Another year, another mileage record. Our tour through five countries ends in Nicaragua’s capital city Managua.

I hope each of you is pleased and proud of your contribution to this collective effort. Together, we covered over 3200 miles. Well done Prima team!

We’re saying goodbye to the jungle lowlands of the Yucatan peninsula and climbing the mountainous ridge that separates the Gulf of Mexico from the Pacific Ocean. It’s tough going, but with all the last minute mileage reports, the team is practically jet powered.

We should reach Tegucigalpa this evening, and from there, we’ll go south to rejoin the Pan-American Highway for our sprint to Nicaragua.

Reaching Guatemala was a thrill, but we had an hour’s delay while border officials went through our paperwork. From here, we’ll be trekking in to Tikal, once the site of a large Mayan city whose oldest structures date from around 600 B.C.

Tikal’s tallest pyramids rise from the tropical jungle where we’ll hear howler monkeys and a great variety of birds including parrots, toucans, and macaws.

John’s group has reached the Gulf. They have an interesting perspective on border security after following the Rio Grande down to Brownsville. They’re hanging out in an internet café (probably a good tequila bar) and monitoring our occasional e-mails.

The beaches around Veracruz are awesome, but the tropical heat is tough. We’re traveling a lot at night, and taking a siesta during the worst heat of the day.

Ken wanted to show us the Mayan ruins in the jungle near Palanque. It’s a 90-mile trip southwest of Villahermosa. The grumbling was intense yesterday as we trekked in intense heat. The princess was insufferable, and even Judy Monroe was sullen and short-tempered as she distributed water. Mary and Kay have kept a good pace even though we’re out of ice, but the rest of the team is lagging badly.

Finally we reached the park. Wow! We’ve sent a few photos to Kroggel’s laptop, but pictures don’t give a good sense of the effect this place has on us.

Through Victoria and into Tampico!

This is another big city with a beautiful cathedral. Most of the team hit the gulf coast beach for sun and sand, but Charlotte and Ken went for a swim in the Chairel lagoon, a popular reservoir nearby.

Acting on a tip from a local resident that we helped with some translation work, we found the best taco place in the area and fueled up for days of hard travel.

By afternoon, we were well on our way to Ciudad Victoria, the capital city in the state of Tamaulipas. Mileage reports are coming in rapidly now. We’re well over 2,000 miles and we’re really zooming.

The team has split into two groups. The Mexican expedition team is moving up into the hills toward Montemorelos.

The other group remains in the U.S. with John Kroggel, who was quite happy to accept the assignment to stay stateside since he hadn’t packed his golf clubs. There were quite a few others hesitant to venture into the Mexican interior and Charlotte thought it might prove helpful if we left a team in the states. Last we heard, they were following the river and headed toward Brownsville.

We’re at the border! Maybe you can see us cross on the Laredo bridge cameras.

Some notable Primas have not seen fit to report any mileage. We ought to remember that despite their disinterest in estimating and reporting mileage, they are still ambulatory. The triathlon tabulator knows that Princess Lisa (to pick just one example) walks at least ½ mile per day just to get to and from her workstation and handle her leadership and Public Relations duties. Never one to claim credit without independent verification, she has been satisfied to drive the support van for most of our journey.

Today, Princess Lisa stepped out of the van and carried the team banner across the bridge into Mexico to the applause of the team.

We were nearing Laredo when we saw the Ghost Rider again. He was off to the west on a side road keeping pace with our progress. Ed cut across the adjacent cattle pasture to block the Ghost Rider’s retreat, while Ken raced ahead to a cutoff road hoping to intercept him.

When Ken emerged on the side road, there was no sign of any rider. Ed, however, arrived at the far edge of the pasture just in time to see someone duck into the culvert hidden by some scrubby bushes. As he stepped closer, he saw a lean and hungry-looking man with a bright blue Pfizer hardhat peering out at him from the protection of the bushes. Ed approached slowly, spoke softly, and offered the man a cookie.

This is his story:
Tom, the Ghost Rider, is a real person. Working with Rachel, Ken, Susan, and Mary at Pfizer, he was intrigued by the Virtual Triathlon, and a little envious. He wanted to participate but could only do so unofficially, following our progress via the website. He is amazed by our fitness leaders, Mary Kozloski and Kay Perry, imagining them to be young athletic types retained by the company only to pump up Prima’s image as youth-oriented and fitness conscious.

We admitted that Mary and Kay are indeed young and fit, but we insisted that they also have great technical skills and work ethic. Tom has been riding his bike and walking extra miles all month in an effort match Prima’s leaders. We set an example for friends, clients, and co-workers. Keep it up!

We're on the long hot road to Laredo! John Kroggel is expressing doubts about actually crossing into Mexico; he is concerned that if the whole crew likes Mexico too much or our passports get lost, we'll have to relocate HQ south of the border.

John is slightly tempted, however, as Mexico is the number two worldwide golf destination for U.S. golfers.

We’ve had some rain, but not as much as we feared. We’ve been staying far inland instead of taking the shortest route around the Gulf shore. Fortunately for us, Hurricane Dean came ashore on the far side of Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula. It will be nothing to worry about unless it continues across the gulf to our part of Mexico.

