 
|
December 1999
It's December 12th, 1999 and everything will be ready when we
leave for California on the 29th (because it will have to be...)
Roanoke Seat Cover Shop designed and built two travel bags using tan convertible top
material. Sam's on the market made name tags for them and everything is packed away and
ready to go.
Randal
It's December 15th, 1999 5:34 am and I'm
attempting to edit FrontPage for the first time by myself so that I can actually do this
while Randal is on his world tour. People ask me (Ruth, his new wife of 10 months)
how I can let him go? I can't imagine his not going after he has been planning this
trip for years. Randal and I have been friends for years and have always supported
each other's adventures so why stop now? Actually saying good-bye will be very
hard. And I'll worry about his safety. And maybe he'll be a different person
when he gets back, but not really different. I guess we'll just have to wait and
see. I know he'll have a great time because he's the kind of person who can.
I'm sure at times when he's cold, wet, tired, and hungry that he might not be having such
fun...but mostly it will be a wondrous adventure that will provide great stories and bring
new friends.
Randal and I will write to each other and there's something
very romantic about that! And even though I'll be alone I won't be lonely because I
know that he'll be back and that's a different kind of aloneness. Of course I say
that now in the insanity and tension of getting him ready.
So now it's time to write out a few Christmas cards and
then get ready for work. I work at the Roanoke County Public Library so I can follow
Randal's trip through every Fodor guide in the world LITERALLY!!!! And by Randal's
return I should be an expert in FrontPage and I might even know how to spell.
Ruth
Today is Tuesday December 28th and the last day to see
and call my friends before I leave. Four years of preparation are now down to hours. The
only task today was to try and fit the loaded bags into the box I had built the size of
the Odyssey 2000 truck locker. They just did fit! I also had to have the bike put in
a box so it could be taken on the plane for LA; all that is done now.
It's after 6:00 PM now and Ruth and I have to be at the airport
in the morning at 5:30 AM. Ruth will be pasting the journals and pictures from now on.
Hopefully I will be able to send them to her every week or so.
Randal
During December Zeke Barlow of The Roanoke Times
spent an evening with us interviewing Randal and exchanging travelers'
tales. From that and several other phone conversations came the
following article.
YEARLONG BICYCLE TRIP A REAL ODYSSEY ROANOKE COUNTY CYCLIST WILL PEDAL
AROUND THE WORLD
[METRO Edition]
Roanoke Times & World News
Roanoke
Dec 30, 1999
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Authors:
ZEKE BARLOW THE ROANOKE TIMES
Pagination:
B1
Personal Names: Lipnik, Ruth
Copyright Times World Corporation Dec 30, 1999
Full Text:
Randal Johnson has been checking his Y2K list almost daily.
Spandex shorts - check.
Extra socks - check.
International electrical adaptor - check.
Helmet - check.
What? No cans of Spam? No batteries? No shotgun shells?
While many in the world are concerned about the end of it, Johnson will
be kicking off the new year by starting a yearlong, round-the- world bicycle
journey.
Johnson will be one of about 250 people from all over the world in Odyssey
2000, a tour group that will pedal through 45 countries on six continents,
covering about 20,000 miles. That's a pile of miles on his rump. But Johnson,
51, of Roanoke County, couldn't be more ready. He's been riding for years,
so he says his derriere nerves are all but shot anyway.
The idea for the trip began in 1995, when Johnson saw a flier from Tim
Kneeland & Associates, a tour company that runs trips worldwide. This was
to be a unique trip - a mass of people pedaling together around the world.
The company boasts that it is the first of its kind.
For every year that Johnson signed up in advance of the Jan. 1, 2000, start,
he got $1,000 knocked off the $36,000 cost of the trip (which includes
a customized touring bike, two meals a day, lodging, transportation and
logistics).
While he was trying to decide, he met with Tim Kneeland.
"Randal, why can't you do this trip?" Kneeland asked.
When he couldn't come up with a good excuse and learned that the trip was
beginning and ending by starting off the Rose Bowl Parade in Pasadena,
Calif., Johnson decided he was pedaling around the world.
"I made up my mind not to change my mind," which is a first for him, Johnson
said.
Once he signed on, the trip was practically all-consuming. In between keeping
his car shop - Roanoke Wreck Repair - running, Johnson would daydream about
the exotic locales he'd visit. Places like Gibraltar, Black Forest, Ho
Chi Minh City, Swaziland. The only time Johnson has been overseas was when
he was shooting at the Viet Cong.
But Johnson was undaunted. He was going. Then, the unexpected happened.
He fell in love with one of his best friends, Ruth Lipnik.
Now he'd have to be away from his new love for a year, perhaps not the
best thing to do in the first year of marriage. But Lipnik was a cyclist
as well who had cycled in China and England, so she knew how important
this was to Johnson. After all, Johnson bought a tandem bike for Lipnik
as a wedding present, so biking was an integral part of their relationship.
After she said "I do," she gave him her blessing to go on the trip.
Johnson has been gearing up for the past few months, getting everything
ready, from ordering a global positioning unit the size of a cigarette
box to making sure his business will run while he's away.
He's gotten more inoculations than he can count, learned how to use a debit
card and made some adjustments to his customized bike.
"I'm getting nervous," Johnson said recently. This thing that has been
so far away was looming closer and closer.
What about drivers in countries who look at stop signs as suggestions?
What will it be like to be away from my wife for a year? What about possible
terrorist attacks?
But any trepidation is equally mixed with excitement. His favorite thing
about the trip - leading the Rose Bowl Parade - keeps him going.
"January 1 is going to be the happiest and saddest day of my life," he
said. "I'll be starting on this great adventure, and I'll be leaving my
wife."
He reminds himself that when the years are past, this will be one of the
things he looks back on with great pride.
So Saturday, Johnson is off, pedaling the first of 20,000 miles in the
midst of fanfare, off to Baja, then to Costa Rica, Santiago, Punta Concepcion
...
Follow Johnson's round-the-world trek at his Web site, www.roanokewreckrepair.com/biketour/
Zeke Barlow can be reached at 981-3349 or zekeb@roanoke.com
Caption: photo - MANDI WRIGHT THE ROANOKE TIMES. Randal Johnson plans to
cover 20,000 miles in 45 countries over the next year on his customized
bicycle as part of a group participating in Odyssey 2000. color.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner.
Further reproduction or distribution is prohibited without permission.
=============================== End of Document ================================
I have just pasted this to Randal's site. In all honesty I may be violating
thousands of copyright issues so it may not be here long. I'll check with Zeke.
Ruth 1/7/2000
|
