Bill Ben Bob
The enemy is always doing nothing.

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These stars originated with German farmers and were initially built into the fabric of wooden barns across Pennsylvania. Cycling through Lancaster county we began to see more and more of them.  Attached to houses and to barns, painted in stars and stripes, shining in silver, arranged in small constellations. I was fond of this quietly rusting specimen I found at the top of a steep hill, and grateful of the chance to stop cycling for a few moments to take its picture and catch my breath.

These stars originated with German farmers and were initially built into the fabric of wooden barns across Pennsylvania.

Cycling through Lancaster county we began to see more and more of them.  Attached to houses and to barns, painted in stars and stripes, shining in silver, arranged in small constellations.

I was fond of this quietly rusting specimen I found at the top of a steep hill, and grateful of the chance to stop cycling for a few moments to take its picture and catch my breath.

Our guidebook says you can’t help hearing the West Wing theme tune playing in your head when you see the White House. Perhaps the lawn wasn’t closed off for repair when they saw it. And maybe it didn’t have this proud looking duck in the way. I found myself thinking about that sequence from Independence Day more…

Our guidebook says you can’t help hearing the West Wing theme tune playing in your head when you see the White House.

Perhaps the lawn wasn’t closed off for repair when they saw it. And maybe it didn’t have this proud looking duck in the way.

I found myself thinking about that sequence from Independence Day more…

On our way back from visiting the sights in DC the sun finally came out and it looked regal and imposing. Just how they had intended it to be I suspect. It’s incredibly spaced out. It takes ages to walk from the White House to Congress. And even longer to then leg it from there to the station when you realise you’re about to miss your train back to Baltimore…

On our way back from visiting the sights in DC the sun finally came out and it looked regal and imposing. Just how they had intended it to be I suspect.

It’s incredibly spaced out. It takes ages to walk from the White House to Congress.

And even longer to then leg it from there to the station when you realise you’re about to miss your train back to Baltimore…

For our first day’s ride out of Richmond, just for once, we had it easy. The wind was behind us, the trail was (relatively) smooth and we flew through the 49 miles much quicker than we had anticipated. I had the luxury of cooking dinner outside the tent before it got dark and watched a blazing red firestorm of a sunset over the beautiful Chickahominy river.

For our first day’s ride out of Richmond, just for once, we had it easy. The wind was behind us, the trail was (relatively) smooth and we flew through the 49 miles much quicker than we had anticipated.

I had the luxury of cooking dinner outside the tent before it got dark and watched a blazing red firestorm of a sunset over the beautiful Chickahominy river.

The Outer Banks are a gorgeous, thin, line of barrier islands off the North Carolina coast. Basically sand banks, they feel temporary, shifting, impermanent - even though there is history at the northern end, where heavier than air flight was invented by the Wright Brothers in Kitty Hawk. We camped amongst the dunes on Bodie Island in a beautiful National Parks Service campground. The guy who ran it claimed it was the best job he’d ever had - and I can understand why.

The Outer Banks are a gorgeous, thin, line of barrier islands off the North Carolina coast.

Basically sand banks, they feel temporary, shifting, impermanent - even though there is history at the northern end, where heavier than air flight was invented by the Wright Brothers in Kitty Hawk.

We camped amongst the dunes on Bodie Island in a beautiful National Parks Service campground. The guy who ran it claimed it was the best job he’d ever had - and I can understand why.

Sometimes when you’re cycling, you see something in the road up ahead that causes a slight degree of trepidation.

Sometimes when you’re cycling, you see something in the road up ahead that causes a slight degree of trepidation.

Check out my cyclists’ tan. My arm is a completely different colour from where I’ve been wearing my cycling gloves… Lovely…

Check out my cyclists’ tan. My arm is a completely different colour from where I’ve been wearing my cycling gloves…

Lovely…

Edward Teach, better known as Blackbeard, was a notorious English pirate who operated in the Caribbean and off the coast of what were the North American colonies. Although he tried to go straight, taking the king’s pardon, marrying, and laying low for a while. It seemed that pirating ways were just too appealing - and in the end he went back to them. After a particularly notrious several day pirate party hosted by Teach in the Outer Banks, the colonial authorities decided that enough was enough, and arranged for the navy to seek him out and kill him. He died, after a spirited resistance, on Ocracoke island. But his memory is kept alive in this tasteful museum… Where his final stand has been modeled in - Playmobil…?

Edward Teach, better known as Blackbeard, was a notorious English pirate who operated in the Caribbean and off the coast of what were the North American colonies.

Although he tried to go straight, taking the king’s pardon, marrying, and laying low for a while. It seemed that pirating ways were just too appealing - and in the end he went back to them.

After a particularly notrious several day pirate party hosted by Teach in the Outer Banks, the colonial authorities decided that enough was enough, and arranged for the navy to seek him out and kill him.

He died, after a spirited resistance, on Ocracoke island. But his memory is kept alive in this tasteful museum… Where his final stand has been modeled in - Playmobil…?

We’ve officially entered Alligator Country. We spotted this beast in a swamp about 20 metres from the road. It must have been four or five metres long. It looked primeval. It circled slowly in the water beneath us, checking us out. Probably calculating whether it could be bothered to get up onto the bridge and attempt to turn us into lunch… I cycled away, resolving to examine the borders of the road ahead of me even more carefully as I went. And even more concerned about our chosen route into Savannah later, called ‘Alligator Alley’.

We’ve officially entered Alligator Country.

We spotted this beast in a swamp about 20 metres from the road. It must have been four or five metres long. It looked primeval. It circled slowly in the water beneath us, checking us out. Probably calculating whether it could be bothered to get up onto the bridge and attempt to turn us into lunch…

I cycled away, resolving to examine the borders of the road ahead of me even more carefully as I went. And even more concerned about our chosen route into Savannah later, called ‘Alligator Alley’.

1,400 miles after packing up our bicycles and pedaling off south, we came to a halt in St Augustine, Florida.  It’s been a month of contrasts.  From rain and cold and epic thunderstorms, to clear blue skies, wind relentlessly in our face for days on end, and finally, sticky, sweaty, heat.  From hills, to plains, low lying barrier islands made only of sand, and finally the swamps. It’s good to call it a day and park up our bicycles for the last time, on the balcony of the Pirate Haus hostel.  The last week it had been getting too hot to ride comfortably and the roads in Florida have been packed with giant articulated lorries that don’t mind driving very close indeed to cyclists.  Florida looks like it’s going to be fun, but it’s time to switch from the bicycles to a hire car.  It’s been a brilliant ride.

1,400 miles after packing up our bicycles and pedaling off south, we came to a halt in St Augustine, Florida.  It’s been a month of contrasts.  From rain and cold and epic thunderstorms, to clear blue skies, wind relentlessly in our face for days on end, and finally, sticky, sweaty, heat.  From hills, to plains, low lying barrier islands made only of sand, and finally the swamps.

It’s good to call it a day and park up our bicycles for the last time, on the balcony of the Pirate Haus hostel.  The last week it had been getting too hot to ride comfortably and the roads in Florida have been packed with giant articulated lorries that don’t mind driving very close indeed to cyclists.  Florida looks like it’s going to be fun, but it’s time to switch from the bicycles to a hire car.  It’s been a brilliant ride.