Our Epic Bike Adventure

People made this trip happen and people along the way contributed to the epic-ness of the adventure!  These are the ones that I remember, but so many others contributed as well. I am thankful for my co-conspirator and love of my life, Pete for agreeing to this epic adventure and going the extra mile (pun intended) to plan, direct, map-out, cook, and otherwise support the entire undertaking.   Thankful for: Sue and Lesli for giving up a great portion of their summer to drive, ride, cook, play cards, and otherwise support us along the way. The riders, Stephanie, Lisa, Lauran, and Sue B. for the laughter, support, companionship, cooking, laughter, perseverance, individual strengths and gifts, and did I mention laughter? Friends and family who prayed for our safety. Georgena Terry, who created the beautiful bicycle. Noah, an organic farmer at Rainshadow Organics outside of Sisters Oregon who explained his work and offered to take a group photo. The guy delivering 3 Redbulls to a ranch in e

The moment I opened my eyes this morning I sensed that something was different. I felt different.  I felt unsettled. I felt emotional, deeply emotional. The problem was I couldn't discern what emotion I was feeling. Was it sadness? Or relief? Anxiety? Or joy? A sense of completion? Or a sense of loss?? All of these were true and yet none of them described how I was feeling. Then it hit me.  This was the last day of our epic adventure;  67 days, 2,900 miles, 14 states, 4 continental divides, 12 mountain passes, hundreds of hills, and untold thousands of pedal cranks were all coming to an end today, in Washington DC. I went down to breakfast at our last AirBnB to hear that everyone felt the same way. Fortunately, we did not have the time to sit and ponder the world and our existential reality.  Rain was moving in later that day and we needed to get a move on to avoid getting soaked. First order of business was to change riding plans (several times!). We were still over 100 miles from