Next National Holiday

On this day in 1969 the Woodstock music festival opened. I still remember that day because I had a chance to go but passed it up. In 1998 Bill Clinton apologized to Hillary for his dalliance with Monica. On this day in2008, Laura woke me up at 6:30 and I went down for the motel breakfast. We had fresh blackberries I had purchased at a fruit stand so I added them to the microwaved oatmeal. A couple of bagels later we left the Ramada Inn at around 9am. It was a little hard to get moving, cool and overcast outside, warm and inviting inside the cozy little room. Getting back on the bike after the last few days reminded me of the pony express rider that looks at another horse. One of the first towns we went through is named Fort Chiswell. It is the fort where travelers started towards Kentucky on Daniel Boone's wilderness road. The road went 200 miles west to the Kentucky River through the Cumberland Gap. He built it along with 35 ax men by hacking it out of the forest.

Following the Virginia roads through countryside that looks like what you see the hounds chasing the foxes through, we skirted the foothills for 40 miles to a town called Radford where we ate lunch. Over huge calzones, I contemplated some more on the day in history. Will Rogers was killed in a plane crash in Alaska on this day in 1935. We was only 55 years old. MacBeth, the real one who was King of Scotland, was slain by his own son in 1057. My daydreaming had to end around 2:30, because we had to cover some more miles to get to Roanoke. Luckily, it is downhill for the most part as you head north. Even so, we didn't get to Roanoke until 5:30. Then it took an entire hour to navigate the city traffic and get to the newest motel. We were pretty beat after the 91 miles today. All is better now after a mexican dinner and a pitcher of beer. My mind still on the day in history, I realized that Napoleon was born today in 1769, Julia Child in 1912, Ben Affleck in 1972, and the March playmate of the year in 1996, Priscilla Taylor, was born in 1976.

Big O is making some funny noises, the brakes are rubbing some, and the shifting is getting a little erratic. Our elderly bodies have some creaks too. Like a horse on his way back to the barn, we sense that the ride is almost over. We have ridden the bike almost 350 miles in the last 4 days over some tough country. We've decided to fly back, on Sept. 1, from Washington DC. Any one thinking of sending a mermaid to meet me at the ocean, we plan to be at Rehobeth Beach on Aug 23 to end the journey. During a ride of about 4000 miles, you have a lot of time to think. Somewhere in my head I knew that on this day in history the Panama Canal opened in 1914, the Mayflower set sail from Southampton with 102 pilgrims in 1620, and the city of Asuncion, Paraguay, which happens to be the city my son Nic has been for the last 6 months, was founded in 1535. Of course, there are many other thoughts that have crossed my mind. No one would want to know what goes on in my head.

Thinking about this day in history, Eisenhower was elected president in the year 1952. In that year, and on this day in history, Donna Lou Newlin had a little baby boy at 7:30 am who is now very proud and grateful to his mom. Without her help and guidance years ago this ride would have never happened. Bernie, his dad, was probably at work at the time, but did have a say in naming him Larry.

By the way, my sister in law Tina is in the hospital. Best wishes to her. Get better Tina so we can start giving you a hard time again.