Mary Kozloski and Kay Perry lead us into Austin, Lance Armstrong’s hometown. Austin is also home to a huge bat colony. Some want to stay until dusk to see the bats emerge, but Susan reminds us that we’re still a long way from the Rio Grande, and we need to keep moving. Ken seconds the idea of moving on, so we hit the trail after only a quick stop for supplies.

We came through Gun Barrel City this morning. It’s really not much more than a collection of homes on the northeast side of Cedar Creek Reservoir. We cross on the Highway 85 bridge, except for Charlotte who is happier swimming the 1½ mile crossing.

Heather points out a bike rider on the side road; she thinks she saw him a couple of times before, but always off in the distance on side roads paralleling our course. Ed promptly nicknames him the Ghostrider.

Late in the afternoon, we reach Waco, home of Baylor University, the oldest college in Texas and the largest Baptist University in the world. A couple of people ask about the Branch Davidian compound where the cult followers of David Koresh died. The team decides instead to visit the Dr. Pepper museum where we learned that the original bottling plant is 40 miles west, and still in operation one day per week. It is the only place where Dr. Pepper is still made with the original formula, which uses cane sugar instead of corn sweetener. Our Dr. Pepper lovers (all four of them) beg Judy to make the side trip to get us some. So we’re without the services of the support van for a couple of hours.

What state is this town in? We’ve reached the Arkansas/Texas border in the wonderfully named town of Texarkana.

We’re going to have to monitor the situation with Hurricane Dean. It might be a pretty rainy trip for awhile.

Moving through the outskirts of the Arkansas Capital, Little Rock, Kay Perry reminds us that President Bill Clinton was the governor here, and asks whether we will be visiting Hot Springs where young Bill Clinton grew up.

By late afternoon we’ve reached the turnoff for Hot Springs, and Ken steers us west off the interstate. This town has some mighty strange sights.

The mineral hot springs spawned some health spas with some very odd practices, but that was long ago. Charlotte and Kristen were more than a little disappointed by the famous Merman.

A couple of team members near the back are singing Paul Simon’s Graceland, while a bigger group up front is singing Marc Cohn’s Walking in Memphis. Loud and discordant, we turn onto Elvis Presley Blvd. and march up to the gates of the mansion.

When we’re back on the road, Ken notices that Heather’s bicycle chain has a dry, almost squeaky sound. An instant later, there is a honk from behind. Motioning the riders to the center line, the van pulls up on the right and Judy Monroe opens the slider on the driver’s side. With Heather still stroking the pedals, Judy leans over and gives Heather’s chain a shot of lubricant from a spray can. She flashes a smile and a thumbs-up and the van drops back, leaving the rest of the team shaking their heads in amazement.

Paris, Tennessee – We’re getting into a rhythm now, and Ken says we can make the pilgrimage to Graceland when we reach Memphis tomorrow.

We were headed south on I-65 toward Bowling Green, Kentucky when one of the walkers piped up as if on cue, “Boy it’s hot! I wish we could go underground to get out of the heat.” Ken immediately pointed right and swung his bicycle onto Mammoth Cave Parkway toward the National Park Visitor Center.

The team was eager to escape the heat and take one of the many cave tours. Ken laughed at the warning that some of the trips were strenuous. Jeremy snickered when they told us about spooky chambers. Dirk Westra, who asked if we would see lots of carbonate speleothems, was particularly excited. But when the ranger explained about the many species of bats that make their home in the caves, Susan Siferd suddenly remembered our bikes, and offered to stay topside and stand guard. Ken readily agreed, saying that he too would forgo the tour in order to catch up on route planning.

The heat has made it tough on us. With temperatures in the 90s all week, we’re working extra hard to keep moving. Fortunately, the Prima team has a lot of resources. On this trip, Project Support Specialist Judy Monroe has become a favorite with hot tired walkers. The minute someone breaks stride to wipe the sweat out of his or her eyes, Judy is there with a chilled water bottle pulled from the ice chests in the support van. Judy says she can’t contribute miles this year but she’s helping out in a big way.

Zooming along on the strength of Mary Kozloski’s BIG walking habit, we reached West Lafayette, Indiana. We thought Ken was going to give us a tour of the Purdue University campus, but a short side trip brought us to the kind of weird monument more typical of past stops on the virtual triathlon, a relic of the cold war era.

Mileage reports are coming in fast, so Ken thinks we have the speed to meander a little bit. A couple of people are asking for real tourist attractions. After consulting the maps, Ken sets a new course and we’re headed for Kentucky.

The first day of this year’s Virtual Triathlon dawned bright and warm. Several team members started out early knowing that the heat would be uncomfortable by afternoon. Charlotte, Chris Rosenthal, Martha Cochrane and Ken all reported in on the first day, and we knew there were quite a few others who put in self-propulsion time on Day one.

Five more team members reported mileage on Thursday (Day Two) as we crossed the state line into Indiana. Several of our walkers have established a two-mile-a-day habit. If Ed Krumm turns the pedals like last year, our team will go more than 100 miles per day. Martha and Joyce Meade have joined Ken in bicycling already. If this keeps up, we’ll cruise through Mexico and reach Costa Rica or Nicaragua before we’re through.

Charlotte’s company of clever technophiles
Developed a game with their workout miles.
They travel with flair,
But don’t really go there.
They just read about it in website files.