Climate Ride updates and tickets booked for NY and DC

Today I received an update e-mail from Climate Ride with travel information. I learned:

- Registration and bike drop-off in New York will be on Friday, September 19 from 4-7pm, followed by a kick-off party from 7 - 10pm.

- The ride begins at 7am on Saturday, September 20 (my birthday!).

- The ride ends at 6pm on Wednesday, September 24 at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.

- Our campsites along the way will be:

Night 1—Princeton, NJ
Night 2—Valley Forge, PA
Night 3—Holtwood, PA
Night 4—Baltimore, MD

- In addition to getting my bike (and biking equipment) there I have to have a tent and sleeping bag. There are specifications about how to package things. I'll really have to plan it all out!

I went ahead and booked my tickets. I'll be flying into New York and out of Washington, D.C. I haven't planned my hotel in New York yet. I'll arrive in the morning on Thursday, September 18, so I'll have Thursday and Friday to get situated and tour the city (I've never been).

Sarah is going to come see me ride into D.C. (yay!), and I'll be staying with her from there. Little does she know she's getting me and a giant bag of stuff...I'll have several days in D.C. - Wednesday night through Saturday morning. I'm really excited to see Sarah again - we had a blast last August when I was in D.C. for work. I'm hoping to see some of the sites I didn't get to visit on previous trips.

Airlines really vary in how much they charge to accept bikes on the plane. Northwest was quite expensive, so I'll be packing and shipping my bike. Climate Ride has a recommended shop to have my bike sent to and reassembled, so I think I'll do that. Plus, they have people at the end to help you disassemble, pack, and ship your bike home. It will be really weird to see my bike in pieces, but it seems to be the best option.

Now the bad news...it sounds like I won't have internet for the ride. Electricity is fairly limited in some places we are staying, too. I think I'll have enough to keep my phone charged (don't worry Dave), but I don't think I'll get to blog during the ride. We'll see. There may be opportunities, but at this point I'm planning on writing and putting stories on the blog when I return. Perhaps I will see if Dave will help post! :)