Bicycling from Washington DC
Through:
Maryland, West Virginia,
Pennsylvania, New Jersey,
Delaware & Virginia
2007 - August - September
August 29, 2007
Kilmarnock to Newport News, VA
Distance: 60.2 miles
Elevation climbed: 720 ft
This morning we awoke, ate breakfast, loaded our bicycles and headed south on Highway 3. The last 20 miles the previous day were up and down and up and down. It was the hardest riding we did in three days. Today we again had a fairly level route making the ride much easier. After 10 miles we came to the bridge over the Rappahannock River. This bridge was very long and very high.
It was a two lane bridge without any shoulder for a bicycle to ride on. In effect it was a terrible bridge to ride a bicycle across except that repair work was being done on the bridge and only one traffic lane was available at the top of the bridge. Therefore as traffic went north, the south bound traffic was parked waiting for the one lane to clear and as the traffic went south, the north bound traffic was parked waiting for the one lane to clear. As we climbed up to the top of the bridge, the south bound cars could easily pass us because the north bound traffic was waiting for the single traffic lane to clear. Then after we got thru the construction area, we did not have any traffic behind us for several miles due to the construction on the bridge.
We continued south and crossed the York River on a bridge with very wide shoulders. At one point we had to go around a construction truck parked on the shoulder but for the rest of the trip across the bridge we were out of the traffic. Immediately on the other side of the bridge we visited Yorktown VA, the site of the last battle of the Revolutionary War. After spending an hour at the battlefield, we headed south again. We traveled on highway 17, a very busy 4 lane highway without any shoulders. Mary Kay did not like this highway at all, especially when she had to cross 5 lanes of traffic to make a left turn.
We reached Bruce's house in the late afternoon, caught up with Scott and Barb who tomorrow will start cycling most of the same route we are following. After we cleaned up and got a rental car for the traveling during the next two days, we all headed out in two cars to a nice restaurant for dinner. Then we headed on to Williamsburg to spend the night while Barb and Scott returned to Bruce and Amber's home to prepare for their bicycle ride the next day.
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