I had a special treat this year for my vacation. My brother, whom I still call Sonny, poor guy, and his wife, Jeanne, flew to Leesburg, VA for a RUSA event. I met them there to spend a bit of time with my brother before the ride and to visit with Jeanne during.
RUSA is Randonneuring USA, which is, according to their website, long distance, unsupported, endurance cycling, and basically non-competitive. My brother loves the long distance challenge and has participated in randonneuring events in Paris and here in the US. This year's event, the Shenandoah 1200 (http://www.geocities.com/shenandoah1200/) started in Leesburg, went north to Gettysburg, south to Richmond (Harrisonburg), up to the Blue Ridge and back to Leesburg. Wow, 1200 kilometers of bicycling!! The young man who finished first did the entire distance in just under 24 hours, incredible. It was a civil war history buff's dream ride if you weren't too tired to sightsee. In spite of record breaking heat and humidity for this time of year Sonny finished the race, and the heat forced a lot of people to quit. Way to go, bro. At 58 he is in fantastic shape.
Since I prefer my two wheeled vehicles with an engine I didn't join him in the ride but we share a love of historical places and we did a good bit of visiting before he started on his ride. Oatland plantation, as usual, was a beautiful place to visit. I also have to compliment the tour guide at the Sully plantation. Her knowledge of the history of the area, as well as the Sully plantation was deep and fascinating.
We visited the new Aerospace museum at Dulles. I hope I spell it right: the Udvar Hazy Air and Space Museum. I enjoyed the time we spent there because as the heat and humidity climbed we slowed our travels considerably.
I also finally got to Baltimore Harbor for the aquarium. I haven't been there since I chaperoned a bunch of 8th graders on a visit. That one is still very hazy. We went out to Fort McHenry (where Francis Scott Key saw the flag still flying and wrote about it in the Star Spangled banner) and rode the water taxis. At the aquarium we went to a 4D Imax movie. What is 4D? Well, I shouldn't spoil the fun too much but we were definitely a part of the movie. What a hoot. Though I think there was more 3D effects at the Natural History Museum's Imax theater.
One of the most fun things we did were the remember thises. You know, that's where I say do you remember this and he says no, and he says remember this and I say no. I finally decided we had totally different childhoods. I even called mom and asked if she was sure we were related. I'm only kidding about that, I have lots of memories of Sonny from my childhood to know we are family. It just amazes me that what I remember so clearly from back then he doesn't, and vice versa. That's why historical events can be re-written I bet. History is different from each person's perspective.
