IT'S ALL OVER

The shots above are the final day, the last picture of all of us as a group, yours truly standing in the ocean, and the 3 of us all in one piece at the end.

Here it is one week later and I am finishing up the blog, better late than never. Right now it still hasn't sunk in that we rode across America. We had a little banquet the last night in Manchester, as one rider said - "I will never look at a map of the United States quite the same." I feel exactly the same way, to realize that we rode our bikes the entire way is quite an accomplishment, something to be proud of.

It was a fitting ending, another beautiful day, on our last day, and some great riding to finish up. We had a police escort the final 3+ miles down to the ocean. As we got close to the beach we heard all the cheers from family, friends, and interested spectators. We took over a good part of the beach, of course, some of the bathers wondered what in the world was going on. They were getting invaded by all these people in spandex carrying their bicycles. We must have been some sort of spectacle, but we really didn't care. The last day was more humid than any day on the trip, welcome to the east coast. After putting our feet in the ocean and saying our last good-byes, we started to disperse to all parts of the US and world.

My family got to Portsmouth after all the festivities, they had stopped to see a good friend of Sue's in Conn. I went to the bed and breakfast we were staying at got cleaned up, had a bite to eat, and then took a nap. Sue and the girls got there around 6:30, it was so great to see them. I don't think I would ever want to be away from all of them for so long again.

Day49 & 50 - Brattleboro, VT - Portsmouth, NH (FINAL DESTINATION) - 144 MI. These were the days I was looking forward to, not because it was the end, but we finally had some serious climbs again. On day 49 we officially went into our last state - New Hampshire. I took a little side climb with John, from Seattle, it was pretty difficult, but exhilarating at the same time. Before the day was over we got to do some more climbing. It's not that I'm the greatest climber, it is just something that I really enjoy.

That evening in Manchester, we had a little banquet. It was a lot of fun, we had skits, songs, gave gifts to the staff, and everyone got to say one final word when they got their certificate for completing the ride. Of course, everyone thanked the staff, they were awesome. We couldn't have asked for much more from them, they were great people. I asked if we could move back breakfast because we were staying up way past our bedtimes.

The last day had a little of everything. Ken, Ted, and I enjoyed hooking up with the boys for Tucson on last time on the road that day. We were a hammerin' for part of the time, nobody wanted to let another person get the best of them, just like in PA.

I could probably go on and on about everything, but it would just not do it justice. It is not something that you can put in words, it is something you have to get out an experience it yourself. I was truly in awe of every single rider, all of us that started out in Astoria, OR made it to Portsmouth, NH. That is a very noteworthy accomplishment. The person that we all admired and respected the most was John, an 80 year old man, who was so full of life and had a smile the whole way across America. He did not miss one single mile, in fact, he put quite a few extra miles along the way. Then there was Vivian, 18 years old, who would at the end of some days ride extra miles just so she could say she rode 100 miles that day. We were definitely a family - you saw these people every single day for 50 days. You were all doing the same thing, so you shared the same joys and frustrations. . Everyone of us had one single goal on our mind and that was to make it across America. The staff even commented that our group came together a lot more than some of their other tours.

Nothing more I can say, the dream, the experience is over, but what a joy it was. The United States is truly a beautiful country, it was wonderful to see it at a slower pace on back roads and not flying along the interstates at 70mph. I looked forward every single day to getting on the bike, it was a new adventure every day that I shared with wonderful people that I will never forget. However, one of the best parts ride was finally getting to see my family after 7 weeks and coming home.

I hope all of you have enjoyed the blog, it was certainly a new experience for me. Maybe it will inspire one or more of you to live a dream like this. Please don't put your dream off to some other time, as Nike says: "Just do it!"

Below are some pictures, as I look through all of the ones I have taken I will share some more with you. Enjoy!!

Picture on top is the 3 of us acting normal!!!

Picture on the bottom of Ken fueling up for the day.

Middle is Ken when he ran out of fuel

NO MORE LAUNDRY !!

I am back tracking a couple of days. I have some good photos that are having trouble downloading, the story of my life.

Day 46 Liverpool-Little Falls, NY 79 miles This was quite a day, rode hard, I rode with Gene from Denver. We had a very interesting trip between the 2 rest stops. It5 was about 25 mi. between them and he had 3 flats along the way. If that is not bad enough, he had had 5 the day before. He keep his cool amazingly well, if it had been me I don't know.
Once we finally reached Little Falls, I walked down to one of the locks on the Erie Canal. It had one of the highest drops 40 ft. of any locks in the country. One of the other highlights of the day was going to the laundromat for the LAST time.

