Day 55: D.C. Finale

I woke up to discover the day would be too short to see everything I still wanted to see. So I got creative and decided to get my run in while I site-saw. I mapped out all the memorials and monuments I hadn't seen yet and set out for a 6 hour extravaganza.

I started at The Smithsonian National Zoo. Wandered around there for a bit and obviously through the reptile house. Then I ran over to The Ghana Cafe. Unfortunately, they weren't open yet, and I was pretty bummed after looking at their menu, I could have definitely gone for some Red-Red for lunch. Still pretty cool just to look at the menu and laugh at my first attempts at eating most of it over 2 years ago while I studied abroad in Ghana.

After that I headed towards The Lincoln Memorial. Maybe I'm biased being from Illinois, but I think The Lincoln Memorial is by far the coolest one, with Jefferson being a close runner-up.

After seeing Lincoln, I wandered through the mall a bit and stumbled upon The Vietnam War Memorial, The Korean War Memorial, The World War I Memorial, The FDR Memorial, and The George Mason Memorial. Eventually I did make my way over to The Jefferson Memorial as well. On my way back I also ran into The Holocaust Memorial Museum.

I'm sure there's still a ton that I missed, but I was pretty impressed with my abundance of sites for the day.

After my long day out exploring, we gave another presentation about the ride. It's always the most fun to finish up with a question and answer session. I love having the chance to answer individuals' questions from a personal point of view and also to listen to the rest of the group's answers. I think we learn a lot, and a lot about each other, during the presentations as well maybe hearing answers to questions we don't necessarily ask amongst ourselves.

Then I did get the chance to try yet another cupcake shop, Hello Cupcake. This was definitely right up there with Georgetown Cupcakes... Very impressive. Then I was able to meet up with the IWU crew once more before I departed D.C. We wandered through Adams Morgan and were shocked by the amount of people on the streets. We also experienced the famous Jumbo Slice pizza. Literally the biggest piece of pizza I have ever seen, and it was actually pretty good.

D.C. was an amazing city and I loved exploring it. I had a great time and some more great friends to meet up with along the way. On to Baltimore tomorrow!

Day 54: Exploring The District Round 2

Video to come, technical difficulties...

The big event of the day was a trip to The Arlington Cemetery with a group of IWU friends. We checked out the cemetery, The Tomb of Unknown Soldiers, and the Kennedys' tombstones. The changing of the guard was really, really neat to watch.

And here's a bunch of trivia and facts about the guards...

1. How many steps does the guard take during his walk across The Tomb of the Unknowns and why?

Answer: 21 steps - It alludes to the twenty-one gun salute which is the highest honor given to any military or foreign dignitary.

2. How long does he hesitate after his about face to begin his return walk and why?

Answer: 21 seconds for the same reason as Answer 1.

3. Why are his gloves wet?

Answer: His gloves are moistened to prevent his losing his grip on the rifle.

4. Does he carry his rifle on the same shoulder all the time, and, if not, why not?

Answer: He carries the rifle on the shoulder away from the tomb. After his march across the path, he executes an about face and moves the rifle to the outside shoulder.

5. How often are the guards changed?

Answer: Guards are changed every thirty minutes, twenty-four hours a day, 365 days a year.

6. What are the physical traits of the guard limited to?

Answer: For a person to apply for guard duty at the tomb, he must be between 5'10' and 6'2'

and his waist size cannot exceed 30.

They must commit 2 years of life to guard the tomb, live in a barracks under the tomb, and cannot drink any alcohol on or off duty for the rest of their lives. They cannot swear in public for the rest of their lives and cannot disgrace the uniform or the tomb in any way. After 2 years, the guard is given a wreath pin that is worn on their lapel signifying they served as guard of the tomb. There are only 400 presently worn. The guard must obey these rules for the rest of their lives or give up the wreath pin.

The shoes are specially made with very thick soles to keep the heat and cold from their feet. There are metal heel plates that extend to the top of the shoe in order to make the loud click as they come to a halt. There are no wrinkles, folds, or lint on the uniform. Guards dress for duty in front of a full-length mirror.

The first 6 months of duty a guard cannot talk to anyone nor watch TV. All off duty time is spent studying the 175 notable people laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetery. A guard must memorize who they are and where they are interred. Every guard spends 5 hours a day getting his uniforms ready for guard duty.

