Wednesday, August 16, 2000

Today we almost rode our bicycle from Ashland, VA to Williamsburg, VA. The route was over very level terrain and traveled through the area where General George McClellan lost the chance to end the Civil War in the first two years. His Union troops out numbered the confederate troops almost 2 to 1. Still, McClellan delayed until Confederate general Robert E Lee was able to get reinforcements and fighting from defensive positions defeat McClellan’s Union forces. Had McClellan pressed the fight instead of delaying he could had defeated Lee’s army and captured Richmond, VA during the first year of the Civil War. We stopped at a number of battle sites on our way to Williamsburg.

We had to stop 3 miles short of our objective after riding 78 miles, and get a ride in the back of a pickup truck for the last 3 miles. As we were crossing the Chickahominy River Bridge, the front wheel got caught in some steel grating and Mary Kay lost control of the bicycle. We crashed and after we picked up the bicycle, and ourselves we rode the bicycle 7 miles to an urgent medical center where we had our road rash and cuts treated. The doctor’s arranged for the ride in the pickup truck, which we were grateful for, as it had started to rain hard.