Springfield, Virginia to Gaithersburg, Maryland -- 57 miles

We woke at 5:30 am to the sound of Neil's train alarm clock. He had Pete tell us to shut it off right away, which we were sure to do. We started to bring down our equipment to pack up our bikes when Amy and Pete woke to see us off. While we had breakfast, Amy packed some fruit and candy bars for us, which Lorraine gratefully accepted. Ed and his son Eddie came over with their bikes - we said goodbye, took photos, and got started at 6:45 am. 

We biked out of the neighborhood and followed a dirt bike path around Lake Accotink Park. Fortunately, because it was Saturday, the roads were less crowded. Ed and Eddie led us along the local roads, through "Old Town" Alexandria (shops and restaurants along the Potomac River), and out to the Mount Vernon Bike Path. We thanked them and said goodbye, as Ed called his wife to come pick them up. 

There were lots of bikers and joggers along the path, so we had to be careful and go slowly. We soon crossed Memorial Bridge into DC, and picked up the Rock Creek Bike Path. At first, we were heading the wrong way and stopped a roller-blader to ask directions. Donna Stewart said if we turned around that we would be heading in the right direction. She asked where we were going. When we told her "cross-country", she wanted to take our picture! We decided to stay on the bike path all the way to Gaithersburg, rather than following the Adventure Cycling route, which would put us on back on busy roads. We ate our lunch at a picnic table in a park. Lorraine was feeling very homesick today. 

We were able to ride on Beach Road for a few miles, since the road is closed to cars on Saturday and Sunday. We stopped at the park police station to ask about the path ahead, and spoke to Sergeant Scott Fear and Officer Craig Lane. They asked us about our trip, and offered to fill our water bottles with fresh cold water! They were all very friendly and supportive. They told us that motorists complain that beach road is closed off on the weekends. He said it is a source of great controversy. Some want it closed 7 days a week and others don't want it closed at all. The traffic on the bike path decreased as we got further away from DC, although the path itself became more twisty and hilly. We crossed into Maryland, but there was no "Welcome to Maryland" sign. We called a couple motels to find out their rates and directions, then navigated our way from the Maryland state map once we got off the bike path. We stayed at the Red Roof Inn and had dinner at Denny's.

Rest day in Springfield, Virginia

We woke at 8:30 am and met Eric Decker, Amy's brother, and his boyfriend Max Sutherland, who are also visiting for a couple days. We had breakfast and talked about our trip with them. Lorraine played with their friendly kitty, Copper - he is very even-tempered and a good cat for three young boys. He is also the only cat that we had ever met that like to play "fetch" with his toy mice! We went for a ride in the car to see an alternate route that Pete thought we could take to get to the Mount Vernon Bike Path. Lenny stopped at the post office, we had lunch at McDonald's, and then bought some groceries for tomorrow. Eric and Max were following us in their jeep. They both had their shirts off so the kids started calling them "the nudie boys"! 

We came back to the house and spoke to Ed Passarelli, Pete's neighbor. Ed is a biker, and Pete thought that Ed might know of a way to get to the bike path that was not as heavily travelled. He came over later on to tell us about a way to get to the bike path, and offered to accompany us tomorrow with his son Eddie. He also left some trail information that was quite useful. It showed that the Rock Creek Trail, which we would be using, continued much further than we thought, and would keep us off the congested roads for an additional 23+ miles. 

Lorraine called her parents and her friend Kara. Eric and Max made dinner for us, a delicious meal of ribs, burgers, hot dogs, corn on the cob, salad, and baked beans. Max entertained us with stories about his mother's tiara, his closet full of shoes (including 6 pairs of cowboy boots), growing up in Indiana and Germany, and proper etiquette at the opera. We said goodbye to them, and to the kids, since we would be leaving early tomorrow. We had such a wonderful time with the Henrys and company. Being in their household with its fun-filled environment made us think about having some kids of our own!

Fredericksburg, Virginia to Springfield, Virginia -- 68 miles

We woke at 6:30 am, grabbed donuts and muffins from the continental breakfast, and began biking at 7:15 am. We made it through the morning rush hour traffic to get off the highway and out of town. As we got further away, the traffic decreased. Around 9 am, it began raining hard - we were riding past an abandoned house, and ducked into the open garage to get out of the rain. It slowed down about 15 minutes later, and we got back on the road. We stopped at country grocery store to buy sodas and eat our lunch, but they would not fill our water bottles for us.

Traffic increased on the road as we reached Dale City. We passed through Occoquan, a cute river town and walked our bikes across the river. In Lorton, we got off the route and followed our friend Pete's directions to his home in Springfield. It started thundering, but we made it there before it started raining. Lenny has been friends with Pete and his wife Amy since high school. They are part of a group that call themselves the Penguins. Now, Pete is a "Mr. Mom" who takes care of their kids full-time, while Amy brings home the bacon! We talked to Pete and their 3 boys - Neil, Christopher, and Nathan. Amy was at work for her second to last day before her new job starts. We had Chinese food for dinner and turned in at about 9:30 pm. We had a restful sleep on their comfortable AeroBed.