Day 47 Little Falls - Latham, NY 76 miles Not a lot of excitement today. We did ride on a paved path for about 17 miles which was really nice. It was nice to see how much the path was being used by other bikers. Had a few little climbs to test the leg and it felt fine the whole way.

Day 48 - Latham, NY - Brattleboro, VT 79 miles. Today was the 1st of our big climbing days. I was really looking forward to it with anticipation. I wanted to climb and also test the leg out to see if it was at full strength. Both held up to my expectations. It was so nice to climb and get away from the flats. Once again, the weather was beautiful, upper 70's. How we have been so lucky on the trip I do not know, but we must be doing something right. I wanted to take a lot of pictures in Vermont, but I remembered I already have some from last year.

TWO MORE DAYS and the adventure of a life time is over. I would have never imagined that I could do something like this 10 years ago. Now it is just about history. It went fast like anything else you would look forward to with anticipation for a long time. One of the best things about it being over other than seeing the family, is not more living out of a suitcase. GETTING HOME CAN NOT COME SOON ENOUGH.

Day 45 Henrietta-Liverpool, NY We went 93 miles today, it was the last of our 90+ day of our trip. We have 2 more relatively flat days in NY then we have 2 days of climbing in Vermont and NH. The leg seems to be getting stronger each day, so hopefully I will be at full speed when we reach the climbing.

Today we started out on a bike path along the Erie canal, only really saw one lock. The path went through some small towns which were very charming. In fact, in one we had to get off our bikes to walk along the path. I tried to stay with Ken and Ted today, which I did at various times during the ride,but I did not want to push and end up back at day 1 with my leg hurting again. These long rides seem to be getting shorter all the time. It seems like nothing at all to be on the bike 5-6 hours.

Tomorrow, if it is not to far off our route we might consider going to Cooperstown to see the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Time is certainly getting short on the trip, it is quickly coming to an end - 5 more days.

Day 41 - London - Brantford, Ontario 78 mi. The actual ride was shorter but we made several wrong turns today. Still not riding with Ken and Ted, the leg is not quite up to snuff yet. However, the good thing is I'm RIDING!! Had a great time on the ride today, Jim and I had a lot to talk about and of course Jeannie talked. Mike, the ride leader, turned us around the right direction since we were the last group of the day. In fact, I was the last rider to sign in the hotel today, that was a first. This picture was my confusion at the 4 way stop.

Day 42 Brantford, Ontario-Niagara Falls, NY This was another day that we skirted the rain, it has been just unbelievable that we continue to miss it. Had a great ride into Niagara Falls, the barn is one of the things we saw. Not a lot of especially exciting scenery along the way. I did just get across a drawbridge before it was closed for a freighter to go under. The bridge was just lifted up in the air, it was not separated in the middle. Of course, the highlight of the day was reaching Niagara Falls. It certainly has changed considerably since I was there in the early 60's, casinos and hotels everywhere. The falls looked just as beautiful as I remembered them. At night we went down to the falls, they now have a light show and fireworks. We waited over an hour for the fireworks and they lasted 6 min. The fireworks at Kipona along the Susquehanna are a lot better.

Day 43 Niagara Falls This was a day off, went back to the Canadian side and walked the whole way up to the Horseshoe Falls. You heard more foreign languages being spoken than English. We had to stop and patronize the Hershey store, then back to the US side. We walked to Goat Island where you could get an up close and personal view of both falls. All in all it was a great day.

Day44 Niagara Falls-Henrietta, NY 84 miles. Henrietta is a suburb of Rochester. The ride really went well today, I finally feel like I am getting back to full strength. I rode harder today than any of the other days, but I am still taking it a bit easy because I want to be ready for the climbs in Vermont and New Hampshire. Turned over 3000 miles today, another uneventful scenery day, it is beginning to look a lot like home. Tomorrow is our last 90+ day, and then it is all downhill from there. Getting anxious to see the family on Monday. It had been a great trip, but a little to long.

Finally riding

Day 39 Birch run, MI - Port Huron, MI - Did not ride again today I thought it was in my best interest, even though that is not what I wanted to do. I felt very unwanted by the staff today, I got shuffled around to 3 vehicles and 3 different drivers. Really everyone was nice and it was good to talk to different people about different things. I made the most out of the day and had as good of a time as I could in spite of everything. Everyone has been really nice and encouraging and hoping that I get back on the bike soon.

