Day 44 - Hiram to Portland ME - The Last Day.

Today we will do our normal blog, however if you check back in about a week, (after everyone gets home, unpacked and re-organized), we plan on posting a rap-up summary of the adventure with some of our thoughts etc.

Hi all:  What a spectacular day.  The weather was perfect, the roads were fine and I did not get lost :)   I am so proud of both those guys - what an accomplishment.  I will say again, how much fun I have had traveling along, fixing coolor lunches, enjoying a glass of wine at dinner (I don't drink beer) as we relived each day.  I have enjoyed getting to know Jerry, his wit, sense of humor and patience.  As for Tom, I can't think of a better way to start retirement than spending six weeks on a road trip with your husband and just hanging out - oh the memories we have created.  Thanks for inviting me to be a part of such a special event!
Patty on the road - signing off - heading home

Notes from Jerry:  I can't believe we just finished, on a beautiful day with temperatures in the high 70's and low humidity!  Everything worked out as far as finding our way into Portland and the bike shop owners warning of, "be prepared for the worst roads of the trip in the last few miles of the ride in Portland", were totally unfounded.  The ride in was super with good roads, mainly downhill.

Due to our use of the tailwind yesterday we had only about 40 miles to do today, and as we met Patty in the town of Gorham, which is only about 10-15 miles out of Portland, we asked if she could make a sandwich for us.  She looked at us with daggers and said, "you guys just ate breakfast!"  We told her she couldn't quit on us now, and we needed all the strength we could muster to negotiate the urban potholes and navigate streets with cars and signals and detailed directions.  After we told her it would be her last cooler lunch - kind of a celebratory thing, she gave in, said something about where is Gwen when I need her.  We said she needed to dip her cooler in the water just like our bikes, and she did, as the picture below shows.  I think Patty was more excited to accomplish our goal than we were - ha!  Three cheers for St. Patricia!!

We dropped off my bike at the bike store that Gwen had scouted out for us, and then proceeded 3 blocks down the street to a little Inn called the Inn at St. John, which is a great find, and close!  Tom is taking his bike apart for the return drive home and Patty is at the laundromat so she has something clean to wear for the big celebratory lobster dinner tonight.  We have the place already scoped out.

This trip has been a dream trip of mine.  The fact that Tom and Patty invited me to participate, in Tom's big adventure was a chance of a lifetime, especially because there were only the 3 of us and we were fully supported by Patty with a car.  Thank you T and P!!  We are the envy of every cyclist I know and for sure all of the cyclists we have met on the road.  We even gave up using our camelbacks, and yesterday when I had only one bottle holder on the rental bike - no problem, Patty was always there. Incredible to be able to ride across the country totally unencumbered with junk!

Notes from Tom:  It's over -- we did the last 38 miles in little more than 2 hours.  Our grand total was 3,431.  I feel sort of like I did when I was a kid and all of the Christmas presents had been opened--the anticpation of getting to Portland is over--what do I do now.  The mental and physical energy it took to get up every day for the last 44 and continue the trip never seemed like a big deal, until we finished, and now I feel like I'm suffering a let down.

I can't say enough thank you's to my wife Patty for being the support team for us.  I know she really did enjoy it, but it was still a heroic effort that allowed me to fulfill a long-time dream, and put a couple of checks in boxes on the bucket list.  Whatever she and I do for a next or several adventures, it will be her choice.  Tonight she'll feast on fresh Maine lobster, but that won't even make a dent in what I owe her.  Thanks Patty.

I told Jerry this morning as we rode that I was so glad that he wanted to participate in this trip.  I would have attempted the trip with just Patty and I, but having Jerry along made it much more fun for me.  I can't think of anyone else I would have rather shared the adventure with.  It's really good fortune that we started as roomates and fraternity brothers in college, and we still have enough in common to complete this trip and still be friends.  Our riding skills are very comparable so even though we didn't ride close together much of the time, it was great to have someone to share the experience with.  Thanks Jerry.

The last thank you is to all of you who read the blog.  We really enjoyed the e-mails and comments we got, and we're totally amazed that our blog has been viewed almost 11,000 times.  That's as amazing to me as the fact that we completed the ride, exactly on schedule, with minimal problems.  Thanks all.

We're off to have lobster!!