May 7, 2001 - Mike and Marilyn's 2001 TranAmerican Bike Tour

East Wenatchee, Washington.

The plan...the plan....

OK, here's the plan (for those interested in logistics). Sometime this week we will finish checking off all the things on our To Do List, host a Send-Off/Mother's Day BBQ, put our bikes in boxes, send them ahead of us to Seattle with family, and finish up our work weeks.

May 18 after work, we will drive the 3 hours to Seattle, and the next morning, fly to Richmond VA, arriving late. At the airport we will load our bike boxes in a rental Ford Explorer and drive to Virginia Beach, VA for the night, staying up to assemble our bikes and organize our stuff. The next morning, we will dip our bikes' rear tires in the Atlantic per tradition, jump back in the rig with the bikes, drive to Newport News VA, pump gas for the last time in 3 months, drop off the car, and start riding toward the official start of the Trail, Yorktown VA. We'll see how far we get or even if it goes as planned.

Marilyn did get her bike wheel fixed and true. And sometime in this journal, Marilyn, who is writing this whole thing, will stop referring to herself in the third person.

Training continues and the weather is cooperative. It is apple blossom time in the Wenatchee Valley, but also balsam root, lupine, phlox and many other wildflower blossom time as well, a great time of year to head out on a bike.