Day 40 Port Huron, MI - London, Ontario I was like a kid in a candy store today, I was so happy to have some of the aches and pains back on the bike. I did not ride the full 80 mi., I rode 50 to test myself out. I got a knee brace that a doctor on the trip suggested because he had the same injury at the beginning of the ride. It worked great and I didn't have any trouble today, so I think I'm good to go. However, I need to remember to take easy for a couple more days before I start to pick things up.
Today we went over the bridge into Canada. What they did is close down one whole lane of traffic just for us to ride across, it was amazing. That was the highlight of the day other than my leg feeling really good.
We have two more days until we get to Niagara Falls. A lot of people me included got Canadian bike jerseys today.
It is very hard to believe that we are now down to 10 days and then it will all be over in a flash. I have had a lot of good times, but it is now time to see the family.

Day 35 - I don't have any pictures from that day. Along story that I will make short. I thought I deleted all my pictures so I didn't use the camera that day. I was upset and frustrated I used that pet up energy, so I rode really hard to the rest stop. After the rest stop my right thigh started to hurt and I sort of limped into the hotel. Once I arrived at the hotel I called a photography shop and they said I could restore the pictures off the memory card. As I started to put my new memory card in I found out how stupid I was, I never put the memory card back in from the night before when I was using the computer. I was able to ice my leg down several times and it felt better.
Day 36 - We took the ferry from Manitowoc, WI to Ludington, MI across Lake Michigan. It took close to 5 hours to make it across. It was a nice relaxing time, but I was actually more tired after the trip than if I had been riding the bike.
Day 37 - This was a 113 mile day. I had purchased an Ace wrap for my thigh just in case. Well, the just in case happened. I started out slow as I had planned so I would not push it an aggravate it some more. Well, it wasn't long until it started to bother me, I made it to the 1st rest stop and thought I would just nurse it the rest of the way. Well, life did not get any easier, it got so bad that I had to stop at 64 miles. I could not push on the pedals any more or even stand, so it was time to call it a day much to my disappointment. My brain won out over my heart today.
Day38 - I saw life from a different side today. Did not ride the bike, rode the SAG wagon today. It was not exactly what I wanted, but it was in my best interest. It was something to see the operation of a bike tour from the other side, all the logistics that take place during the day is quite amazing. I got a lot of encouragement from everyone. They wanted me back on the bike because I was yelling at them at the rest stop. Day light is burning, quit talking and get on your bikes and get out of here. Don't know about tomorrow yet, I'll either take another day off to be safe or only do part of the ride. Most of this is flat and I want to be ready for the climbing when we get farther east.

Tom on the BIG bike

Day 32 - La Crosse, WI 92 miles today,we rode with Steve and Larry which we hadn't before. They are very good riders, we rode with them until our 2nd rest stop where we got something to eat. After lunch we had several miles to a steep climb. As we were going there Karen, on of the staff members, joined our group. I was leading going down the hill and I heard Tom here she comes. I had to start going to stay ahead of her. I was still ahead going into the steep climb and then I heard gummy bears Tom gummy bears. I usually eat gummy bears on a ride when I need a little pick me up, but I chose jolt chewing gum this time. It was long until Karen passed me, but I hung on as long as I could and she let me pass her near the top.

We did have a great ride on a paved trail around a river for a good 12-15 miles. Near the end of our ride we crossed the Mississippi and into Wisconsin.

Day 33 - Wisconsin Dells The picture of me on the bike was from this day in a town called Sparta. This was our 1sty day of rain since we had started. We went on a rails to trails called the Elroy-Sparta Trail, it was 30 miles long with 3 tunnels. We had to get off our bikes and walk through the tunnels which were pitch black. We took flash lights to see our way through them, the longest was 3/4 of a mile. It started to rain after the 1st tunnel and it was a mess. At the end of the trail we cleaned off our bikes the best we could and then we gave them a real good bath once we got to the hotel. It was a maze of bikes all getting washed off along with ourselves. Time for laundry so it made for a long day after riding 93 miles and half of it in slop.

Day34 - Fond du Lac, WI Today was our 1st day in 5 days that we didn't ride over 90 or 100 miles, we only did 83. Sounds funny saying we only did 83 miles, before I came on this trip that would have been a killer of a ride. The other picture was of a quarry at a rest stop right alongside of the road. A lot of back roads today past farm land and a huge lake, great scenery, it seemed a lot like PA. Stopped at bike shop, they told us about a brat and beer function at the end of town so that is where we went for lunch. We had a T-shirt exchange tonight among all the bikers, which was a lot of fun and laughter.

Tomorrow is a short 57 and then a rest day with a ferry ride across Lake Michigan.