It's not about the destination, it's about the journey...

Aug 15

Aug 15 It's not about the destination, it's about the journey...

As we were walking on the beach this morning, we all agreed that finishing the ride yesterday was a bit anti-climatic. After such a long journey, we thought there would somehow be more fan fare. We had a nice seafood dinner and spent time on the beach, which seemed like just another normal day at the shore. It was then that we realized the journey and all our experiences were the reward, not the accomplishment of arriving at the Atlantic Ocean. With that in mind, we will try to summarize our thoughts in this final post.

Let’s start with the stats. We rode 2,561 miles and climbed 88,944 feet over 34 days of riding with 5 additional rest days. We visited 11 states including, CA, AZ, UT, CO, KS, MO, IL, IN, KY, VA, and NC. Believe it or not, we had less then 1 hour of rain while riding on the bikes; we planned our rest days around the rain. We had 5 flat tires and no mechanical issues with our bikes or car. We never got lost or had any wrong turns thanks to our bike computers.

We all agreed the bike riding was easier than we expected, especially when we got out of the ‘heat dome’ and we could take it easy and ride all day. Our legs were a bit tired, but they never hurt. We did suffer somewhat including: numb hands from ulnar nerve compression, hopefully Shannon gets feeling back in her hands some time; saddle sores which were treated with zinc oxide (aka diaper rash ointment), and sore lower backs and necks. No long term damage as far as we can tell.

Here are some of our favorite memories. Sunrise in the valley of the monuments in AZ or simply sunrise any place while on a bike. Remember, we started riding at 4am when we were in the desert to avoid the heat. Climbing mountains in CO with gradual inclines, great views, nice forests, and virtually no cars. It felt like the roads were made for us. Seeing all the diversity of landscapes and people, many of which we had never seen before. It is easy to understand why America has been so successful with all our natural resources. Going through all the cities and seeing all the sights and people. Although we did not stay in any of the cities, they provided a great distraction from the riding. Eating anything we wanted and drinking a ton of Coke without any guilt; we all lost some weight and improved our fitness despite our eating/drinking habits. Spending time with each other and enjoying each other’s company. The days seemed to fly by thanks to our support for each other.

It was not all peaches and cream; here are some of our least favorite memories. Rumble strips on the shoulder of the road taking away riding space. We know they are good for cars, but they are brutal for bikes. Kentucky had them all over. Trucks passing too close for comfort. Big 18 wheelers were always good, it was the dump trucks or non-descript white trucks that were always the problem. Unbearable heat; we were all glad we changed to route to head north and get out of the brutal heat in the southwest. Bed bugs, need we say more?

On balance, we had many more positive memories than negative ones. It was great to spend so much time with Shannon pushing ourselves past some of our limits. We have all grown as a result of our journey, and we are looking forward to our next adventure.

Tomorrow, we go our separate ways. Shannon is flying back to California and Robin and I are going to an Airbnb in the Pocono Mountains with Maude to continue our exploration of the northeast. We hope you enjoyed our blog as much as we enjoyed our travels. Goodbye for now, until our next epic journey.