27 May 2012

Troutville to Christianburg VA 55 miles  (TransAm 386)

This is how we keep track of Gina’s whereabouts:

No 21st century GPS or iPhone app, no calibration or charging or downloading required, just grab your reading glasses and a brightly colored push pin and voila, you can track her ride like a wave across Virginia:

First thing every morning, it is my job as blogger and cartographer to put a pin in the map. I do this with intention, poking the pin into the day’s destination, knowing that Gina and her fellow Transammers are already halfway there and that this pin in this map signals their impending safe arrival, like an offshore buoy signaling the navigable waters ahead. Not a voodoo doll of any sort; rather the opposite, a pin of positive fortune in a map of mystical adventure.

Speaking of maps, Gina and team can now fold up one of their 12 maps and tuck it away for good, having successfully completed their first segment of the TransAm. It’s map 12, which seems backwards, and yet maybe it’s more satisfying to count them down, like dropping that glittery ball in Times Square on New Year’s Eve … 12, 11, 10, 9, 8 … until before you know it, the new year is here, the old one but another memory in that mushrooming vault of cherished times. Map 12, welcome to the memory chest – you’ve certainly arrived in style.

As if to further mark the passing of time, it’s worthwhile to note that in tonight’s church accommodations, our little Gina has graduated from the Nursery to the Middle School room.

This despite her childlike play at the local pool, where she and Ollie took several turns down the giant water slide. Evidently this is where you rinse off after you’ve ridden 55 hot and steamy miles and there’s no shower at the church. I’m sure ya’ll wiped off the biker’s grime before hitting the pool, right kids?

Photo Credit: Wendy P

Photo Credit: Wendy P

Photo Credit: Wendy P

 (And a special shout-out to Wendy for sharing her pool pics – thanks Wendy!)