Final Thoughts

We made it home safely from Albany, NY after driving straight through. We are still pretty tired, but we are starting to feel as if things are getting back to normal. I still find it fun to ride in a car. The 17 hour drive didn't bother me at all. I felt like doing one final post to give a brief overview of the whole trip.

We started off with good attitudes, but after the 95-105 degree average temperature the first couple days, we knew we were in for it. During the second day as we battled a 15 mph headwind, it crept up to 95 degrees by 10:00 am. I remember thinking to myself, "what am I doing out here?" I never quite figured that one out. In fact, the heat was so bad this day that the manager at our hotel gave us a free room because she felt so bad for us.

We learned that taking an unsupported trip means you will have to be willing to hitchhike, and we ended up accepting 7 rides (8 for dad) totaling 160 miles when there was extreme weather, impassable roads and bike breakdowns. A huge thanks goes out to Richard and Mark, Fran,Whitney, New Mexico Tom, Scott, Don and Sherry, Missouri Tom and Donny. We could not have made it if it wasn't for all of you guys. We greatly appreciate everything you all did for us. And Ben, thanks again for picking us up at the airport...that was awesome.

We also found that near the end of the trip, the less humorous we were. Getting up every morning at 6:00 and eating the same continental breakfasts followed by 100 miles or more of biking was quite the physical and mental strain. Our mood could go from good to bad with as little as a rude comment by a person out the window of a car, or a honk. We would also get on each others nerves from time to time. I found out that the best way to deal with this was to not be the first person to break the silence after we got mad. At one point, we didn't say a word for a good 90 minutes. I had to relieve myself 30 minutes into this 90 minutes, but I would have rather soiled myself than break the silence. I'm not sure if I could have made it much past that hour and a half. Thankfully Dad said something, and I immediately said I needed to hit the weeds.

All in all, we are happy this insane ride is over. We are glad we did it, even though we were sick of it by day two. Actually, it isn't quite over for me yet. I have a 15 hour drive back to Colorado Springs tomorrow...joy. Dad says he won't be thinking of doing another one anytime soon, but yeah right, that's what he said four years ago, and he's done two more since then. I politely told him next time he has the notion to not even ask me, because even though I would know better, I would probably end up saying yes.

Alright...that's all, folks. Thanks for tuning in to read about our adventures. We are in the process of getting the pictures on the computer. If anyone would like to see them after they're uploaded send an e-mail to my mom at handersn@hbci.com and she'll send them to you via Kodak Gallery. I am going to load up the car and go to bed. Goodnight.

Blake