Katie Cox, daughter of Sandy and Doug Cox of LaGrange and a 2002 LaGrange High School graduate, has traveled since college. On Nov. 2, she set out on a group bicycle ride from Hanoi to Ho Chi Min City in Vietnam - 1,000 miles - raising funds for an orphanage where she volunteers, children’s hospital and other causes.

Here are excerpts from her blog:

— Day 1 done! Mountains and shots and groping and mold.

Well we made it through the first day!

The group met in Hanoi a few days ago, and we (I, at least) spent those days running around trying to finish everything I hadn’t finished in Saigon. At 8 this morning, our van got there. A few hours later, we set off from the edge of Hanoi and ended up in Hoa Binh, about 65 kilometers down the road.

It was a lovely day. It took us about an hour or so to get out of all the crazy city traffic and big trucks with loud horns. But suddenly, about halfway through the ride, we turned through this curve and we were suddenly on this gorgeous road looking at nothing but bikes in the foreground and mountains in the background! From then on, it was “schweet.”

— Day 4: Highway 1 and fresh crabs on the BEACH

So today was pretty easy. Which is a good thing, as last night I was fairly certain that today would be my “hump day” in terms of getting settled into this trip. The first three days seemed a breeze fueled my adrenaline and a somewhat disturbing lack of sore muscles or even ability to feel blisters. All that came back a bit last night.

But today we were in for an incredibly (almost perfectly) flat ride on smooth roads. This was the day that made me nervous as it was largely on Highway 1. That’s the big highway that shoots straight down the coast. If we wanted to be in (Ho Chi Min City) in a week, we could do it by staying on highway one. But the downside is it’s a big busy road with lots of loud trucks and scenery sort of disappears. So I was nervous about that.

I don’t like big trucks. I think they’re loud and bossy. And in Vietnam “right of way” rules are pretty simple. They go like this: the biggest vehicle always has it. Who’s smaller than a road bike? That’s right, nobody. And there’s a fine line between claiming a fair space on the road and playing chicken with someone who weighs 500 times as much as you. But I think we did a good job today, and I was pleasantly surprised by the politeness of the trucks. And if we can do Highway 1, the rest of the roads are just kids on bicycles who like to race us (and always lose, by the way).

— Day 13: Mountains, blown tires, worn brakes, and mountains

First, let’s talk about yesterday. Our first day off of this trip. We were in Hue - the Imperial City. I would love to tell you more about this lovely city, except that I was too busy swimming and reading books and taking naps to really explore it beyond a trip to the pharmacy. But it was SO GOOD to have this day off. 12 days in a row is a long time to ride bikes, and our bodies were starting to feel it. So a late morning’s sleep, a swimming pool, and lots of food that wasn’t rice or noodles was just what the doctor ordered.

And if the days before didn’t justify our day off, then today and the next two days do. We’ve made it into some seriously steep mountains here. The kind that road bikes just aren’t made for. I blew out two tires before lunch. And spent far too much time walking my bike up hills for my liking. But, that’s the Central Highlands! And we did touch the clouds not once, but twice in a mere 70 kilometers. And today was just 70k and we made it here at 4 p.m. Tomorrow we have to go 110k! Let’s hope we got all the bike troubles out of the way today, eh?

— To read more about Cox’s trip, visit http:// katiecox.wordpress.com. To read entries from all the members of the traveling party, go to http://www. h2hrfvc.blogspot.com.