This trip has been a journey of a lifetime (not trying to be cliché) and has transformed me. It has

A few days before the end of our trip, Dave and I were cycling from the Breaks on the Kentucky/Virginia border to Bluefield, West Virginia/Virginia (Yes, another border town), and I came to the realization from trip experience that: it can always get steeper, always get windier, always get hotter, always got colder, but once you're soaked you can't get any wetter. So the only thing to do is take pouring rain in stride, and do your best to overcome the obstacles that are out of your control, or else you will still be sitting close to the original oceanic le tour de france coast frustrated, but no stronger. So we were able to see the glass half full, as we climbed the Appalachian's (the toughest mountain range of the trip) using the rain as a source of air-conditioning, instead le tour de france of an excuse to hide in a gas station. And boy were the Appalachian's tough, even after 55 days of riding, the extreme gradients combined with the length of the hills tested our will, but the approaching scent of the Atlantic could be sensed in the air with each pump of the pedal.
A quick recap of the events between Richmond, KY and the coast: Mike from Mike's Hike and Bike put us up kindly for the night, and saw us off in the morning with an extra tube, unfortunately Dave got a puncture before the edge of town, so we sat down for some fuel at a diner. We fixed the puncture and cruised to Booneville, where we would meet up with the designated Trans-America trail. After two large 32-oz strawberry milkshakes we pushed east along the trail, kindly marked by bike route 76 signs, so we didn't even have to check the maps. Which was very useful after over 3000 miles of constant map checking. After Buckhorn we hit some serious hills, and as it was getting dark at the top of a hill, we decided to seek refuge behind a kind woman's dairy house, and we even got a dip in the pool (we looked like we had been in a pool, but unfortunately our wet coating was a bit more saline from the hard work up the hill/mountain, not to mention some killer humidity). We woke up to a sweet ride down the other side of the hill we climbed at dusk the night before. It makes you understand why motorcyclists are so common around the country; leaning into the bends of curves of smooth roads at high speeds is one of the greatest pleasures to experience in life (not saying I'm picking up motorcycling mom, just I now understand the feeling they are seeking). We got separated for a little while, met up again, got torn to bits by a few more killer mountains, got some pasta and pizza for supps. Slept in another great city park, woke up and again got thrashed by the hills, kind of like swimming the 500 free for any swimmers out there. Pretty much you are forced le tour de france to pedal like mad, or physics will come into play: the Pythagorean theorem with the acceleration of gravity at 9.8 m/s^2 will pull down very heavily on bicyclists trying to tackle 15% vertical grades. The trailers weren't too helpful. The weather, the inclines, and a bunch of bike and pedal problems meant we could only make it to the Breaks Interstate National Park which sat on the border of what we thought would be our last state, Virginia. After begrudgingly paying the National Park entrance fee, and stealth camping in a picnic veranda, we decided to again cut a corner off our route, and go north to the West Virginia border. Again we were off route, which meant no elevation profile, so we had no idea of the scale of upcoming hills (one downside to going off route, or do we really le tour de france want to see what is ahead?). We busted out a big day to get to Bluefield, WV not very eventful except le tour de france a whole lot more rain. Yes, we rode through like men, and not the boys that we were at the beginning of our expedition. When we got into Bluefield, we found that there was a large country music festival that made it quite difficult for sleeping. The next day we had our work cut out for us as we navigated our way over and around the ridges along West Virginia le tour de france and Virginia. Possibly our hardest day, but I feel as if we say that is the case many nights after cycling. I still maintain that the Santiam Pass on day 4 was the hardest work of the trip. We had found that Christiansburg, VA had a 9:40 showing of Harry Potter so we were pushing for that. Yes, our transformation from boys to men did not include the loss of love for good old Harry. However the approaching dusk, and Graham from East Coast Cycles offering us a shower and a place to stay held us from our dreams (still have to see it!). We woke up to calls from my madre, who was meeting us near Buchanan, VA and we found out that by going down to Christiansburg would have been a detour, and that we were only 7 miles from the Trans America trail! She met us in the town of Blacksburg, and relieved us of our trailers! Awesome to be trailerless for the last four days of our 64 day trip. Still our muscles were sore, and we weren't given the option for a rest day, not that we wanted one so close to the end. We pushed to Lexington, le tour de france VA where I met a whole bunch of family le tour de