raise another $200 and get a second... prob not but there is always next year for a new jersey! Then we walked down the street to a restaurant Uncle King recommended called Food and Friends.
The wait was a tad long, but the food was delicious! I had a chicken, mushroom, and broccoli alfredo pasta thing, salad, and bread. Dad had a salmon pasta thing, Uncle King had some Surf n Turf salad thing. It was SUPER filling and time to hit the hotel. Oh yeah THANKS UNCLE KING for our free supper!!
Dad reserved our Hotel,
It sure looks ok outside huh? Very comparable to our very nice Super 8 last year.... but don't let it fool you! The blankets in a NONsmoking- smokey smelling room were engraved with lovely ciggerrette holes:-( A cruddy sink that barely drained and a toilet that barely flushed... ICK... Reminder to Beth call EARLIER for reservations for Super 8 next year! It was about 11:30pm when sleep time arrived!
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Sept 12th:
Morning started too early again- 6:42am! We were out of the hotel about 7:10am. We got to the college, and got our luggage to the UHaul truck and grabbed some breakfast! We filled our water bottles with the lemon-lime/blue powerade drink mix:-) Sure was nice of McD's to donate biscuits but GAG I can't do McDonald's prior to a million mile ride... not to mention I don't really like McD's. But the fruit was PERFECT and some yummy peanuts too! About 8:10ish we started our ride.
Picture of Dad and I at the start and the bikers in front of us as we prepare to start!
A slight uphill, then a gigundus down hill that quickly made my ears ache... for the record it is 2.2 miles down hill. It is FREEEEEEZING cold, even with my corkily weird pink fuzzy coat. My fingers and ears and cheeks were so cold!! But man I was glad to have my coat nice n fluffy thicker that the average riders! Our first stop was about 15 miles into the ride at ANTHONY. Still it thrills me the first stop and my first born share a name... how silly is that? The sweet older ladies had made us some fabulous baked goods again this year!! A new addition this year was "Mail". At every stop we would get a letter from a local patient of the MS Society who has MS and is facing the struggles involved. At stop one we got a letter from Andy. He was diagnosed in 2002 with MS and is expecting his 2nd child. See our mail? Lone Lynchburgers!
Uncle King was struggling a tad with the biking so I was slow til Anthony to stay with him. From Anthony to almost Rennick Dad was slow to stay with him. I grabbed some shots of ME since Dad and I weren't together to be in pictures together and snap each other. It was at this beautiful rope I waited for dad!
I met up with them about mile 22 as I waited for them so we could do this:
After we had our fun we finished our 3 miles to Rennick, making sure to stop and pose with my 24!! Beth's 24 both in miles and years;-)
Much to our disappointment the Rennick rest stop was forced to close up shop because the Park people had accidentally double booked the pavillion. It was a total bummer because EVERY trail rider knows this is the best stop thanks to Ms. Lois and her team! We were there just long enough for our numbers to get checked off and on to the next stop.
Dad told me to go ahead and keep up with this fellow biker while he stuck back with Uncle King. So I did. I saw another swinging rope but didn't stop. This became a huge disappointment in more ways than one. First off riding from mile 18ish at Anthony to mile 39ish lunch was quite the struggle! I kept telling myself one more mile, one more mile. Without that Rennick stop it really did seem like a never ending adventure! Dad is a 53 year old who LOVES roses and snakes... great combo huh? Well we didn't see any roses in the wilderness... but HE, Uncle King and 2 rather frightened ladies met Mr. Snake... and not just any snake... not a copperhead like last year while in training, not a gardner or a black snake... it was RATTLESNAKE... and I don't have a single picture to prove it. Dad has seen 2 Rattlers in the wild. The first was as a kid where his lil bro and him killed it for the rattle, this time he respected the wishes of Steve Erwin and after playing for a bit he moved it off the train into the woods... We met up at 1:30 for lunch. I had already been there a while.
We did have more rest stop 8 miles later at 47, then we went from 47-57 and into the town of Marlinton... and ONLY I could get lost there-- BUT I DID! Fear not 10 minutes later I found our peoples! About 30 minutes later Dad, Uncle King and Joe the trail sweeper "Sheriff" showed up and we got to take the bus to our hotel!
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