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We guess it’s about time to explain our trip. Since, well… we’re beginning tomorrow.

Tomorrow night, Alexa’s dad is driving us, our bikes, and all of our gear up to Bar Harbor, ME where we will begin our trip on Saturday morning. He is also riding the first day with us on our way down the Atlantic Coast. (He is then returning the 65 miles or so to retrieve his truck the following day. All on a mountain bike which will handicap him enough to ride at our speed.)

From there, we will head back to Portsmouth, NH and will arrive a few days later, just in time for a bed and hot shower. We will leave the next day for a quick two day trip to Boston where we will spend Labor Day weekend (off the roads) with some friends.

From Boston, our next time marker is visiting Alexa’s Aunt in Philadelphia on the 17th of September. So, we will likely take a detour through rural Pennsylvania since it would not take two weeks to get to Phil. From there, we return to Eliot, ME for a wedding on the 22nd. (By plane, of course.)

When we leave Philadelphia, it will take us about a week to arrive in Fredericksburg, VA, Anthony’s mother’s hometown. We will stay there for a few days, hopefully meeting up with Mom and some family. This would be the first week of October.

Then… suffering. Well, mountains. We will leave Fredericksburg and take a sharp turn west at Richmond, VA. From there we expect to run into some of the most challenging riding (and potentially cooler weather) when go through western Virginia and eastern Kentucky. It will also be extremely beautiful.

Our next (tentative) plan, is a stay at the Abbey of Gethsemani in central Kentucky. This is the former home of the remarkable Catholic mystic Thomas Merton. We will visit the monastery for sure, but we are on the waiting list for a 4-5 day retreat starting in mid-October. Although we really hope to have two spots open up, we are going to have to make really good time through the mountains in order to get there.

After Gethsemani, we will meander through western Kentucky before turning southeast towards Nashville, TN. The home of the Grand Ole Opry and… Anthony’s family. Then,… we’re done biking. Potentially forever. Just kidding.

Estimated arrival is the last few days of October.

There are probably some more details that would be interesting, but they will likely be revealed as the trip happens and as we continue typing in the future.

Some details: We are carrying camping equipment and will usually be camping unless we are staying with family, friends, or we are soaked to the bone from hours/days of rain. The whole trip will be around 2500 (mapped) miles and we are taking more than sixty days. So, average of around 40 to 45 miles a day. We do not have a cycling computer, which would constantly be doing our math for us, so our trip will be one long rough estimate. We do have maps that show mileage, points of interest/non-interest, and selected services. We will use these maps, in case you were wondering.

Okay, I believe that is enough for now. This trip is going to be perfect. There are so many variables that we have come to the conclusion that the trip will be perfect no matter what happens. Can you follow that reasoning? -ants

We are finally done our training period, and hopefully we’re ready…we are ready. We’ve been having an amazing time these past two weeks exploring the beauty of southern new hampshire and maine by bicycle, here are some photos of the loveliness surrounding my homeland.

Here’s a photo of Anthony riding on the great short cut he discovered on a wet dirt (more like sand) road…that was fun…

Here is me riding (almost fully loaded) by a lake next to my father and stepmother’s lakehouse…it was the most perfect biking day!

And here’s us at Anthony’s birthday dinner at my mother’s house…don’t worry it was early…you still have time to call him and wish him happy birthday on Monday!

Well that’s all for now, we’re off and we know we’ll be great. From all this training we’ve got some good muscles, and our hearts are filled with love -lex

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 23rd, 2007 at 9:02 pm and is filed under In Training. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.