[Richard and Rhonda]

We are back, rolled in at 2 last night. 1150 miles in one shot. Whew !!!!!

First of all the tremendous weather system that dumped a foot of rain on Texas followed us to NC. Lovely.

We stopped the first night in Clinton Miss, and rode a little leg loosening ride on the Natchez Trace. I definitely will go back there for cycling. No traffic, speed limit of 45, smooth roads and flat.

We picked Keith up in Georgia, and his wife was amazed at the meal we were cooking in the Walmart parking lot. We hammered on into NC the second night. Rain and more rain the whole time.

Amy came down from Virginia and met us at the Grandfather Mountain RV park, our home for Saturday night. We took the cars to the finish line of the ride, and parked them. We rode our bikes back to the coach to get some blood going in our legs after the long ride. Oh yeah, in the rain.

I'll attach some pics of the gang carbo loading the night before with some home made blue berry cobbler and ice cream. After a light dinner of blackened salmon, risotto, and asparagus. Hey, ride to eat, eat to ride.

Sunday morning we took the coach to the start line. Oh yeah, it's raining.

It rains for the entire 105 miles. Biblical proportion rain, and because we are in mountains it's about 50 degrees. Just think of standing in the shower with the cold water running for about nine hours and you get the picture. One of the pics is the grime line from the rain.

As soon as we gained a little elevation the most incredible fog set in. The visibility was about 50 feet which made you feel isolated even if there were others around you. It also made the descents a bit tricky too !!!!

I finished in 8 hours and 50 minutes. The winner finished in 5 and half hours.

We drove the cars back to the coach, and it took two hours to travel 40 miles because of the fog. It was too foggy to even think about leaving Sunday night, so we slept in downtown Lenoir and blasted off early on Monday.

Some of you know Rhonda likes to do trips by the numbers. Here they are:

Total miles driven 2400
Total miles ridden 140
Total days traveling 5
Total days driving in the rain 5
Total days riding 4
Total days riding in the rain 4
Total feet of elevation gained 11000
Total number of people signed up to ride the ride 700
Total number of people stupid enough to actually start the ride in a monsoon 400
Total number of people who finished the ride 240
Total calories consumed by the Entrekin contingent Hmmm, can't count that high.
Quickest time by one of us, Amy at 7 hours 45
Last time by one of us, and last official finisher at 9 hours 10 min Keith
Number of complete total idiots that shouldn't be on the road 2. One who let me get within 30 feet and pulled out of the emergency lane onto the freeway, and the second who rode 20 miles sitting on the rear quarter panel of the toad despite me speeding up, slowing down, and exiting at a rest area.
Best bottle of wine J Lohr Chardonnay 2007
Total number of Newell problems 0
Total times the light connector came loose from the toad and dragged on the road enough to render it useless 1
Total times rewiring coach to toad to have running lights 1
Total bike riding stories (lies) told , I lost count

Final total 1 One epic trip