Day +2, Thursday, July 23, 2015.  It has been 48 hours since I arrived in Mt. Pleasant, MI and concluded my Across America North, 2015 adventure.  Shortly after arriving home my daughter Sarah and her two sons Garrett and Ezra arrived for a visit.  Having them in the house is an adventure all in itself and it was great to see and spend time with them.  Jack had to work and did not get home until late but when he did get home it actually appeared as if he might have missed me.  It was obvious that he had lost some weight with me not being here to cook but overall he seemed to be healthy.  It was good to hear from him about his adventures working behind the meat counter at the local meat market.  Despite being very tired I did not sleep very well and was awake and out of bed at 4:30 a.m.  I found it interesting when I awoke to be confused about where I was.   I had just spent the past 37 days living in motels and never was confused about where I was when I woke up.  One of the first things I did after coming downstairs was fire up MY espresso machine.  Imagine that!  Oh, and it was so tasty.  I spent a lazy, relaxing day around the house.  Sarah and the boys left in the mid afternoon and I was able to take a brief nap.  I also went for a twelve-mile bike ride around town just to stretch my legs out and to aid in my physical recovery.  It was nice to ride on my hometown streets again.  Last night I slept much better and awoke knowing exactly where I am.  Home sweet home!!

I have been able to briefly reflect on my trip and what I experienced.  Following is a few of my thoughts:

·      In 39 days of riding I covered 2,908 miles.  This includes the riding I did in Oregon and Washington prior to the beginning of the tour and the riding I did on our off days.   That computes to an average of 75 miles per day.   There were seven days in excess of 100 miles.  In cycling we cyclist take pride in “doing a century” i.e. 100 mile ride and I was able to do seven of them.  Incredible!!  Normally in the summer I consider it great if I get 1000 miles in during a month and 3500 miles for the season would be considered a pretty good season.

·      We climbed a total of 82,300 feet over the course of the tour.  That’s nearly 15 miles of climbing.  I am not a “climber”.  I am too tall and carry too much weight but I think I handled the climbs well just the same.  What I lost on the climbs I compensated for on the descents where I can fly!  Ahhh body mass!  By far the most challenging was in the Tetons and crossing the transcontinental divide.  Those climbs were steep, long and very memorable.  In fairness though so were those screaming descents! 

·      The tour traversed seven different states and eight when I include the solo sojourn into Washington State prior to the official beginning of the tour.  For the most part this included parts of this country that I had never visited before.  My highlight was the Black Hills and magnificent Mt. Rushmore but everyday I was in awe of the grandeur and incredible diversity of the path we covered.  Oh, we certainly live in a beautiful country.

·      I stayed in 34 different motels over 39 days.  Fortunately I had a pretty decent roommate in Bob Cohen aka Boston Bob, Bicycle Bob.  He really did add something special to the trip and made the drudgery of moving in and out of the motels bearable.  I truly enjoyed his company and only hope that he can report the same about me!  Every morning he and I were able to share the expectation of being able to ride our bikes again.

·      I rode and spent lots of time with 35+ fellow riders.  It was a diverse group that represented all areas of the country and even Europe.  The one thing we all shared in common was our love of cycling.  I feel honored to have been able to spend time with all of them and look forward to seeing them on the road sometime, somewhere in the future.

·      The staff of America By Bicycle is first class.  Judy, Karen, Pam, Mike, Rocket and Nick did all they could to make the trip enjoyable and safe.  They are truly committed to helping people achieve and realize their dreams.  I cannot say enough good things about them or the company.  They are top shelf!!

·      Overall I believe that I am one of the most fortunate people in the world.  To have the resources, health, time and support of an incredible wife to pursue my passion is a true blessing.  When I did my first cross country trip four years ago I never dreamed that someday I would be able to do it again.  And in between these two I was able to ride down the west coast of the country two years ago.  Wow, what a charmed life I live. 

For those of you who have been able to follow me on this blog I hope that you have enjoyed it as much as I have enjoyed sharing it with you.  (As a disclaimer, I want to acknowledge that most of what I have written is true J) I have had people tell me that they could never do a ride like this.  To that I say, “How do you know?”  Too often we define ourselves in terms of what we “can’t do” as opposed to what we “can do”.  OK, so maybe today you can’t go out and ride 100 miles, run 10 miles, swim a mile, etc..  But perhaps you can ride a mile, walk a mile, or swim 25 yards.  My point?  Figure out what you can do and do it.  Start from there.  Keep moving.  Ride on!