Yippee . . . we finished our trip right on schedule!!!!

After our two day stay in St Augustine, we loaded the van and headed north to Madison. Two days later we arrived at TommyH’s house and had a pizza and beer bash to ‘wind down’!!!! That night  . . . I slept in my own bed,  for the first time in two months. But alone . . .

. . . ends up emJay and I passed in the night, as she headed to Mobile, AL for a meeting, just 40 miles north of Dauphin Island, where we had our 3 day mini-vacation!

Sheeesh . . . got all my stuff unloaded, but left it in the garage overnight. Still worried about bedbugs.

The next morning EVERYTHING, including my backpack went into a laundromat commercial dryer set at HIGH temp for 40 minutes. After a 20 minute ride home, in this bag, they were still to hot to handle!!!

So  . . .final thoughts:

 Riding conditions: As far as riding conditions we experienced it all!! From snow, rain, sleet, on the first several days in California, to such strong head and side winds they blew over some of our ‘svelte’ riders (not me!). I don’t remember having thee ungodly hot days we had on the 2007 TransAm trip. No trips across Kansas, ‘the top of the oven’ on this crossing. But . . . it’s all part of the adventure and no matter how grim it seemed at times . . . the wind always eventually dies down, the sun begins to shine and the temps warm up. There is no worst day of riding . . . just some are better than others. I believe the most challenging day and most pleasing were only two days apart. Battling the steep terrain and EXTREMELY strong headwinds for the 82 miles from Camp Wood to Ingram, with over 50 miles of that into the wind, was no picnic. But the weather system blew through overnight and the next day from Ingram to Johnson City was BEAUTIFUL! It was one of the most enjoyable days of the whole trip. The blue sky, no wind, short sleeve type temps and riding the ridges of Texas Hill Country. Nice!!!

Equipment: I definitely made the right decision in taking Connie Cannondale on this cross country trip. Her frame is built to take this kind of riding and the wider tires made a big difference, for me, in riding comfort and the number of flats experienced. Only 4 during the whole trip!! Three were caused by delaminated tire wire fragments ridden over on interstate highways and one from a small rock shaped like an arrowhead.  Some riders with 23 -25mm tires had that many flats in one day!! I think the wider tire, and lower tire pressure, allows one to ride over much of what might cause a flat to the thinner, high pressure tires . . . just waiting to explode!!!

I’m still in awe about how wonderful the Garmin GPS performed on this trip. Took me a few hours at home before the ride to create gpx files for each days riding , but one we were on the ride it was easy spinning. I had paper maps along for the whole ride as a backup in case the battery died or the unit malfunctioned, but never needed them. Just sit back in the saddle, follow the magenta colored line on the unit as you roll along, enjoy the scenery and have peace of mind you will not get lost. If my hearing was good enough I would even be able to hear the audio signal it puts out signaling when there is a turn coming up ahead. My advice: Get on of these if you are going to tour, take some time at home to learn how to use it and head out!!! Only downside is if you are touring self contained, and camping, you need a power source every night to charge it. Even the Garmin Touring 1000 model, made specifically for our kind of riding, has a built in lithium ion battery. Garmin should give the option of using AA or AAA size batteries, like their old units used as a power source. You can get them everywhere!!

Oh . . . and make sure you are comfortable in the saddle you bring. You spend many LONGGGGGGGGG hours sitting on it!!!

Food: I think know I ate too much, and drank too much, on this trip (can’t speak for the others). When you are putting on the miles we were, and burning the calories we were everyday, you need to keep your energy level up. But probably too much Mexican and too much fried food along the way. Many times there were really no other options available. And . . . the vino and beer began to flow as early as 3:00pm some days . . . not a good habit to take back home. One of most enjoyable food related aspects is always dealing with the great staff serving meals across the country. Salt of the earth personalities. Most wait staff were very friendly and interested in hearing about our trip. We only had a couple of times when it was clear the staff had, or were having, a bad day.

Again, as on the TransAm in 2007, it was not so much the biking that is important to me but the lifestyle and the life rhythm one develops on a trip like this, not invovling ones usual day to day life. Every day was a new adventure for the six of us as we floated across the US in our own little ‘bubble’ not aware of what was going on in any particular state, the US or the world!. We rarely watched TV, rarely read a newspaper and never listened to a radio. It was just us six, the open road, the big sky and whatever lay ahead of us that day. Oh we crossed by, and talked to thousands of people, whose most common comment was . . . “I envy you, wish I could do that”

But at the end of the day it was just us six, gathered around the table discussing what we had observed during the day. For most, it’s probably not a sustainable lifestyle, although some people tour for years, but it sure is fun while it lasts.!!!

Which was really brought to light, day in and day out, by the number of roadside memorials we passed by. Sometimes located at bad intersection or sharp turns, but surprisingly, many times, just out in the middle of nowhere. Flat, straight, level road!!!  I’ll bet none of the folks killed in those accidents woke that fateful morning knowing it was going to be their last day . . . one really needs to make everyday count!!!

One of my favorite memories of this trip has to do with pups. There were many times the bad ones would come out to say “Hi” and one was not sure if they were going to get under your wheel or take a chunk out of your leg. It was easier to keep an eye on them during this trip, when they were ‘circling the wagon’, than on our TransAm trip. On that journey, with four panniers on the bike, you never knew where exactly they were because you couldn’t see them.

But  . . . the good memories involved poochies who just wanted to run.  Usually Labs, but they could be any breed of breed. They’d run up to the roadside and just run along in the ditch, paralleling you on the road, sometimes for as long as a mile!!! Their hair flowing, ears back, running as hard as they could, and looking like they had a smile on their face. If they would get too far ahead, sometimes they would slow down until you caught up,and then take off again. Pure Bliss. Eventually stopping, and with tail wagging, watch you ride away, probably hoping to see you again tomorrow. It’s hard to believe they were not TOTALLY enjoying themselves. We need to take a lesson from Fido and bring that enthusiasm to each day of our lives  . . .  because unlike the poochies, we know we are not on this earth forever.

What a celebration of life, our trip was!!! It brought us all memories we will never forget.

I got on the scale when I returned home and was surprised to see  only a 7 pound weight loss, after 2 months of biking . . . TOO MUCH MEXICAN FOOD, (maybe vino too)!!!!

Thank you for following along on our ride and ESPECIALLY for contributing to my ride cause, the Cure Alzheimer’s Fund. The research they, and all the others do, is so important and hopefully there will be a break through soon!!!

I’ll post some photos of the after ride party when they are available.