Wednesday, 12 September, 2012  Winchester, Virginia to Forest City, North Carolina (419 miles) Total Trip Miles – 14,145. 7.0 hrs hours riding

Weather Temperature mostly sunny in the lower 70’s…

Another one of those perfect riding days with sunny skies and temperatures in the 70’s as I rode my bike from the beautiful city of Winchester, VA to my hometown of Forest City, NC to family and friends.  As I passed the Cane Creek area of Rutherford County – the old home place of the Thompson family in North Carolina from the late mid 1700’s starting with James Thompson and many grandfathers to follow, I finally realized for the first time I was going to make this around the world ride happen.  Before that moment, it was always only a distant dream out on the horizon some place.

There were so many events these last few weeks that could have ended the trip, but somehow, the stars continued to align in my favor…wow, this was truly going to be a reality…I often thought of Forrest Gump – always seeming to be at the right place at the right time.

My Aunt Jerre had arranged to have a home coming get together with about 30 family and friends in Forest City…my grandmother, mom, aunts, uncles, cousins and friends…great NC hot dogs on the fire pit, cold slaw, baked beans and sweet iced tea….are you kididng me!  The weather was absolutely perfect and I enjoyed telling some of the stories from Siberia and other parts of the world.  I was also surprised by my brother Tye who flew in from San Antonio…he was my weather man during the trip posting daily, weather updates on Facebook helping me to prepare for the next day’s ride.

I also was able to for the first time talk with my Mom face-to-face about the serious accident I had in Novosibirsk, Siberia…that’s right I had an accident and I’ll detail over the next several days.  My Mom has been battling cancer over the last several months and I made the decision not to devulge the event until I returned to the US…on her front porch, I detailed the crash and how fortunate I was to have the help and support from several incredible Russian folks…keep checking back with me on the blog for pictures and more details.

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