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Day 51
The tat says it all - CA to VA! (Mom, don't worry, it's not permanent...or is it) When we last wrote, we were ahead of schedule and had only 600 miles to ride to the Virginia coastline. After the Appalachians were going to be home free. We had only one more state ahead of us and a reasonable riding schedule planned…Suddenly the Atlantic felt just too close for comfort- the reality of finishing the trip and acting like adults loomed.
So, we balked.
Instead, we blazed a quick trail south following the tracks of Daniel Boone through the Cumberland Gap and crossing Tennessee in one day.
The Great Smoky Mountains After a 100-mile day of riding, we arrived in Gatlinburg, TN at 10pm on a Tuesday night, expecting a sleepy-town nestled at the foot of the mountains where we could lay our bikes and our heads. Instead, what we got was a theme park hell for country-loving, rural dwelling, conservative adults: amusement parks, dinner theaters, mini-golf center, and all night-restaurants, bordered by three lanes of traffic thicker than the Santa Monica Freeway. We are used to towns that aren't large enough to have post offices or schools... this place really scared us. After a few miles of Country Music-Neverland Ranch-Disney-hell later, we got trapped on
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Refueling in Bardstown, KY. a road with no shoulder with 3 lanes of whizzing traffic. We dived off the road, on an exit to a church. We found no church, just more families partying in rental homes. Ultimately, we camped on the lawn of a home, being plied with beer by the family reunion members who had rented it.
Why were we still biking at 10pm at night you ask? Fabulous question. We wanted to cross the Great Smoky Mountains on bicycle. Unfortunately, it's the most visited national park in the U.S.- and there's only one road that goes up and down to the other side. With that, we woke up at 4am and started into the park to begin the 16 mile climb. In start contrast to the raucous environment of the night before, we rode in the park silently, passing the photographers poised for shots of the wispy clouds that climb up the mountains and into the sky. We rode past the trickling brooks, up the switchbacks and up to the top. But the Gatlinburg tourists were now racing us to the top in their SUVs, hang-overs in tow. We beat them to almost all the overlooks first and managed to
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We decided to head south towards Tennessee rather than take the "easy" route straight through Virgina. have an amazing morning.
Afterwards, we were eager for a rest, so we headed the 17 miles down the mountain into North Carolina. But we had congratulated ourselves a little prematurely. Just moments after descending from the 5,000' pass over the Great Smokies, we started another 4-hour climb on the Blue Ridge Parkway, where we crawled up AGAIN to almost 6,000'. Where is the justice? Not to mention, we also learned that the Parkway was actually shut down in several places, so our route to Virginia was compromised. That night, we were happy to descend back off the Parkway to GUILT-FREE pizza and beer. We decided to work out our path to the finish line after consulting with our good buddy in Asheville, Dawn Cothran.
Asheville Rocks Dawn hooked us up with endless vegan treats, laundry facilities, clean sheets and a night on the town. The next day, we felt refreshed enough to think that we should ride the length of North Carolina- nearly 600 miles long, so that we could dip our tires at the Outer Banks beaches of our new home state. Dawn, encouraging our dumb idea, even escorted us out of Asheville on her mountainbike.
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Eastern Kentucky. (D, are you having nightmares about riding on the interstate?)
Homestretch to the Outer Banks When somebody asks you to pick a state to bike across, don't pick North Carolina. It's really wide. Did we mention that? We had to ride 100+ mile days 4 days in a row in order to get from the mountains to the sea. (10.5 hour trip by car). The race to the finish didn't end there- in order to catch the ferry to the Outer Banks we found ourselves having to put in 80 miles before catching the 3pm ferry. We were still 34 miles away, with only 2.5 hours to go...
Being within relative spitting distance of our end point of our trip, we busted tail for the ferry, covering pushing 17 mph, screeching by picturesque churches and bridges. Forest and his trailer led, allowing Annie to draft off them as she crouched lower- hoping that her Lance-stance would get us there in time...
