Bataan Death March Bike Ride

Years ago, when we lived in Oregon and Rachel hadn't been born, Drew and I took a wonderful two-week hiking/camping/Oregon Shakespeare Festival trip around the state. Of all the places I've been, that remains one of my favorite vacations.

One difficult part of it -- for Drew, anyway -- was the time we hiked through the Wallowa Mountains. We must have gone 20 miles, and by the end he had blisters on his feet and was limping and exhausted. I, of course, was so chipper that I said, "We should do this again tomorrow!" Whereupon Drew exploded and basically said, NO, he needed to rest. "I am NOT going on another Lisa Bataan Death March hike!" he said, and I cracked up, and it has since become a running joke with us.

I guess you could describe today's 20-mile bike ride into Alexandria as a similar event. I had planned on us all going to Baltimore -- Drew has the week off; Rachel doesn't have camp; I wasn't scheduled to work tonight -- but then Rachel said she really wanted to do a family bike ride. In typical DeSilver/Lednicer fashion, we woke up late (Drew is fighting a cold) and didn't get going until noon. But Rachel said we should try to make it Mount Vernon after I had suggested that idea, more as a joke than anything else, and so we set off.

I was convinced that TLG (The Little Girl) would want to turn back, but no, she kept on going until we all got to Alexandria at around 2 and decided that Rachel and I needed snacks (Drew insisted he wasn't hungry). We stopped at a favorite little lunch spot we know called Bread & Chocolate and had some quiche, salad and chicken -- Drew just ate bread -- and drinks. Then it was on to Ben & Jerry's for ice cream. At that point, Drew announced that he was tired and didn't think he could make it 12 more miles to Mount Vernon. I offered to take Rachel with me, but Rachel vetoed that idea -- "I want us to have a FAMILY bike ride," she said, and so we all agreed to turn back.

The ride back was way more difficult -- the sun had come out (it had been overcast in the morning), the wind was against us and Rachel was really having a tough time (Drew was queasy and had a headache), and we kept having to stop. When we finally made it home around 7 (we had left at noon), we estimated we had ridden 20 miles. TWENTY MILES!! And this kid had just gone on a few tiny practice rides with her new bike, and we dragged her on a 20-MILE BIKE RIDE. What were we thinking?!?! But she was a smash success, and we told her over and over again how proud we were of her, and gave her lots of hugs and kisses, and now she and Drew are upstairs, collapsed in their beds, and I am trying to decide whether it's worth it to try to make dinner or whether everyone is out for the night. I believe the latter.