Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Forever August

We four are rounding out day five in the friendly city of Richmond, Virginia. A friend of my (Hannah's) brother Mike had welcomed him as a guest while on his music tours in the past, and now they welcome us strangers on our bike tour. Good people! Thanks to Mike, his roommates, his girlfriend, and Empire Restaurant for their great curly fries. Keep the calories coming.

The last five days have changed us body and soul... or maybe a little more ego than soul. What began as modest and almost embarrassed whispers of "Do you feel a bit stronger today?" or, "The hills must be smaller here, right?" are now loud proclamations that "WE ARE STRONG BIKING WOMEN." Despite our burning thighs and aching calves, we feel better and more capable every day.

And such kindness! Today, we happened on a group of bikers who were making their ride home from their weekly lunch in Ashland. Paul, the leader of the pack, was returning to his home in Richmond, and after scoffing at our GPS (I believe his words were, "Barf, barf!") he led us on a shortcut that left us all but two blocks from Mike's apartment. Paul has toured most of the 50 states and Europe, and gave us some welcomed advice. He sent us off with a box of "Bag Balm," an anti-chaffing remedy used by farmers on cows. We don't have any cows on our tour, but I think we'll figure out what to do with it.

Virginia is BEAUTIFUL, and we are so content with this feeling of being set in a perpetual August. This trip has made us a few very happy girls.

And then there were hills....

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

You all rock!!! How sweet to be going south with the weather!

Happy to hear things are going well; rumor has it that you are near Suffolk now; when do you set your sights on the Carolinas?

Love you all, and keep biking!!

tony

Unknown said...

dude, bag balm is the shit. do work, kids, we miss you.

mpryor said...

Rebecca: check your email, son.

Loves,

Madeleine

Jerry Sherk said...

Hannah,

I just this saw the UCSD Eng. Prof., Ron, at Java Depot. I told him about your trip. He said you should write a book about your exploits called "On the Road," by Hannah Kerouac. --Dad

lu said...

This is Abigail and Lizzie saying hello and that we miss you. We also have bag balm. No reason. Call us back... now.


love,

us

bunnyhop said...

good luck y'all! have fun in florida! tell everybody i said hey.

-luke from bunnyhop

AMYMOORE said...

looks like your having fun......looks like I swallowed a grapefruit .... keep up updated...