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The following are excerpts from my journal on Day Zero.

6/23/99, 10:30 pm

[Front porch of 1795 Carolina farmhouse] I am sitting on the bed in a 1795 North Carolina farmhouse, built by a veteran of the Revolutionary War. My bike sites with 2500 others in a building a few miles away on the North Carolina State Fairgrounds. Today was long and filled with excitement, anticipation, and nervousness. Tiffany drove me to Gretchen's parents' house at 6:45 am. There we loaded up their car, said our goodbyes and headed over to Jackie and Dave's.

We arrived at the McMakin's at 7:30 am and our caravan was on the road at 8:00 am on the dot, just as planned - a FIRST for Team Seekers! We stopped about every hour and switched people around among our three cars so we all had a chance to sit with everyone.

We were all very excited to be at the Fairgrounds, among our fellow riders, watching the safety video, putting on our wristbands, parking our bikes, etc. Behind us at the safety video was a beautiful, vibrant, young woman who is a SpokeBuster (someone who is doing all five rides). We asked how she had the time to fundraise and train and she replied that she was on disability from her job because she was HIV positive. I said a hurried and awkward goodbye as I left to catch up to my team. I was glad when I saw her later and shook her hand, said her name, and that it was "good to meet you, see you on the Ride." It seemed a good thing to her that I was willing to touch her and remembered her name. It may not have been as big a thing as all this, but it seemed significant to me.

We were all pumped as we headed off to dinner, fully registered riders. We ate at the Irregardless Café. OH MY GOD it was good! What a great send-off meal! After dinner, we hurried to meet out host families at the church. Gretchen, Carolyn, and I ended up going with Jim and Pam, a wonderful couple (in whose upstairs bedroom I now write)! Jim is an architect and Pam is a computer programmer. We sat out on their screened in porch and chatted until it seemed right to head upstairs, a wonderful Southern hospitality ending to an amazing day. I'm sure tomorrow will be spectacular. I anticipate that ride-out will feel a little like when they threw off the rope and pushed back from the dock at the beginning of the Semester at Sea voyage. I am very much looking forward to tomorrow's triumphs and trials! It's 11:00 pm now and hopefully I'll be able to sleep soon. 4:30 am will be here too soon!

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