Journal Excerpt – Wed. 9/15/99

…Well, it looks like we will be getting some rain on this ride. You get a sense that everyone is resigned to getting wet and hopefully we’re all ready. The one major worry that no one seems to be mentioning is Hurricane Floyd. A very large, dangerous hurricane, that we may have to deal with. It is, this evening, just about ready to hit the Carolina’s. Fingers are crossed that we never meet Floyd!!

Day 1 – Up at 3:30AM. Ready to leave at 4:00. Turns out that most of the people staying at our Guest House are from the Ride (about 12). We pile into taxis and head to Northeastern U. It has been raining/drizzling all night. Road is wet but it seems rideable. We arrive at Northeastern a few minutes later and BUMMER – Floyd has won!! We will not be riding today. The area we were supposed to ride to (UCONN at Storrs, Ct.) is expected to get hurricane force winds by this afternoon. Instead, we will be bused down to New Haven, Ct. where we will be staying in the New Haven Veterans Memorial Coliseum to wait out the storm.