May 13, 2023
Day 1: Newport News, VA to Williamsburg via Yorktown
Starting the tour in wet and humid Virginia
Edit: added map below
We woke up at 5 to make sure we made it to the train station early this time. We packed our panniers tightly and strapped them to the bike and wheeled out of the hotel and straight down the street for 10 minutes to Union Station.
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While Natalie began sorting out her bags I zipped down to the station McDonald's and tried to order breakfast. Natalie quietly let me know later to never order her a bacon and egg biscuit from McDonald's again. We're still getting used to how big the portions of everything are here, especially the huge cups of coffee that tastes a lot better than I expect considering it's not the standard espresso you get anywhere in NZ.
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We made the difficult journey down to the platform and loaded our bikes on different sections of the train since it was filling up with other cyclists and families with prams. I'm glad we don't have to squeeze bikes on any more trains but it's such a convenient way to travel and much easier than navigating airports since we can bike straight in and pack our panniers into duffels to go. If I take another Amtrak I think I'll try get some Red Cap assistance at the station.
We ended up sitting at the station for a long time as they changed from an electric locomotive to a diesel for leaving the built up areas. We got into Newport News, VA about an hour late, which wasn't a good sign for our goal of about 60km before dark. Keep in mind our touring bikes are much slower with all the weight, especially when there's so many stop signs or red lights.
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We weaved through suburban Newport News and all of the cars were passing slowly and giving us full lanes, everyone was more than courteous on the quiet streets. After a few km I realised I left my packable duffel at the station which was convenient because it was my lowest priority item to keep and one of the most bulky.
Eventually the suburbs gave way to some American stroads so we pulled into a Dairy Queen for some ice cream and lunch. The roads kept alternating from windy suburbs to busy 2 lane roads with limited shoulders until we turned off into a nature reserve with no vehicle entry and lots of animals. We saw squirrels, huge dragonflies with almost butterfly like wings and even a tortoise the size of a dinner plate just off the pathway.
We rolled into Yorktown and then it was still a fair bike into the Yorktown monument area, the start of the TransAm trail. We dipped our front tyres into the Atlantic Ocean and turned westward, hopped on our bikes and started to ride to the pub for a beer.
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The air was so humid all day and we had run through all our water, so we had to rehydrate and resupply.
After that quick pitstop we rode along the beautiful Colonial Parkway, with rolling hills and quiet traffic. This was a great way to end the day but all we wanted was to get in a shower as soon as possible. The rain had started to set in which cooled us off but our energy was dwindling.
We rolled through Colonial Williamsburg, around a cute thriving colonial style town centre, and got a bit lost in a local college looking for our WarmShowers host. Ken and Christy (sp?) invited us into their beautiful home and offered us dinner, drinks, a shower, and anything else we could want. It's nice way to start the trip, sleeping in a real bed rather than our tent when we were getting cold and wet.
Tomorrow we are probably going to have a closer look at Colonial Williamsburg, do a supply run for food for camping and cycling, and head out to one of the towns before Richmond.
Today's ride: 66 km (41 miles)
Total: 76 km (47 miles)
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