I Made It!!!

Grand total: 4290.9 miles

Yesterday at 3 pm I reached my final destination, Yorktown, Virginia, the end of a 75-day trip across the US.

I made it!

My bike with all the gear

A deluxe ice cream from Ben & Jerry's to celebrate

My sleeping quarters for the night thanks to the good people at Grace Church

Once my ride was over, the pictures taken, and the ice cream eaten, I made my way to Riverview, a guesthouse made available to cyclists by the Grace Church in Yorktown. Grace Church was having a lawn party that evening and I was invited to join in, so I finished my ride with the one element that has been present throughout the trip: the kindness and generosity of others.

I'll finish this blog by taking a look back at some of those people:

• Larry and Linda, who made me dinner, breakfast, and lunch, gave me a bag to keep my camping gear dry and a towel, offered some cycling tips, and packed me with snacks for the road
• The McCavics, who let me sleep in their home, packed me off with plenty of provisions, told me to call if I needed rescuing anywhere between Oregon and Idaho, and called a month later to check in on me
• The bike shop owner who gave me a discount rate on a new tube and handed me tons of free energy bars
• Pete, who spontaneously offered me much-needed water halfway up one of the hardest climbs of the trip
• The young couple that shared their hot breakfast with me at the hostel in Missoula
• David, who in our three weeks riding together did far more than I could describe here
• The grandmother in Minnesota and the man in Illinois who spontaneously gave me money
• Donn, who has converted his barn into a bicycle bunkhouse and lets cyclists stay for free
• Sarge and Mary Lynn, who offered me shelter, food, and a shower after the rainiest day of the trip, and their daughter, Joan, who helped arrange it
• June, the campground host in Missouri who kept my food safe from the raccoons and lent me an extra sleeping bag to keep me warm on a cold night
• The talkative ice cream vendor and his mother in Chester, IL, who gave me free ice cream
• The coach in Hodgenville who let me sleep in the school's fieldhouse
• Darlene, who spontaneously offered to let me stay in her home in Dixon, Kentucky
• Violet, who gave me warm chocolate cake and lunch as part of her mission to feed each of the hundreds of cyclists that go through her town each year
• All the churches and the two firehouses that offered me shelter, the stores that let me camp behind them, the city parks where I had free camping, and the poolhouses that I was allowed to shower in
• The Louisville couple who made me a hot breakfast one morning at the campground
• The camping manager who decided not to charge me for my campsite
• Rita from the Freeda Harris Baptist Center, who made me a hot dinner and brought me homemade fudge when I spent the night at the center
• Judy, the hostel owner in Rural Retreat who let me stay at her hostel, even though it's technically closed, then refused to charge me for it
• The woman in Virginia who started driving alongside me, rolled down her window, and held out an ice cold bottle of water
• All the friends, family, and strangers who supported me on this trip by keeping me in their thoughts and prayers and by sending encouraging comments through my blog, Facebook, or email

As I said in an earlier post, there's nothing like biking across the US to renew your faith in humanity.

I have a lifetime ahead of me to pay back the kindness I received, and then some. It's a mission I gladly accept.