Addendum

You can never give or get too many high fives.

Addendum

......and only one flat tire for the girly and one for the mom.

Expect addendums for awhile.

3851 miles!

We did it! 3581 miles later, Jackie and I pedaled into the Wake Forest School of Medicine. The mom was waiting with a celebratory bottle of champagne. It was a great trip. We arrived and showered before going to the Olive Garden and eating a ton of food. After that we headed to the REI to get the remaining items needed for the roof rack system on the sag. When we returned to the hotel, Jackie and I began installing the racks while the mom cleaned out the cooler and did a last load of our very stinky laundry. Jackie's dad arrived and we went out to eat downtown in his convertible. We had a very good celebratory meal in a great restaurant. It was hilarious how nice everyone there was. The hostess, our waitress, and the restaurant owner were all engaging and interested in us and our trip. They were suggesting places to live, and even giving me phone numbers of people to call when apartment searching. Yet again we were overwhelmed with kindness.

Upon returning, the mom and I snuggled into our beds. It is great to not be camping! Today the search for an apartment begins.

Some final stats from the trip.

The mom rode over 2800 miles with me from Portland to just south of St Louis. She rode her bike for 50 days (which come out to an average of over 56 miles a day). She is amazing. There is no doubt in my mind that given even five more days to do the trip, she would have completed it with ease.

Jackie rode over 1200 miles with me from Iowa to North Carolina. It was great to have her company along the trip. She definitely rode over some of the most difficult terrain on the trip, in the heat, all without a triple crank. Wow!

That is all for the trip. Thanks for following! The comments, emails, facebook messages, and phone calls were a lot of fun along the way.

Things I learned while on this journey

People in the US are sooooo nice.

The US is wayyyyy more rural than urban.

There are many more cattle in Montana than people.

The major rivers in this country are very impressive.

There is way too much junk food and not enough fruit in the c-stores.

You can pedal your bike up anything if you have low enough gears.

Your wardrobe for 10 weeks can consist of all you can fit in one little pannier.

When you are really really cold you can always get warm. But when you are really really hot you can not always get cool.

The US women's soccer team is amazing.

I am still afraid of bears. Dogs, even mangy ones, not so much.

The limits of the mind are greater than the limits of the body.

We can bring our shelter anywhere and live with few belongings. Except our iPhones.

Ice cream is the answer and sometimes donuts, it depends on the time of the day

The girly is an amazing woman. Couldn't be prouder. So much fun.

People get out of your hollers and do something amazing.

Mission: Complete

Going out to eat a celebratory dinner with the mom, Jackie, and her dad (who is in town to pick her up). Will post final thoughts on the trip later!

The final state

Jackie and I made it to North Carolina! We are still pedaling through the last foothills of the Appalachians and will be arriving into Winston-Salem tomorrow. Wow.

We had a minor snafu today. With 16 miles to go, Jackie and I ran into the mom in Sparta. The mom and I had no cell service, so she was waiting for us outside of a cafe that had wifi. We chatted quickly about the route to the campground before heading off. The mom stayed in town to grab some groceries before quickly passing us on the road. Jackie and I saw her pass us and assumed she would be at the campsite long before we arrived. We were wrong. As we rolled into the campground, the mom was nowhere to be found. We sat down and waited for a while. Five minutes. Ten minutes. Thirty minutes. We were starting to get very upset with our sweaty chamois situation. Finally, after an hour the mom rolled up to our jubilation. Apparently she had taken a wrong turn and assumed we did too. Concerned, she was driving around looking for us to show us the correct way to the campground while we were patiently waiting at the site. In the end we all found each other and had an enjoyable afternoon and evening. Dinner and ice cream (large ice cream). Yum.

Destination tomorrow: Wake Forest Medical Center.

Getting closer

The mom, Jackie, and I woke up this morning at the Methodist Church/bike hostel. I made use of the kitchen and whipped up pancakes for the three of us. Yum. I even packed a peanut butter and syrup pancake sandwich for the road. We began pedaling up through more Appalachian Mountains. The first gap that we went through was beautiful and relatively pain free due to some serious switchbacks. Most of our earlier Appalachian climbs neglected to use switchbacks. We arrived quickly into Damascus, VA (where I ate my delicious peanut butter and syrup pancake sandwich) and decided to take the Virginia Creeper Trail to our campground for the night. The Creeper Trail is a converted rails to trails project. Since it lies in an old railway bed, the entire climb to the campground was very gradual. Furthermore, the trail was completely shaded. We climbed for 18 miles straight on an easy going 2% grade. It was a nice change from the perilous ups and downs of the road. Most of the people on the trail (actually all of them) get dropped off at the top and then coast their bikes the entire was back to Damascus. The grade was just slight enough that they would occasionally have to pedal gently. It was funny because it quickly became clear to Jackie and I that they had no idea how much harder we were working to pedal up the same path.

Tomorrow we begin our second to last day of pedaling into Stone Mountain State Park in NC. After that: Winston-Salem!