This is the "home stretch". The plan is to leave Cleveland on July 28th and arrive in Margaretville by August 15th.

 

July 27, 2006 Here in Lakewood with the Shaughnessy's. All of a sudden we are 4 riders now. Pat McCullar caught up with us yesterday and Bob Thomas arrived this morning via train. He spent the day with me in Cleveland while I did some interviews and stuff, then we went to the Rock and Roll Museum. Terry and Pat spent the day with Mark as he took them to town and visited the same museum. We are all home in Lakewood now mulling over the recent news of Floyd Landis and the blood doping issue. none of us really understand why someone would do something so obvious or looked for. We just cannot believe it has happened. It is rainy out, some passing thunder storms but to our east, it is really wet. I hope it clears for tomorrow's ride. I just got off the phone with Eric Marshall and he is expecting us on Sunday for a 3 hour tour and over night stay. I am not sure we can live up to the Gilligan billing as a crew or passenger. It will be interesting to be out on a boat in Lake Erie. I did two newspaper interviews today, was on live TV on Good Morning Cleveland at 5:45 am. i rode my bike through downtown Cleveland to the studio. I will attempt to put a link to the interview on the wiki. Yesterday I talked to the Daily Star and the day before to another paper here in the Cleveland area. You can find both articles In the Press. It is really special to spend time with the Shaughnessys on their turf. Hup has not worked the last couple days to be around for anything we need. Mark has been tour guide and host also. Tomorrow we head east. Things are rapidly getting closer to a close. I am excited but somewhat sad that it will all be over in a few days. http://media.vmsnews.com/MonitoringReports/072706/641151/P000702280/ This is the link to the interview this AM. Everyone here feels it went well. I did goof up once but not too bad. This is all for now.

 

July 28, 2006 We left Lakewood on the 28th as planned - but traveling east from Lakewood got tougher the further east that we went. The reason for the hard travelin' was that there had been some very heavy thundershowers on the night of the 27th. How heavy you say? How does get up to 12 inches of rain in 24 hours sound? Pretty heavy, right?

 

Our route took us along the Cleveland lake front and we went right under the Rock and Rock Hall of Fame and Museum and out by a little airport. Things in the Cleveland area were not too hectic. We got a recommendation for an all you can eat buffet at Maria's Family Restaurant in Mentor and that was a good deal.

 

Terry was on a quest to replace some water bottles and would sometimes take a foray off route to locate a bike shop but didn't find one till quite late in the day. I lost the cotter pin and washer that holds one of my trailer wheels on, but discovered the loss before the wheel rolled off and got crunched by some passing vehicle. I was also across the street from a hardware store when I discovered the loss - so that made replacing the parts a cinch.

 

Terry got water bottles for $7.00 each and thought he paid way too much.

 

Pat wanted to get a book to read right away and a book that would last a long time on the rest of the trip. He got a mystery, the title of which is a mystery and "War and Peace" by Tolstoy.

 

Getting to Painesville we were delayed by a road closing that was lifted as we waited. Later in the day we had to wait and then take a sidewalk route because of downed power lines. In Painesville, since it was the county seat, we got the bright idea to ask the police if the roads ahead were open and if the campsite at Perry Township was open. The poor dispatcher trying to check those things out was swamped by calls but kept her cool and told us we could only get out of town on US 20. She was also asked to get a release from the towing company for a woman whose car had been 5 feet underwater for a number of hours before the towing company could remove it.

 

The campsite was also expecting us. At the campsite a bunch of boats that had been broken loose by high water were tangled on the beach where they had ended sometimes still tied to their docks.

 

We passed yards full of water and houses with water much higher than people wanted to see. Some boats were broken in half.

-Bob Thomas reporting

 

July 29, 2006 Virginia's Beach Campground. Mike and I stayed at this campground near Lake Erice. I got in a swim before dinner. The water was pretty rough and warm but it felt good to swim. We bought fresh sweet corn for dinner.

 

July 30, 2006 Here in Northeast, Pa. Bob Thomas has joined this intrepid group. He took the train to Cleveland and met me at the hotel downtown. We toured the city, returned to Shaughnessy's and weathered a storm. The storm dropped 8 - 12 inches of rain east of Cleveland. We pedaled through damaged areas the next day and had to alter routes twice to avoid flooding.