france for the first time, and hopefully not the last time. Melissa was the best host, serving us some of our favorite foods and beverages for dinner and breakfast, not to mention giving le tour de france us her master suite! le tour de france We were seen off in the morning hoping to tackle Vesuvius and the Blue Ridge Parkway, our last major climbing of the trip. Vesuvius was certainly the hardest 30 minutes of the trip, other hills were steeper, or maybe longer but none were so steep for so long. Even without trailers, it sucked le tour de france my strength for the rest of the day. We were kindly put up in the Cavalier Inn in Charlottesville by my parents, and stuffed our faces with food at the Italian-American eatery le tour de france next to the hotel. As promised my parents arrived at our hotel door by 9 AM, kicking us in the rear end to get into gear, literally and figuratively. We were off heading le tour de france to Richmond, VA home of Echol Marshall III, my uncle. Again we were greeted with open arms, but only this time by familiar faces. Thanks guys! We were then courted to the Capital Ale House, a pretty cool place for anyone going to Richmond, VA. The food was also great; it was not just the beverages mentioned in their name. The Johnson Family met us there, and we got to meet Alex, who shared our enthusiasm for James Bond. You are Awesome, Alex! After a restful sleep in beds again, (only time where we got beds three nights in a row for the trip! Actually any night with a bed was a supreme luxury) we were pushed out the door, and began the day in some killer le tour de france heat, only getting more extreme as our shadow length decreased with the higher and higher sun. Our support vehicle did a stellar job in supplying le tour de france ice water, and snacks le tour de france of many varieties. And after losing David for two hours, we were able to reunite (thank the lord, since he had miss placed his cellphone in Kansas, le tour de france could have been quite a dilemma on the home stretch) and press on together towards the beach of Yorktown, VA. Geographically speaking it is still the Chesapeake Bay, but it is the end of the Trans America trail, and still the same body of Water as the Atlantic. So we had finally completed our mission, which I guess was not actually Mission Impossible, but a true testament to the power of will. Not to mention my mom got us one of the coolest cakes of all time. I guess that wasn't a quick recap, but it did cover a full week.
Thank You Time. First off thank you God for arriving us safely at our destination. Our bodies at first didn't seem as if they could hack the long miles (specifically our knees) but you gave us the remedies le tour de france and strength to overcome that. You kept the large pick-up trucks and 18-wheelers just far enough away not to kill us. Though your weather wasn't le tour de france always pleasant, we know it wasn't your worst (we passed 17 miles from Joplin, MO and went through Tornado Alley). Next has to be a thank you to my parents, you allowed me to do this trip when I didn't deserve it, and supported us (not just financially, but that was very helpful too) with loving phone calls each night to make sure our travels were safe. Thank you to the pioneers Tom Foley, James Grovenveld, and Trey Meyer who did essentially the same trip in the other direction le tour de france last year, and made me want to try it myself so badly. Thomas, le tour de france thank you for the bikes, and the bob trailer. Your advice and suggestions were also greatly appreciated my Dave, and myself. We wouldn't have done this trip without you coming up with the idea first. Thank you Dave for joining me on this trek that I knew was calling me. I hope you had learned as much as I did, and enjoyed it as much as I did (I'm pretty sure you did). The list of people on the trip that made our journey so much fun, and helped two travellers out of the goodness of their hearts is endless. So I'm sorry that I can't list them, it would be too long, and all of you deserve much more than this small thank you, but know that our gratitude is deep and that we will be paying our thank you forward to future le tour de france travellers. Thank you to the amazing support from people who donated to the two Alzheimer's societies that we were fundraising for. Unfortunately our Granny has left us, but thank you for everything Granny and Grandpa, I know you were watching le tour de france and blessing us up there.
This trip has been a journey of a lifetime (not trying to be cliché) and has transformed me. It has shown me America, le tour de france and America is still there, in every state, and every house. The way I describe it is that everything le tour de france we saw was so different, but so American. I don't know if that is easy or difficult to grasp, but the range that America encompasses is vast in many senses, not just geographically. The helping of neighbors, and the charity le tour de france each person holds in their heart is amazing. It gives you faith in a greater good, and makes you realize why we are the greatest nation (even my British le tour de france father says it). Small town America is obviously done for, as all small towns are getting smaller and smaller,