Day 62: Our 8th And Final Century Day

The day was brought on by a chilly morning which took a few hours to warm up to. We were heading to Farmville, VA which is a little over one hundred miles away. It is indeed our last century day of the trip, some of the guys are calling it the “last century of their life,” implying they aren’t opposed to the idea of not going 100 miles on a bike ever again. The roads were not bad at all, there was a lot of downhill and winding roads. This morning I changed my tire and was hoping to be clear for the whole day of flats, especially because the day was beautiful, clear of rain and debris. We were the first pace line today and almost to lodging when my tire tube blew with about .2 miles left into lodging. I almost expected it, after all I wouldn’t want to ruin my reputation of most flats on the trip. I think that brought my total to about 15 flats for the trip, way too many.

Lodging was at the Holiday Inn where the local disability center, STEPS Inc., has set everything up for us. They have been very generous in getting us lodging and a great dinner at a local all you can eat restaurant. STEPS Inc. is a company that hires people with disabilities to work at their warehouse where they sew and make clothes and bags for the people serving in Iraq. They were so appreciative of what we are doing that they devoted a hallway in their warehouse that is now full of pictures and plaques to Journey of Hope. Their CEO even flew back from a business trip to greet us and eat with us and some of the people with disabilities at the all you can eat joint.

After a hardy dinner we headed back to the Holiday Inn. Everyone has really been trying to soak up these last few days together. It is going to be tough when we come to a realization that this trip is over. Thankfully for now we are just enjoying every second we have left. Tomorrow we head into Richmond, VA, an 85 mile day.