Today’s Date: August 8, 2024

Today’s Start Point: Camp Lejeune, North Carolina

Today’s End Point: Camp Lejeune, North Carolina

Today’s Miles: 0 Miles!

Cumulative Miles: 4,940.61 Miles

Well, that was an experience. 4,900 miles, 16 states, two oceans, and I crossed too many mountain passes and rivers to count. I experienced snow, rain, brutal heat and humidity, headwinds and tailwinds and crosswinds, and perfect sunny weather and tropical storms and tornado warnings. In the end, it was everything that I hoped for with a few surprises thrown in.

As I said in the beginning, this trip was meant to take me out of my comfort zone.

• I am a natural introvert, and being alone for most of the time forced me to engage with people in ways that I am not accustomed to do.
• I am not a very confident person and this trip forced me to face unexpected situations and have the wherewithal to find a solution by relying for the most part on my own wits.
• I am a creature of habit and this trip was different everyday. The best made plans were discarded as either weather or my own stamina curtailed my expectations.
• I have always thought people did not like me very much and I was humbled and honored at the number of friends who made some big sacrifices to join and help me along the trail. They helped me physically, but more importantly they helped me emotionally during some dark times.
• I learned that if you need 50 pounds of “stuff”, you can easily get by with less than half of it.
• I learned that this country is much more vast than I ever imagined, where you can go more than 100 miles and not see a gas station or convenience store (much to my dismay on a couple of occasions).
• I learned that down deep most people are good and they want to help. They want to be acknowledged, especially in the vastness of the west, and work hard in difficult situations. Also, never tell them you are a lawyer from Chicago.
• I learned that a trip like this is fun but there is nothing like returning to your family. Absence does make the heart grow fonder of the simple things in life.
• I learned if a tropical storm/hurricane is coming the only solution is to pedal like hell to get to your destination.
• Finally, if you see a Dairy Queen, stop for a blizzard.

As I have said before, I could not have finished this trip without the assistance of some great friends. Thank you to all of you. Without each of you in various ways I am not sure if I would have made it, or at the very least have had as much fun.

• John and Julie Duggan (Oregon): You were there at the beginning, helping me out with some early mechanical issues and riding that first rainy day down the Oregon coast.
• Bruce McCrindle (Montana): The strange mountain man who surprised me with a camera over Lolo Pass. When my ankles were shot he was there to help me get through it.
• Mike and Julie Ducey (Colorado): After being alone and eating fast food or food-like substances I would get at a gas station, a nice dinner with old friends was the perfect antidote.
• Brad Seavoy (Colorado): Talk about surprises, just as I was about to tackle the Hoosier Pass, the highest point on the trip, I was surprised by an unidentified person who I thought was taking an inordinate amount of interest in my erratic pedaling style. You pulled this old and exhausted cyclist over the pass.
• Jim Ward and Scott Latimer (Missouri, Illinois): The windblock/sherpa team from Elmhurst were there for a drink and a cycling pull or eight after a six hour drive. After the “fun” of eastern Colorado, Kansas and Missouri, their timing was impeccable.
• Tim Radcliff (Kentucky, Indiana): The man on the motorcycle. Tim was there for two of the hardest days of the trip and his encouragement and pep talks kept me going.
• Paul Kirsch (Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio): What can I say, a 2:00 pm despondent e-mail led him to take a 11:00 pm red eye flight from Berkeley, California to serve as my SAG wagon for the next four days. I might have found the fortitude to finish the ride, but not with a smile on my face.
• Marci, Thommie, Michele, Robbie and Brittany Timmons (New Albany, Ohio). The amended tour allowed me to see my aunt and cousins and have a nice lunch where I talked too much but shut up enough to share some wonderful reminiscences.
• Kristin, John, Morgan and Truman Jones (Ashburn, Virginia): Les’s cousin and her family provided me with the first home cooked meal in two months and a relaxing night with a glass of wine and nice conversation on their back patio.
• Matt Steinmetz and Tom Evans: The boys, they will always lift my spirits and with an ersatz Uber driver tour (I think we knew more about Richmond than he did) and a great meal they did so once again.
• Paul Peralta: Pablo drove from Charlotte, North Carolina through a tropical storm to Camp Lejeune to be part of the finale. The things friends will do.
• Brandon, Jenna and Sam (My other daughter Amy had to work back home so she couldn’t be here, but she would if she could) (Camp Lejeune, North Carolina): The true goal of the ride. Having them at the end was perfect, and a hug from Sam made it all worthwhile. However, it reminds me of a comment from a trucker in Colorado when I said I was riding to North Carolina to see my grandson. He said “you know they invented cars for that”. Funny guy.
• Last but not least, my lovely wife Les. We spoke every night and she listened to the highs and lows of the trip and offered support and encouragement. She was my Expedia when I was too exhausted to deal with it, my quartermaster in getting me supplies, my traveling companion in Virginia and a coordinator of the trip finale in the midst of changing circumstances due to a hurricane/tropical storm. She is the love of my life and now she has to put up with me 24/7, poor woman.

I leave with this (pretentiousness alert): Everyone will tell you all the reasons you shouldn’t do something, but if you put your mind to it (and a substantial amount of stubbornness) you can do it. It might not go exactly as planned, but in the end it will be a rich and rewarding experience.

I would also like to thank all of you that have read this blog and left your “likes” and comments. Your positive feedback is much appreciated and made the process of putting the blog together each night more enjoyable. I wasn’t going to do a blog but I was out to dinner with Don and Alyssa Williams and it was Don who convinced me to do it. He asked me if I didn’t want a record of what I had done for when Sam was older. That was it, for Sam I would do it.

Thanks again for reading, I am off to burn all of my cycling clothes.