Day 45: Fini

100 miles. What? We're done? Yep. It took us 42 days of cycling with 2 days of rest, and we made it home safely! Thanks to everyone who made this trip so enjoyable. It was an experience we will never forget! So what really happened the past few days? Well, again, we apologize our tardiness and for neglecting to mention what cities we have visited lately. During Day 40, as we were finishing our pizzas in Little Caesars we decided to check how far it was directly from Danville, KY to Washington, DC. Google maps said it was only 536 miles, however, our maps said we had 800 miles to go. For a variety of reasons we decided to go for it. It was a new adventure all in itself. There were no maps to follow other than the Google route. So we never really knew when the next gas station was, what kind of shoulder we would have, or where we would be sleeping. Although we would have liked to have visited with the cookie lady and motor up those really steep hills everyone talked about, we also wanted to get home. The 10-day weather forecast for each city didn't look too good. Family, friends, sleep, money, and dreams of home cooked meals were all motivation we needed for the past few days. Day 41: We biked from Danville, KY to Portsmouth, OH. Day 42: Portsmouth, OH to Parkersburg, WV (Mount Wood Community Park). Day 43: Parkersburg, WV to Aurora, WV. Day 44: Aurora, WV to Winchester, WV Then today we biked from Winchester, WV to Washington, DC. After spending some time in DC we headed towards the water. We made it to a park near Annapolis, MD. It was only about 30 miles away from the capitol. We knew a while ago that last night would be our final night camping. So we decided to indulge with a nice hotel. The breakfast this morning was phenomenal. Eggs, waffles, muffins, hash browns, the works. It was the perfect start to our last day on the road. The plan was to make it to DC, get some cool pictures, and then head over to Annapolis before 6pm so we could pick up our rental car from Hertz. That night in Little Caesars we were going to book our train tickets for Thursday, June 17th, but they were all sold out. So we priced out renting a car and found it was even cheaper than the train. Plus, it gave us room to be flexible. This worked out great because we picked up the car a day earlier on Wednesday. Once we had our car we continued to bike over another few miles to the ocean and finish the journey by dipping our front wheels in the water. That morning we were kind of worried about riding into DC. It didn't take us long to learn that Google maps doesn't always pick the easiest or safest route. Short-cuts don't always mean flatter or shoulder. During the final ride we stopped at a bike shop to pick up a few extra spokes, just in case, and they said there's a bike path right behind the store that would take us right into the city. It was awesome! We really lucked out. It was one of the nicest asphalt trails we have been on this whole trip. We're not sure the locals seemed to like it that much. As we waved to them grinning ear to ear they were somewhat unresponsive. That is except for Lori and Laurie, two triathletes we met along the way. We cycled through George Mason, Georgetown, and the GW campuses. Had lunch in the Mall and then had some picture taken. The President didn't let us into the White House, we must of smelled pretty bad. We did meet Steve out near the front gate who was visiting from San Francisco. You can imagine how good he felt knowing it only took him and his daughter a few hours versus days to get there. He had a really nice camera and took some pictures for us which was really great, thanks so much Steve! The rain held off as we moseyed over to Annapolis to pick up our Ford Focus. At first we were concerned about it's size, but once we saw the trunk we knew we would be in good shape. After heading down to the water for final pictures and a final dinner stop at Subway we rode home (but not on a bike). The Hertz lady told us we had 24 hours to return the car to Toledo, OH and had unlimited miles. "You just can't go to Mexico, sorry, I have to say that" she said. So we thought about it and decided to take a little detour through New York City. It seemed pretty close and we were really in the mood for a slice of pizza. So except for the unexpected toll roads we didn't have any traffic at 3am, parking was free, and it was an absolutely amazing way to cap off our journey. There probably should be another post for Day 46 but all it would say is that we returned the car 45 minutes before our time was up. Yeah, we enjoyed cutting it close. We picked up the van we left at the train station in Toledo, OH and then made it back home that night to surprise our families. We'd like to think they had no idea we'd be home so early. In total the trip ended up lasting 46 days. 42 days from Ocean to Ocean, and 40 days of actually cycling. An estimated 3500 miles were traveled. And so far $2,061 has been raised for the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Michigan. Thanks again to the people who made this trip what it was, a wonderful experience. It was truly a blessing to meet people from all across America and to have so much support. This couldn't have been accomplished without all of you! Thank to everyone for following our blog, we hope you enjoyed it. Finally, thank you so much for your donations! Having a wish come to fruition is an unforgettable experience that will last forever. God bless America!

The White House

Hey there Mr. President

Dipping the tip, just for a quick second

Finishing up the trip

It's aluminum not steel

Now throw it in the water

Times Square

We had too

Just like NYPD

This happened back during our first day of rest before Carson Pass. We saw them roll over in front of us and they quickly jumped out of the window, safely and smiley.