Dipping our Tires in the Atlantic With minutes to go, we squeaked onto the ferry. Then another… And finally found ourselves in the white sand East-Coast beach scene!! Pedaling to a campsite on the dunes, we
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Yes, finding food on the road was just getting too easy. No more long stretches without services and having to carry lots of food. celebrated the Eastern seaboard with wine, chocolate and a big rain. Fellow North Carolinians welcomed us to the state, congratulated us- even let us share their campsite. The next morning, we took Tess and Bob (our bikes) to the lighthouse on the edge of Cape Hatteras. 50 days after leaving Southern California, we'd arrived!
That night, we grubbed on fish platters and ran back to our motel (!) with sundaes in our hands. We thought to ourselves... can this get any better? Sure! After dipping
ourselves in the Atlantic the next morning, we went (with all the other 15-year-old girls) to get matching henna tattoos ("CA to VA"), so that we could be one of those annoying couples who do things like that...
We already finished the trip, we may as well look like idiots until someone picks us up. Admittedly, after dipping our tires in the ocean, we were pretty much
over riding bikes. Still, we managed to drag ourselves off the beaches, back to the mainland, and over the Virginia border to be picked up by Anne's parents. In order to minimize the sadness of returning to the real world, we decided to give the
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Annie, exposing her lack of pop culture once again, didn't know who Lee Majors was, but I made her stand in front of the sign anyway. folks in Virginia something to really stare at. Having threatened to apply streamers to Annie's bike before the trip started, Forest led the charge to the nearest "Dollar Store" to decorate our bikes. Streamers, balloons, a few fuzzy dice later, we took in our final border crossing looking like total jerks....(PLEASE tell us that you can tell which photos these are).
Epilogue and Thank Yous After their trip, Anne and Forest have continued to be good, though lazier people. Despite vicious rumors, after biking the U.S., they are not going to Disneyland. They are heading down to Duke to look for housing before returning to CA to live it up with their CA friends. Ready CA friends?
Thank you...
To Mom Baker... For driving us to our starting point like lambs to the chopping block (per our request)
To the Capts Kallus...For picking us on the Virginia border and putting an end our odyssey.
To Heather Baker...For taking us in the night before we started the trip and even sacrificing her own bed!
To Worth Baker... for being our long-distance internet connection and movie guide while we were unconnected on the road.
To Heidi Vogt...For inspiring Annie by
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Cumberland Gap Tunnel. We weren't allowed to ride through, but we got a ride in a tunnel authority pickup. Kentucky, Virginia, and Tennessee all meet about halfway through the tunnel. being another girl who rode across country.
To Jay, EJ, Dawn and some other people we don't know...For letting sleep on your lawns, couches, and other flat surfaces.
To Randy...who drove 20+ miles to return Anne's cell phone that abandoned (the only thing I lost!)
To Jen and Eric &co...For hosting a Superbowl party and letting us win the betting pot, so that we could start our "motel fund".
To “Bob”(Cannondale 1050) and “Tess”(Raleigh Tess), our bikes...For enduring our big butts and merciless shifting for 3000+ miles
Oh and let's catch you up on the predictions that were made before we left...
Total Miles ridden: 3,612
Days Biked: 47
States Entered: 10
Most Miles Biked in One Day... 117
Highest Elevation Reached: 9,400
# of pounds lost collectively: 26
Largest Roadkill Sited: Deer, although there was endless armadillo mush too
# Times chased by dogs: 20+
Smallest Town: 53 people- Hollis, North Carolina
# Objects Thrown at Us: 0
# Flat Tires: 26
Most Days without Shower: 4
Place Where We'll Run Out of Conversation: Ain't no such place.
# Catcalls: 6
# Other Cross-Country Riders Met: 18
Cheapest Day 42
Tennessee - we crossed it in less then 2 days. Gas:
Haston, KS $1.98/g
Cheapest Hotel Room: $20 - Holbrook, AZ
# Starbucks Sited: 14 (8 in CA)
Best Quotes:
“Your butts must hurt.”
“Man, you need a truck”
For the BikeTourists:
...well, frankly, we've run out of time and now we need to go find a place to live!!
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Geoff
non-member comment
Congrats!