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“From the mountains high to the wave-crashed coast

There’s a way to find better days, I know

It’s been a long hard ride, got a ways to go

But this is still the place that we all call home”

- Dierks Bentley

And so it ends.

85 days of riding

5,543 miles

199,213 feet of elevation gain

441 hours 54 minutes of riding

12.5 mph average speed

Most miles - Missouri (406)

Fewest miles - Washington (5)

Century rides - 5

Longest day - 123.6 miles (9/11 from Chiloquin, OR to Sisters, OR)

Longest time - 9 hours 29 minutes (5/4 from Belmont, MS to Tuscaloser, AL)

Most elevation gained - 6,110 feet (6/2 from Woonsocket, RI to Granby, CT)

If I’m being straight up, it actually ended Monday night. After defying the odds and my own personal history by surviving the ride through the Cascades on Monday, my interest in another full day on the backup bike was pretty low. I could have repaired the flat on the first-stringer Monday evening, but my interest in that was pretty low as well. It will be much easier to fix in my garage than on the side of the road somewhere. Kelly and I had already decided that, regardless of how far I rode on Monday, we were going to drive home and sleep in the climate-controlled comfort of our own bed. The plan was to get up Tuesday morning and drive back down to wherever I left off and finish the ride.

This trip has been nothing but seat-of-the-pants, spur-of-the-moment adjustments to the plan. The final map will look absolutely nothing like the original plan. From Tuscaloser, Alabama to Cape Charles, Virginia was a complete change - thank you Enterprise. From Albany, New York to Bismarck, North Dakota was also not according to script - thanks again to Enterprise and Dan McCormack. Finally, the last chunk after I left New Mexico probably never would have happened if Kelly hadn’t been willing to drive the van back down and accompany me. Inertia is real and each time I took a break, it was incrementally more difficult to restart. Once I got in the van in Mill City, there was time for one more audible. On the way back to the house, I had Kelly drop me off in Jantzen Beach. For those that aren’t familiar, that is the last stop on the Oregon side of the Columbia River and 6 miles from the house. One final scary bridge crossing, one gradual hill, and then the short sprint up the 20% grade of Bacon Road. I still had a few Refreshments tunes left from the end of the ride to Mill City and my goal was to get home before the album started to repeat.

There were only two homeless people on the bridge - slightly below average in my experience - and only one of them appeared to have a sharp object in his hand as I eased by him. I made it through the stop and go traffic of downtown Vancouver and thought briefly about stopping by the Baker’s house in Vancouver. They live one block off my route home. They had left Bend shortly after we did on Monday and I knew they’d be home. I think they would have been surprised to see me ride by since they weren’t expecting me to finish for another day. In the end, the desire to finish won out and I bypassed their house. When I got to the bottom of Bacon Road, my cheering section was waiting - Kelly, Colleen and Gaucho. That was as fast as I’ve ever climbed that hill, and then around the corner to the house. A wave of accomplishment, relief, and just a tinge of sadness that I didn’t ride all the miles I had planned. In the end, though, it was a truly amazing way to spend my summer and I have zero regrets.

I’d like to thank some folks here before I wrap this blog up. These folks fed me, drove me, housed me, and/or just kept me company at various stages along the way and I am eternally thankful for their friendship and kindness. In order of appearance:

Melonie & Marcus Atkerson

Dan McCormack

Doug & Julie Allen

Jim & Susan Hannan

Janet Jackson-Ranheim & Todd Ranheim

Stefan Keller

My cousin Valerie Greenberg & her daughter Lily

Bert Rothenbach

Bob McGaughey

Kristen Swartwout

Lydia Brownlow

Kevin Tyle & Bryan LaVigne

Ann Wahba

My niece Isabella

Pam & Andrew McCormack

Will Sutton & Linda Christensen

My daughter Claire

Steve Hadley

My LG family - mom, Reid, Jeff, Marico, Quincy and my daughter Erin

My daughter Colleen and, of course, the love of my life, Kelly, without whom none of this would have been possible.

I also want to give a shout out to all those that read this over the last few months and either commented on FB or on the blog, passed on words of encouragement through Kelly, or took the time to call periodically and check in. It truly took a village to get this idiot around the country and back.

The I-5 interstate bridge over the Columbia

The final frontier

Bacon Road

The final ascent

Home at last, home at last. Thank God almighty I’m home at last.