Day 1, Route 1

We visited the kids at Children's National today.  We met a family who knew the Lea's in Fredericksburg (our host family tonight).  Their kids had been treated together at Sloan Kettering in New York for neuroblastoma.

After the hospital visit, we had lunch with Tricia Benson who works with Curesearch. Part of Tricia's job is to lobby congress for better legislation to fund childhood cancer research.  Currently, she is working on the "Conquer Childhood Cancer Act," a bill that could fund up to $30 million dollars of research in a five year period.  The bill passed the house unanimously yesterday, but the Senate has to approve it before it will be taken to the President for signature.  The bill will still be an uphill battle, so if you happen to run into your Senator, tell them to support the kids. 

Had a Philly Cheese Steak at Colonel Brook's Tavern for lunch, and then got on the bike to ride to Fredericksberg.  I ended up heading north initially for several miles until I ended up back in the District during rush hour.  Evidently the lanes switch direction to account for peak traffic.  I ended up going the wrong way down a one way street.  What a surprise. Avoiding the other one way streets cost me about 10 miles ... ended up doing 64 down to get to Fredericksberg. 

We are now staying with Randy and Karin Lea.  Their son Owen is our hero here, and we're excited to spend time with him and his sister in the morning.  The neighborhood kids are planning to escort us out as we leave.  Everyone is meeting outside at 11:00 with bicycles ... I'm hoping for a big turn out.

~ Austin