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Bikecentennial - Summer 1976

The Blue Ridge and Atlantic Ocean

August 28
Spy Mountain		 [When I stopped at] Vesuvius this guy showed me his 350 magnum [a huge handgun!]. "I'll blow any nigger that comes in here through the wall." [He was pointing it at my belly for an uncomfortable minute or so.] He wanted to sell it to me. [I bought a candy bar and left.]... I took the hill and the first mile of the parkway all in one shot. It wasn't too bad. This is the Independence Pass of the east. No more mountains.... I've made it. It's all over and I'm just sitting back watching the last couple of hundred miles slip by....turned in for lunch at Raven's Roost. This guys were just getting read to hang glide...
August 29
Richmond		 ...I've learned more this summer than in a whole year at school.... If I were to reorganize the educational system in this country I'd put each college freshman on a bike and tell him the term starts after you put 3000 miles cross country on that thing.
August 30
Chicahominy		 Today was the finish of my trip. It's very anticlimactic. I guess that's the way it is with things like this. There is just too much to take in to appreciate what you've done.... I'm happy though.... In Williamsburg at the grocery store I met the two Englishmen, Andy and George.... They [gave me directions to the campground] and I boogied out here, ate dinner, and slept.
August 31
En route on Amtrak		 I'm on Amtrak headed for Trenton, NJ. My bike is with me [in the baggage car]. I didn't even have to take it apart!
September 1
Oceanport, NJ		 It was a bizarre night I spent getting here. I buzzed out of Trenton and got a map from a guy in a little town. I got yelled at by a cop.... I arrived at 6:30 [am]. I left Trenton at 11:00pm.
So I finally dipped my front wheel into the Atlantic Ocean on the New Jersey coast exactly 80 days after I began on the opposite side of the continent. The next day I disassembled my bicycle and packed it up for the flight back to the Midwest.

The End

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Copyright 1976 & 2002 by Richard Rathe

Part 10


On Top of the Blue Ridge


Hang Gliding


Montecello


Trail's End