OFFICIAL WORLD WANDER STATIONARY

June 11, 1995

Smokey Mountains National Park TN to Washington DC

Today is day 103 on the road since San Diego. I can't say exactly how many miles it's been because my bike (and odometer) is 25 miles away at a frame builders shop getting fork brazons installed so I can run with a more stable front rack. Since I had trouble with the back wheel I've switched to carrying the tent, sleeping bag and sleeping pad on the front rack. Moved the food bucket from the front to the rear rack. That way the front is heavier, less strain on the back wheel (except when the food bag is full.)

We're in Washington DC, arrived in exactly 100 days, same as my last trip. This was about 4600 miles compared to my solo journey of 5600 miles. I'm staying with Ole and Louise, here at the DC Hostel for five nights. Since they have worked for the Hostel organization they get in free. Costs me $14.00 a night (a special rate) which is cheap housing in this area. Regina has invited her family to come say good-bye. They are all staying at the Marriot a few blocks away. She's rented a van so we've been taking advantage of it and running errands.

Seems I've been so frugal coming across the states, however in the last three days I've seen $1000.00 pass through my fingers. $300.00 at a bike shop replacing worn parts and getting spares, $300 at REI, more "survive in the woods" equipment. A new Gortex parka, my old one worked like a sponge in the rain and the duct tape fashioned poncho I rigged up to stay dry I'm told by my fellow travelers was quite unsightly. $220.00 on Drugs for Malaria and Dysentery, and another $200.00 for Yellow Fever, Hep A, and Hep B shots. We've picked up our Austrian VISA, will pick up Turkey tomorrow, and India if we can fit it in.

Louise got a flat as we were riding in front of the Capital building, while she nervously frantically worked on slipping in her spare tube I noticed her rear wheel developing the same stress cracks my MAVIC 217's developed. She's now faced with getting new wheels too. She'd bent a flat spot into her front wheel a few weeks ago by hitting a deep pot hole.

I picked up my new wheels in Charlotte, North Carolina. Had them sent to Regina's daughter, Chris who lives there. They are big and heavy, hopefully I'll have no more wheel problems. The new Hugi hubs are sealed and are not supposed to require any maintenance. The rear has four sealed bearings and a clicker that echoes off the canyon walls as you coast by. Hopefully it will quiet down after a few more thousand miles. It doesn't seem to have gotten any quieter the thousand miles since Charlotte. The new wheels, the Mavic 121's have remained true with no adjustments! A much better record than the old 217's.

From Charlotte, NC we rode east to the outer bank of North Carolina. We'd set a date to be in Ocracoke Island to stay with the daughter of one of our participants, Sally Martin. The daughter, Kitty, was an Art teacher, her husband a carpenter, handy man, ex-shop teacher, and musician. It seemed like a long haul across North Carolina cause it was humid, and we had to get miles in order to meet our schedule. We took a ferry to Ocracoke, after a morning of driving rain, we were glad to be invited inside. They had a tiny beach house but welcomed us in. In the morning after breakfast they shared their musical talents with us by singing a song they had written about missing the ferry cause their young daughter, Katie, had to stop to go to the bathroom. It was a hilarious song, very well done. Turns out they perform in the local night clubs and have a couple of tapes and CD's out. I bought the tape with their ferry story song on it. You'll all have to hear it when I get back.

Knowing that we'd want to spend lots of time in DC for our overseas preparation we pushed hard to see as much as we could, but still get in the miles. We were always in search of the B.M.D. The Big Mile Day was defined for us as anything over 70 miles. Anything less than 20 was a layover day. From Charlotte to DC we had several BMD's and only one layover day, the day before we rode into DC. Leaving Ocracoke we thought we might actually get our first 100 mile day in. There was a 15 mph wind. We didn't make it. Only 84 miles that day. But we did visit a light house, a restored life rescue station, talked to the locals, repaired a flat, met and talked to a guy from Portland, Bruce, who is a young software engineer who had quit his job and was starting a cross country ride East to West with Adventure Cycling riding on a recumbent. Finally we toured a visitor center. Whew, that was a day! Next day we went to Kitty Hawk saw a copy of the Wright Brother's plane and rode to the top of the hill. Devil Hill, a tall dome now stabilized with grass where the brothers did test glider flights figuring out how to design and use control surfaces for flight. There's a giant monument on the top of the hill now.

Up the outer banks to Virginia Beach, Ole had a friend we could stay with there, but it was close to National trails day and his friend was super busy in his position of planning a trail across America. We were going to take a rest day there but thought better of it when we learned of his schedule. We hitched a ride over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge tunnel out to the "Eastern shore".

Rode through Ocean City, Maryland which was a big Beach Condo/Hotel tourist trap. Interesting to me though because I'd flown there back in '81 and sailed in the Hobie16 Nationals. As we rode past block after block of high rise beach Hotel I tried to remember which Hotel had hosted the competition. We went down to the beach where Regina and Louise accused me of watching the tight tops closer than I was watching where I was going. I pleaded no contest.

Coming over a bridge into Ocean City Regina had her third flat of the trip, she ran over a broken bottle and sliced her rear tire. First time I've ever seen a one inch long gash in a bike tire, a clean cut right through the kevlar belt!

On the eastern shore we camped at a national park on Assateaque Island. The camp was in a wetland and was inundated with mosquitoes. Lucky for us there was a stiff breeze so we found a campsite out in the breeze. We had to laugh at ourselves. Us, the outdoor campers, being driven crazy by these every present mosquitoes, while camping around us were families with young children, even babies, who didn't seem to realize there were mosquitoes around. We waved and swatted at the little bugs while we ate our dinner in the breeze then quickly retreated to the safety of our individual tents.

One of the "attractions" of the island were the Chicoteague Ponies, supposed descendants of the ship wrecked Spanish Ponies of the fifteenth century. We cycled all through the island and saw them only at a distance. Cycled back to the mainland and saw some up close next to the parking lot of a McDonald's. Apparently the herd belongs to the local fire department and every year they have the pony swim, where some are "swam" off the island to control the population then sold at auction to raise money for fire trucks and high pressure nozzles, etc. A big "Ponies for Sale" sign on the pasture gate indicated to me a local had bought a bunch at auction and was wanting to make a buck by selling them to who ever might drive by.

We hitched over another bridge to get into Annapolis. Visited the state capital there, it was the fifth or sixth state capital we've been to. It was small and quaint compared to others like Mississippi. The tour guide told us that it was once the capital of the United States. Apparently the capital moved around a lot in the early years depending on a number of conditions one of them being the weather.

Well the Domestic Shakedown Down is now over. Soon we will be embarking on our first international leg of the trip. Don't really know for sure what has happened to all the 'A' team folks. Having a "map meeting" with the 'C' team folks this afternoon. We hear they are planning their own route through Europe but want to meet with us occasionally. Our 'B' team seems well united. Today we went through our tools and are sending home some of the heavy redundant ones.

Our planned route today is averaging only 22 miles per day. Our US average was 46 miles per day. We'll be slowing down but we figure there will be lots more demands on our time.

That's it for Now, Hope you've enjoy this update.

John Purdy