Part 1: Yorktown VA to Berra KY (750 miles)

The year was 1976 and the USA was celebrating the Bicentennial.  An organization named BikeCentennial created a bicycle route named the TransAm all the way across the USA.  The inaugural ride was from Astoria OR to Yorktown VA.  I had just graduated from high school and was really intrigued by the idea of riding across the USA.  Fast forward to 1979.  I just graduated from the University of Virginia.  A friend from North Carolina heard about a bicycle route across NC from the westernmost township to the easternmost town (700 miles) that was also created for the Bicentennial.  We decided it would be cool to ride it as a celebration of our graduation, which we did.  That was my first experience with fully self-supported bicycle touring, and I was hooked.  I did many week-long tours in the following years in NC, VA, NY, NH, ME,  and Canada.  I never could quite take the time to ride the entire TransAm, but it remained on my lbucket list.  I still can’t manage to take off 2 or 3 months to ride the entire TransAm, but last year I decided if I could not do it all at once, I would do it in parts.  So Part 1 started in Yorktown VA on 26 May 2018 and ended 6 June in Berra KY.  I had the good fortune of riding with two really great, but very different, guys Steve and Rob.  I did not know much about blogging in 2018, so I am writing about Part 1 a year later.  Rob showed me the value and joy of blogging and suggested a way to get started.  So, thanks Rob for the incentive and guidance.  I will recap some of the highlights of Part 1, but will focus mainly on real-time accounting of Part 2, which will start 6 July 2019 in Berea KY.  Coincidently enough, Steve H is from Lexington KY and has offered to help me get started on Part 2.

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