Day 123 ~ Wiped Out in Waynesboro

Here I am with a "Pain Relieving Hot Compress" on my left knee and an ice bag on my right knee. Mike alternated these about every 20 minutes. Bless their hearts, Mike and Gregory went out and picked up the compress at CVS and then Gregory got the ice from the machine. When he asked for bags at the front desk the attendant wouldn't give them to him until he told him, "They are for my mom's knees."

Gregory spent part of his day off building a fort for his friends. Ottie, Kitty and Moosy are pictured. Doggie is in the pillow fort up on the bed. Photo by Gregory

Gregory took this shot of me catching up on 5 days worth of blogs! Sorry to keep you all waiting. We were without Internet. Thank you for your emails, comments and concerns.

Gregory posed Doggie and took this photo of me making arrangements for the upcoming week.

Date: November 19, 2009

From: Waynesboro,Virginia

To: Waynesboro,Virginia

Route:

Miles Today: 0 miles

TOTAL MILES: 3,550 miles

Top Speed on this trip: 54.1 mph

Weather: RAIN

License Plates Collected: 5 Montana, 8 Wyoming (2 motorcycle) and 1 Idaho (found in WY), 2 Colorado, 1 Kansas (Gifted from David of Baldwin City), 1 Missouri (To be sent to Grammy’s by our new buddy, Kansas City firefighter Shawn), 1 Illinois, 4 Kentucky (2 Gifted from Beth and Garry Feltus, one gifted from cousin John, one from Hwy. 127), 1 Virginia

Flats: 11

Broken Spokes: 3

Cracked Rim: 1

Our day off has been heavenly. We ALL slept in until 9:00 A.M. which is the latest we've ever slept in on this trip! We took our time at the continental breakfast where we filled up on waffles, yogurt, cereal, toast, donuts, coffee and juice. Gregory watched Scooby Doo and Mike and I read U.S.A. Today and we finally wandered back to the room around 11:00 A.M. where Mike took a nap (the one and only he has taken this trip) and Gregory did his reading and then built a fort out of the bed pillows and cushions from the love seat. He also took a nice hot bath in the middle of the day. Woo hoo.

Mike was up until about 2:00 A.M. looking into accommodations for the Historic Triangle area (Williamsburg, Yorktown and Jamestown) where our trip ends. He and Gregory also spent some time looking at the website for Busch Gardens amusement park. We promised Gregory we'd take him there as a reward for finishing the trip and now we find that they are closed for the season! He is so bummed. Mike went as far as looking at options for Disney World in Orlando, Florida but discovered that a 4-night/5-day package with lodging and entrance to all of the parks would be $1,400 and that doesn't even include a flight or car rental to get down there. We ended up spending way more on lodging and food on this cross country journey than we expected and that expense just really isn't in the budget.

We will be able to show Gregory the Washington D.C area though. (Not quite as exciting to a 9-year old as Busch Gardens or Disney World but none the less…) I was able to get in touch with my University of Delaware roommate who now lives in Gaithersburg, Maryland about 40 minutes outside of D.C. via the Metro-Link. Liz generously offered to have us from Monday to Friday next week including Thanksgiving Day even though she is entertaining her in-laws as well. "The more the merrier," she said. We are so excited to stay with Liz and her husband and their three kids. Their son is 11 years old and their girls are 7 and 5. Liz told me to assure Gregory there were plenty of bikes and scooters to ride in the cul de sac, a basketball court, lots of toys and a Wii. The kids will be in school Monday to Wednesday but those are the days we plan to explore Washington D.C. and we'll have the evenings and all day Thursday to visit.

On Sunday night we have also been blessed to have a place to stay with family just north of Richmond in Mechanicsville which just happens to be on the route. Penny is Mike's cousin Megan's sister-in-law and she and her husband Keith have generously offered to let us stay Sunday night, transport us to the Amtrak station early Monday morning for our trip into D.C. and store the bike at their home. We will be back with them on Friday, November 27th when Liz drops us on our her way down to visit family in Virginia Beach. We feel so lucky that everyone has been so accommodating and gone out of their way to help us.

Beyond that we haven't quite figured out when we will depart for Williamsburg and when we will finally culminate our trip in Yorktown but it will be shortly thereafter. In the short term, tomorrow (Friday) we will visit "The Cookie Lady" and will be staying with Jeff Erkelens, a warmshowers.org host in Charlottesville and then will stay in Louisa Saturday night. Thank you to all of you that have called or emailed with concerns for our welfare. We've been without Internet for several days so I've been unable to post. I appreciate all of you loyal followers and concerned friends!