Day 12, El Paso – MSN

Most of us met for the great breakfast provided in the lobby. Hugs all around, as folks headed to the airport and their flights home.

Quite a trip . . .

350 miles and 15,000 feet of climbing . . .

with a great set of new friends . . .

Suresh, New Jersey

George, Wisconsin

Rachel, Washington

Jo-Ann, Oregon

David, Texas

Jane, Texas

Megan, California

Tom, Wisconsin

Jim, Indiana

Jamie, California

Clif, New Jersey

Nancy, Indiana

Russ, Nevada

 . . . and a lifetime of memories . . .

We packed up our bikes . . . all my pieces fit back in the EXCELLENT hard sided shell case Smoochie had bought me for my birthday . . .

. . . in an hour, the G and I had our bikes boxed up. It was only 9:15am . . .

. . . breakfast lasted until 9:30am, so I went back for a second breakfast!!!

We kept going down to the pool area to check on George, who had brought his travel ‘ break-a-part’ bike along with it’s custom travel case. All weighing less than 50 pounds so it went back on the plane as checked luggage.

But . . . it took him three hours to pack it up!!!

The flight home was uneventful until we got to Milwaukee at 11:00pm and found the G’s van, parked in the extended stay parking area, had been plowed in after the snow that fell two days before. Using window scrappers as shovels, we were able to dig it out and were soon on the road back to Madison.

This is what had hit the area . . .

. . . and it was till winter on our deck when I woke up in the morning. It would be six more days until the snow would finally (and hopefully) be gone until . . . maybe October????

FINAL TRIP THOUGHTS:  . . . . coming soon . . .