In 2003, as Hurricane Isabelle was approaching Washington, D.C., our U.S. Senate and House took 2 days off with anticipation of the storm. On the ABC evening news, it was reported that because of the dangers from the hurricane the military members assigned the duty of guarding the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers were given permission to suspend the assignment. They respectfully declined the offer. Soaked to the skin, marching in the pelting rain of a tropical storm, they said that guarding the Tomb was not just an assignment, it was the highest honor that can be afforded to a serviceperson. The tomb has been patrolled continuously, 24/7 since 1930.

After the trip to the cemetery, I wandered around Georgetown a bit more and ventured to another bakery...Baked and Wired. They also had some amazing cupcakes and more. I decided to go with the Chai Cupcake - Chai is one of my favorite things ever as well. Also VERY GOOD. After I enjoyed that and strolling around, I walked over to our dinner host's house to meet up with the group and talk about the ride.

Our dinner host was Ronnie Dillon, mother of Katie Bollbach, one of the founders of FACE AIDS. We had some awesome conversation over some amazing Middle Eastern tapas. After dinner we checked out D.C.'s Chinatown and headed back to our housing at the Stanford at Washington house.

Another long, tiring day, with a bunch of stuff left on the list for tomorrow. I still need to hit up the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials and the National Zoo - it's only a block away from us!

Day 53: Exploring D.C.

Today was jam packed. I'm glad we have extra days to explore D.C. One day certainly would not have been enough. I hardly scratched the surface of the attractions - especially with the crazy weather ranging from a heat advisory to a torrential downpour.

First I saw The White House (front and back sides), along with The Department of Treasury building. Then the day already required a cold treat from one of the multiple snack vans. Headed up to the Washington Monument and onto the Capitol Building. We managed to get a tour of the Capitol, which was pretty sweet. Tons of stuff inside, from paintings to sculptures to old senators' desks.

While wandering from place to place, I also ran into a bunch of other buildings and sites, including a bunch of the Smithsonian Museums, The National Archives, The Navy Memorial, and The Taft Memorial.

After waiting out the storm with a nap, I decided rain or shine, I was going to get a cupcake at Georgetown Cupcakes. So I put on my raincoat and started the 2 mile hike. It was definitely worth it. It only (only) took 25 minutes to get through the line and eat my treat. Very nice. Chocolate Birthday Cake. SO GOOD.

Then I wandered around Georgetown a bit and met up with some IWU friends, Amanda and Pat, who recently moved to the D.C. area.

Another great checkpoint along the way. On a completely random note, I thought this squirrel was stuck in the tree, but a minute later he came scurrying out.

Day 52: Washington D.C.

It was 103 degrees today without factoring in the humidity, yikes. It was a sweaty day. On the plus side though, today's climbs were much, much, much easier compared to yesterday. Today was actually enjoyable again. Yesterday was more of a feeling of accomplishment and joy that is was over.

We passed a bunch more white historical signs, reporting events that had happened or a site that had a significant meaning. Once we got close to the city we all regrouped and started the search for lodging for the night. That pretty much took up the entire day thanks to traffic and one way streets. We did get to see a lot of the sites just as we were driving around though.

We did even pass Georgetown Cupcakes, and yes, the line really was around the block. If you don't know me very well, you should know I am obsessed with cake shows and cupcakes. So this is on the priority list, as well as trips to Carlos' Bakery and Charm City Cakes before the end of the trip. Somewhere along the way I developed a major sweet tooth.

Since we jammed a bunch of miles into 3 days instead of 5, we now have 3 days to hang around and explore DC. We also have some presentations and meetings with supporters of the ride. So I'll report back with tons of pictures and news the next few days...stay tuned!

Also, check out another article written by fellow Batavia graduate and IWU Titan Jessica Hinterlong! A huge thanks to her for another great publicity piece about the ride!

Day 51: Goodbye Maryland, Hello West Virginia, Goodbye West Virginia, Hello Virginia

Today was a rough 65 miles. WOW. I was not expecting the obstacles we encountered today. Either the Appalachians are the most intense of the mountain ranges we've done or we've gotten used to the rolling hills and flat plains. HOLY COW. I can't even explain today. I guess it's been awhile since our last hard day.

Hence the days difficulty, it didn't bring much excitement. However, I did snap a few important pictures. First, a Morgan County sign. Morgan is one of my best friends and for some reason every time I travel I always find Morgan streets, signs, restaurants, and so on. So of course the most logical thing is to take pictures of them for her.

