Holidays are a wonderful thing, aren’t they? When I think of Independence day, images of grilling, large bodies of water, fireworks, and long sips off a nice cold beer come to mind. Unfortunately, that’s not what Rossitron envisions, and for our 4th he decided he wanted to ride the Chief Ladiga/Silver Comet. Because he had to work on Saturday, this would be done Sunday and Monday. Back to back century folks. I really did not like this idea. Kind of the opposite of a nice, relaxing vacation amirite?! But it also happened to be his birthday, so we did it.

I was serious about getting in plenty of yummy carbs to keep us going a few days before we were set to ride – pizza, pasta, and blueberry pancakes that morning. Good food, you all know it’s essential.

I could give you a play by play of the ride, but that would be incredibly boring. The high points included me crying twice, my computer registering  a max temp of 107F, lots of singing, blood spilled (of course), delicious mexican food and beer on the way back (BAD IDEA), a glorious hot tub, major storming that felt amazing but scared the hell out of me, and arriving back just in time to catch the fireworks. At the end of 189 total miles we were two exhausted people still thankfully in a relationship.

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We saw a ton of wildlife, and that was my favorite part – bunnies hanging out all over the place, squirrels, chipmunks, field mice, wild turkeys, and beautiful birds galore! I wish I could have taken photos, but I was a little too busy trying to survive. At the end of the day I was very glad I did it and definitely feel like I’ve accomplished something significant. Some guys are talking about doing the entire ride, there and back, in one day. I wish them luck with that one!