On the Road with the Cross Country Southern Tier Tour

Just got back from the beginning of our cross country tour. You never know what you'll see up ahead on a tour like this. Barb and I nearly tripped over our bikes to stop at this avocado stand. We tried hard to think of things we could do with 15 avocados. At a price like this, how could anyone pass them up?


And here is Johanna before the aptly named Chocolate Mountains. We feared the road would never turn and we'd have to go directly over them. She was getting ready.

I'm back home now and the women have all crossed California into Arizona by now. One time zone down -- two more to go. I miss them - and the road - already.

Dipping

The Southern Tier Cross Country Tour started with our first ride out of San Diego today. We always start together, ride to Dog Beach together and dip our tires in the Pacific Ocean together. Here we are waiting to leave the hotel....



And waiting to hike to Dog Beach....



And hiking to Dog Beach....



And finally dipping at Dog Beach... with the dogs!



There are 25 of us, ranging in age from 39 to 72. The average is 60. Pretty awesome!

On the Road in Arizona

We had a big group on our Arizona tour last week and I was there to guide it. I'm not in the photo because I had to shoot it. Why am I always the one to miss out? This photo was taken in Gloria's new living room. Gloria (bottom row, far left,) is the founder of WomanTours. She just designed and built herself a beautiful contemporary southwestern home south of Tucson and we all had dinner there one night during the tour. Chef extraordinaire Claudia (top row, right) cooked us a feast of sauteed shrimp in a white wine sauce, pork with braised apples and raisins, steamed broccoli, potato latkes and a ginger cabbage cole slaw. None of us went hungry!

We got to experience Arizona during the longest drought in history. There were no wildflowers in bloom, but the blue skies and warm weather were perfect for many of us northeasterners. We had a wonderful tour and many of them have taken advantage of our 10% discount for 2 tours in a year and registered for another tour this year. Looks like a lot of us will be together again on the Natchez Trace in Mississippi this fall! More sunny skies and great food....

Back at the Office

For all of you wondering who's really in charge around here, now you can see Jennifer hard at work at the office. When she's not on the phone answering one of your questions, she's sending out tour registration confirmation packets, paying the hotel bills, or keeping track of where our vans are on the map behind her.

Not only is she the greatest Office Manager a company could have, she's also my sister. We shared a bedroom growing up, so it's only appropriate that we share an office now. Sometimes her daughters stop by after a basketball practice. Sometimes our mother brings homemade soup for lunch.

I leave tomorrow to guide the Arizona Spring Training Tour and then head to San Diego to start the women off on the 3000 mile Cross Country tour to Jacksonville, Florida. So be kind to Jen, as she'll be the only one here for 3 weeks. But she'll get to have all the soup to herself.

Scouting Cape Cod & Martha's Vineyard

We had to put the finishing touches on our new Cape Cod and Martha’s Vineyard tour, so I took the unseasonably warm weather last week and used it to drive the route we’ll use on the tour. Even on a dreary, gray day, the beach was inviting in its vastness, the lighthouse welcoming with its red and white light.


One of the best things about this tour is the bike paths. The island of Martha’s Vineyard is full of them and the Cape Cod Rail Trail winds through most of the Cape. Here is one of the beautiful paths we’ll be on, as it crosses salt ponds near Eastham.

We had only one bike between the two of us, so we didn’t get a whole lot of riding in. Instead, we headed north on the way home and went cross-country skiing. It’s snowing outside my window as I write this. My biking in New England will have to wait for a warmer day in June. I’m looking forward to the tour. It’s another one I get to lead, and it looks like it’s going to be a sell-out. Ahhh, spring can’t come too soon.

Happy New Year

I just finished my first full year at WomanTours and I can’t help but take this time to reflect upon it all. It’s been a wonderful ride. But the best part has been getting out on tour and actually meeting some of the women I’ve spoken to on the phone or written email messages to in the middle of the night.

I biked a century with the women on the Cross Country tour in Alabama. I met up with the cyclists on the Mississippi tour in the heart of the delta where we dined on barbecued ribs and apple crisp. I helped guide the Terry Tour in Maryland, the Tour de Tetons in Idaho, the Big Island Tour in Hawaii, and the Finger Lakes Tour in my own backyard. Yes, it’s been a busy year.

Thank you to everyone who sent me Christmas cards, notes and photos. How cool to know that a picture of your bike in front of the Hawaiian bakery where we all stopped on our way to the Black Sand Beach was your chosen holiday card. How wonderful to see you looking so happy in a WomanTours jersey on your bicycle waving. How awesome to see the elegant ornaments you made out of our Finger Lakes cue sheets. When I’m up late at night worrying about one or another detail, I just have to think of some of these photos and cards, and the worries subside (at least for a short while.…)

It’s been a great year, and I am so looking forward to 2006. I hope you are too. I can’t wait to get out there on my bike and ride some more with you.

New Natchez Trace Tour

Just back from scouting our new, improved tour in Mississippi. We've done a Natchez Trace tour in the past, but that was years ago, and before the National Park Service finally completed the entire parkway. Now, all 450 miles of it is free for us to bike on. No commercial traffic, strict enforcement of the 50mph speed limit and no services along the entire historic route. It's truly beautiful.

I started keeping a list of the wildlife I saw: turkeys, bobcat, deer and armadillo. Even a lone burro on the side of the road. Now how southern is that? A northern girl like me -- I found myself falling in love with the South.

The Trace is so full of history, Choctaw Indian mounds, relics of slavery, battlefields of the civil war. It's all there and it's fascinating. And I'm someone who regularly slept through high school history classes. We even get off the Trace to visit the National Military Park in Vicksburg. It was a cold, dreary day when we visited, and it seemed fitting. A fitting tribute to the 20,000 men who died in the war in that area. I felt I finally understood this important piece of American history.

And then there's the South of today. We stopped at a small country store to make sure we were on the right road. A bag of potato chips was 30 cents. 30 cents! Where else can you buy anything for 30 cents? We were quickly questioned - we certainly weren't from there. What were we doing? Where were we going? Where were we from? Just then, a rancher walked in, cowboy hat and all. He knew everyone but us and began filling them in on the status of his sick calf. A city girl like me. I can't wait to go back on my bike - I'll be leading the tour this November. I'm psyched!