Ashland, Virginia to Fredericksburg, Virginia -- 62 miles

Lenny woke at 6 am, sweating and feeling sick to his stomach. It turns out that he had a mild case of dysentery, probably from the Mexican food yesterday. He felt awful, so Lorraine got him a cold washcloth and comforted him. We fell back to sleep and woke at 8:30 am. Lenny was feeling better, so we got on the road at 9:30 am. Today's route retraced the TransAmerica Trail for about 9 miles, then headed north along the Atlantic Coast Trail. Unfortunately, the back country roads did not pass any service stations, so Lenny had to make a few pit stops in the woods!

We stopped in the town of Cedon to buy sodas, and the grocery store manager told us their rest room was out of order. We didn't believe her. Lenny commented to Lorraine that McDonald's considers its bathrooms to be an asset - some people just stop to use the rest room, but others will buy food as well. We thought the route would take us right past the Stonewall Jackson Shrine, but it was on a different road, and we didn't want to go off route. When we reached Fredericksburg, the traffic increased. We met Eric Smucker from Lancaster, PA, who is a freshman at Mary Washington College. He was on his bicycle, exploring the bike routes in the area, and asked us about our trip. He is a practicing Mennonite, and spent two years in Chad as an exchange student after high school.

We stopped for sodas at 7-11, then went to the visitor's center to ask about motels in town. The only way to get to the motels was biking along a 4-lane highway for 2 miles, which was rather nerve-racking. It took us 15 minutes to walk our bikes across one exit ramp coming from Route 95. We stayed at the EconoLodge and did our laundry at the Best Western laundry room, based on a tip from another guest. We ate at Aunt Sarah's Pancake House, and took advantage of their "unlimited side dishes with any dinner." Both of us had 2 salads each, plus breadsticks, and our dinners of fried chicken, pancakes, meatloaf, and mashed potatoes.

Williamsburg, Virginia to Ashland, Virginia -- 89 miles

We woke at 7 am, and began biking at 7:45 am. Lorraine stopped at Dunkin' Donuts to get a breakfast treat! We rode down some pretty streets, through town and past the College of William & Mary, before getting on the Colonial Parkway towards Jamestown. This scenic route added several miles to our route today! We had taken a short cut on the way into town, but decided that this route was safer. However, when we turned west on Route 5, there were many big trucks speeding down the road (on Sunday, there weren't any trucks on this road). All the trucks made Lenny anxious, and he wanted to hurry to get off this road. He started yelling at Lorraine to pedal faster, which got her upset. After a good screaming fight, we pedaled in silence for most of the day. Lorraine did pedal faster, but it was because she was so angry.

We stopped at a convenience store near the entrance to the Berkeley Plantation to eat our lunch. The traffic increased again because we were in town and because it was rush hour. At one point, some teens in a small car yelled at us and threw something at Lenny. We stopped at a Mexican restaurant to have dinner and to get away from the traffic for awhile. We enjoyed a great meal. We continued another 10 miles to Ashland, where we stayed at the Super 8 Motel.

Williamsburg, Virginia to Yorktown, Virginia and back -- 34 miles

We slept in this morning, took the packs off our bikes, and started riding at 10:30 am to finish the final leg to the coast. We navigated through town to get on the Colonial Parkway - a bumpy but scenic road with tall trees, and bridges that spanned several creeks and rivers. After a few miles, the tree-shaded road opened up to amazing views of the York River. We went to the Yorktown Victory Monument to take pictures. The Victory Monument commemorates the American victory in the Revolutionary War, and also commemorated our cross-country victory!

We met Jay Brosnan who was also finishing his coast-to-coast bike ride. His wife Mary was there to pick him up and drive back to their home in North Carolina. We went down to the beach and dipped our front tires in the Atlantic Ocean! We met Marty from Newport News, who took photos for us. We talked about our journey with him, and he said he was going to check out our website. 

We had big burgers for lunch at the Yorktown Pub, then rode back to Williamsburg. We didn't have time to see anything in Colonial Williamsburg! We stopped at a bike shop for mechanical adjustments, a t-shirt shop for Lorraine to get postcards, and the grocery store for breakfast food. The motel owner would not share his laundry detergent, so Lenny had to walk to K-Mart and buy some before we could do our laundry. As soon as Lorraine went into the laundry room, the skies opened up and it was raining buckets, thundering, and lightening for about a half-hour. It continued raining sporadically for the rest of the night. Later, we walked across the street to IHOP and had omelettes and pancakes for dinner!

Ashland, Virginia, to Williamsburg, Virginia -- 79 miles

We woke at 6:45 am and began biking at 8 am. The roads around Mechanicsville (north of Richmond) were busy with traffic, and the area was filled with new housing developments. We rode past several plantations, but didn’t stop to sightsee. We stopped briefly in Charles City for soda and snacks. The flatter route allowed us to move faster, averaging 9.5 mph. We reached Williamsburg and stayed at the Colonial Country Inn motel. We checked the menus at a few expensive restaurants and ended up eating at Applebee’s.