Day 1: 60 miles, if you didn't get lost

The day started at a reasonable time, with a 9 am group photo and rear bike tire dip in the Atlantic. There's no way we were all in 1 photo as I think there may have been close to 35 riders at the start.
I had biked the 1st mile last summer on a day trip to Williamsburg.  The very first turn of today's ride was missed by about half the group!  Ha!  We rode along the water on the Colonial Parkway, which was beautiful.  The road was so bumpy it caused my tail light to dislodge, so I had to pull over to rescue it. The first was stop was the 20 mile mark at Jamestown.
We didn't tour it, but did ride through historic Williamsburg on our way in. After refueling and hydrating, we headed west along the Capital Trail (after myself and another rider named Chris and I headed east for a minute). The ride was quiet and scenic.  It was shaded and there were too many other bikers around,  so it was easy to relax a bit.  We were all excited to stop at S&S Sub Shop for lunch,  until we arrived to find it was closed! A little further down the road, I stopped at a gas station to seek out ice cream or chocolate milk.  No such luck.  A woman came up to us and thanked us for riding for MS because her daughter has it.  It was nice she felt comfortable sharing her story with us. Those are the folks we are riding for.
Back on the road,  we had about 26 miles until camp. I was starting to get uncomfortable in my saddle and my shoulders were really tight. I knew we were close and I was ready to be done for today, but the miles just seemed to drag.  Finally,  we saw our destination: Willis Church. When I pulled in, I saw my car and sure enough Bret was there to have dinner with the group before heading home (he had turned back at Jamestown to go back to the start). The church provided a huge and amazing pasta and salad dinner with "cookie monster" sundaes for dessert.  We stuffed ourselves silly with trying to recover from the day. We couldn't have asked for better weather on Day 1 nor a better finish.  The church also provided towels and a shower.  After a little Frisbee and some chatting with new friends, I'm finally tucked into my sleeping bag at the front of the church sanctuary.
Tomorrow will be a big day: 80 miles from east Richmond up past Lake Anna and finishing in Mineral. Wish is good everything!