We were also in 3 states again today: Maryland, West Virginia, and Virginia! There was a ton of historical sites along today's route as well. A ton of these white signs documented a bunch of things from the Civil War Era. They were pretty cool to see as I biked past and got to check them all out.

The only positive to switching to the insane roads is we basically took a short cut and made the trip to DC a bit shorter, putting us there tomorrow!!!

Day 50: Goodbye Pennsylvania, Hello Maryland

Today was veeeeeerrrrrry interesting. We rolled with the punches all day. We had initially planned a super ambitious day of about 150 miles, but our plans changed due to a number of spur of the moment opportunities and bumps in the road along the way.

We left on time and started to navigate our way to The Great Allegheny Trail, which was only about 8 miles away, but we encountered some detours, closed roads, and probably the steepest up and downhills we've seen yet. After getting super turned around from the construction we had Sanford pick us up to drop us off at the trailhead. By the time we get to Mckeesport (where the trailhead is), it was nearly 11:30. The plans of 150 already seemed like they were falling apart.

To regroup and find out more about the trail, we stopped in a cafe for lunch and advice. Turns out it was a popular place for bikers using the trail to stop. Everyone had signed the wall and the people in the cafe were very knowledgeable about the trail, but even better, they were interested about our ride. I wrote up a little blurb for them about the trip that will go in their bike association's newsletter, and we were also interviewed and photographed for the local newspaper! A very unexpected, but welcome surprise. Obviously, at this point 150 was out of the question.

We finally got onto the trail around 12:30. It was pretty nice. No stress, no worrying about navigation or wrong turns, no hills, just trail along the river. We even all rode together. I couldn't really complain. We made it about 45 miles before we took a rest stop and a swim in the river. Then we really contemplated the plan for the rest of the day. Turns out the trail makes the trip to Cumberland (our desired destination) about twice as long, so of course, we try to switch to the roads, only to find out we would trade distance for difficulty. After only about a mile of confusion, insane climbing, and craziness we regrouped yet again. After 50 miles, and the clock reading about 5:30 we decided today was over. We had to laugh at today. Maybe you had to be there, but the day was done. So we racked up and went on our merry way.

After all, we did have 5 days planned to get to DC, but we were being ambitious and trying to squeeze it into 3 instead (which still isn't out of the question). On our way to find housing we made a pitstop at The Flight 93 National Memorial, which is where the 4th plane on September 11th crashed. They have major plans of building a big memorial center to commemorate the event. We also crossed into Maryland and passed over the Mason-Dixon Line.

We finally got some dinner and were overwhelmed by the town's generosity. We were approached by two separate couples who both offered up their homes for the next two nights as places to crash. We respectfully declined since it was already after 10pm, but the offer meant a lot to us. The generosity and support has been unbelievable.

I think we all had a good time, and just got a good laugh about the day's events and how they all transpired. Pretty much the only thing we could do was relax and enjoy the ride.

Check out the other articles that have recently been published about the ride:

The Daily Nebraskan

Toledo

Youngstown

Day 49: Exploring Pittsburgh

I woke up to get a run in and got quite the workout encountering some ridiculous hills that were pretty much unavoidable. But, I'm glad the runs are getting back to normal and things are looking good on that front. I came back, cleaned up, and hung around for another amazing meal and guests. April, the cupcake master, and her family joined our group and hosts for breakfast and conversation.

After some debate and suggestions, we decided to hit up The Warhol today, the Andy Warhol Museum. Pittsburgh was Warhol's hometown, so they have all the goods. I'm a huge fan and was super pumped to check it out. I saw a touring Warhol exhibit last year while I was in Paris. I loved that and it was really interesting to see what pieces were touring compared to which pieces were in place in Pittsburgh. After viewing and pondering 7 floors worth of groundbreaking and some extremely provocative work, our group headed on to the next stop. (Unfortunately, no photography was allowed except in one room, so bummer for the lack of pictures...but I highly recommend a pit stop if you're ever in the area).

The next stop was Primanti Bros, which is famous for its sandwiches. They were originally made for the steelworkers and were intended for an on the run meal. So, all the components are one the sandwich - the meat, cheese, fries, coleslaw, and toppings. They're intense. Then we walked around the strip for a bit, exploring more of the city.

After we were satisfied with our day's endeavors, we headed back to join our hosts for some Thai food. I think this was the first time I've ever had Thai food and it was pretty tasty. We then spent a good chunk of time working out details for the next few days, as we start our trek on The Allegheny Trail tomorrow. Hopefully we worked out all the kinks...