One More Adventure!

Well the fun never ends. After getting to the Jacksonville airport on Friday, 6 hours before my flight home was to depart, I found out that my flight was going to be late taking off due to bad weather in Newark. That meant that I might not make my connecting flight in Houston that was to take me in to Seattle, where Dan would be waiting to take me home to my own bed. After discussing with the ticket agent at the gate my options (basically none!), I decided just to try to get into Houston and hope that my connecting flight would be late so that I could have time to get on it. Not to be. My flight from Jacksonville arrived in Houston at 9:03 and the flight out of Houston going to Settle left at 9:05. Even though I literally sprinted from one gate to the next, there was no way I could get on that flight, and no other flights going out to Seattle that night.

So, do I sleep in the airport or head for a hotel? That's when I met two delightful young ladies who were in the same predicament. We decided that the best option was to share a room, split the cost and catch the earliest flight to Seattle in the morning. So, we got an airport discount on a very nice room at the Sheraton hotel, caught a shuttle to the hotel and checked in with no luggage. I thought it was very funny that after sharing a room every night for 2 months with a different person, now I was sharing a room with two ladies I had never met before. We all hit it off just fine, and made the best of our mutual bad luck. After sleeping in our clothes, we got up and went to breakfast and then headed for the airport. Jena and Orlaith were wonderful room mates, and we all had an uneventful trip into Seattle.

It was wonderful having Dan greet me at the airport. He met me at the baggage claim area with a balloon bouquet with mylar balloons saying "Congratulations", and "You Did It". The funny part was that he also had some regular balloons that were looking quite droopy, barely floating above the floor. We had a good laugh when he told me that they had looked great last night--and had lost air during the night when I missed my flight! It was still a wonderful welcome home! Yeah! I get to sleep in my own bed tonight!

Finale in St. Augustine! May 1, 2008

Our final day of riding began with lots of nervous jitters. It was hard to believe that our last day of riding had actually arrived and that we were within 45 miles of reaching our goal. I was also riding on a patched tube on the back tire and didn't want to have a flat on the last day, ---or fall, ---or get lost, ---or be late arriving at the fire station, ---or a million other needless worries.

The ride itself was beautiful. It wound along back farm roads and quiet little communities. We had to keep telling ourselves to slow down, take a deep breath (famous Michelle words), and not rush through these last miles with our friends.

We arrived at the St. Augustine fire house, where we assembled for the final five miles in to the beach with a police escort. We arranged ourselves in two's, with the oldest riders leading the way, and the younger riders in back. Would you believe I was actually one of the middle ager riders, since there were quite a number of 60 to 68 year olds in our group. We all rode in together the final five miles. We were quite a site as we wound through the streets of St. Augustine, whooping it up, and waving to the curious onlookers. We crossed the Bridge of Lions and headed in to Anastacia Beach, where family and friends had gathered to welcome and congratulate the riders. It was surreal. Although I didn't have family or friends there to meet me at the finish, I knew my family was cheering me on toward this goal. When we got to the beach, I headed straight fo the water, and lifted my bike over my head in celebration of reaching the finish line. Since I was a SAG driver, I didn't bike all the miles, but I biked about 2400 of the 3100 miles. I was told that we climbed a total of 76,000 feet in elevation over the course of the trip. I rode with an incredible group of ladies! Every one made it in to the final destination in spite of minor misshaps along the way. Our celebration included a wonderful lunch at the beach before heading off to pack bikes for shipping home.

We said our goodbyes at dinner time. It was sad to see this trip end, but each of us realizes that it is time to return to our real lives, forever changed by the friends we have made, and the achievement we have accomplished together. I was looking forward to this being my last night in a hotel bed for a long while!