 

In a nutshell, we have easily made it to Cousin Eric and Nancy Marshall's house, where upon arrival we were seranaded by Bagpipes, a la Eric. We had a great time on our sail around the Erie area. Actually it was not windy so we were under motor power most of the time. Pat McCullar has rejoined us for a while, probably until Margaretville. We are now a band of 4. In the next few days we will visit Niagara Falls, visit Megan in Lockport, Karen Shaughnessy in Pittsford and then head towards the end where we will visit Mary Jean. Our last stop will be in Morris at Bob's house. Until I have more time to do more detailed update, good night.

 

 

 

July 31, 2006 The Marshall's were wonderful hosts and made a great breakfast to send us off. Mike had an interview with the local weekly papter before we left.

 

We went down into the town of North East and had a few errands to do. Mike needed the nosepiece replaced on one side of his glasses so he went to an optometrist office. Terry had some roughness in his front bearings so he went to a bike shop. Ken at Lake City Bikes was great and reworked Terry's front hub right away.

 

Then we rode out to the shore of Lake Erie and started east toward NY and got out past Fredonia and a few other towns to Evangola State Park where all four of us shared a campsite on a bluff above the lake. The wind roared pretty good through the trees above us but didn't do anything to cool us in our tents.

 

August 1, 2006 Mike and I are staying in a Day's Inn in Niagara Falls tonight and probably tomorrow night. The Day's Inn let us bring our bikes and trailers in the room which is much more convenient than having to store them in the basement somewhere. Business at the Falls is slow... a combination of heat and high gas prices probably.

 

Record high temps were set and you need to get some sleep to be able to bike.

 

Mike brought a spoke today as we were leaving Fort Erie, Ontario just after crossing the Peace Bridge. Getting to the Peace Bridge was a bit of a trial since some streets have been renamed since the maps were published. Customs was no problem.

 

But about the spoke. When the spoke went Mike's wheel immediately began bumping his brake. We took it to a bike shop and the man recommended rebuilding the wheel. So we spent about 1.5 hours there while that was done.

 

We approached the Horseshoe Falls along a bike route that was deserted. The views were really neat. It seems like people just want to stay close to the stands and not walk too far. It was really hot though so that may have limited their walking. About 5 PM it was 97 right at the Horseshoe Falls. It hasn't cooled down too much now at 10 PM either.

 

Terry and Pat found another motel down at Chipawa, before the falls.

 

-Bob Thomas reporting.

 

August 2, 2006 Mike Here. We are in Niagara Falls, Ont. It is beastly hot, as it must be in most of the US. Bob and I are taking a day to be tourists and get caught up on duties of travel.

 

Yesterday we rode into Niagara via a bike path that brought us to the falls along the upstream of the falls. It was a view that I had never seen and was interesting. We were close to the scow that sits just above the Horseshoe falls. It had drifted there in about 1910 and purposely sunk to save the two guys on board. They were later rescued by a harpoon shot from shore.

 

We were in the middle of the tourist section on our bikes watching the filming of "Camille", a movie about a ghost on a blue horse. Can't wait until the video. We spent a few minutes people watching and then headed to camp. It was 97 degrees when we arrived and Bob talked me into a hotel. We will stay there again tonight as there is a chance of thunderstorms that should break the heat wave.

 

Today we toured under the falls, took photos for tourists to get them in whole family groups. Many times on this trip I have wished there was someone to take my picture so I decided to do a good thing and help out others.

 

Terry and Pat stayed in a motel south of here last night. I am not sure if they are doing the tourist thing today but will check messages tonight to see where they ended up. Terry had said he was not planning on a day off today.

 

Riding up here from the Peace Bridge, I hit a curb and broke a spoke again. The bike shop mechanic recommended a wheel rebuild, so now I have a newly spoked rear wheel built in a pattern that is supposedly stronger.

 

Our visits to the Shaughnessy's and Marshall's were very nice. Bob and I were greeted with a bag pipe salute as we rode up the road to Eric's house. It was all I had hoped it to be. At Eric's we boated on Lake Erie for about 3 hours. It was supposed to be a sail but there was no wind so it was more of a float when the engine was not running. It was still fun and each of us got to do some of the chores of running a sail boat.

 

Eric's farm is 140 acres and is planted mostly to grapes of various types. There is about 50 acres of forest but mostly grapes.

 

We had a nice dinner at the Erie Yacht Club and visited into the evening on the breezy front porch.

 

Tomorrow it will be back to the states and a visit with Megan in Lockport. She is in Buffalo for something with Sean's family, I think it is a wedding. I am excited about that.

 

On Friday, it is on to Karen's house in Pittsford. You can just read the Cheering Section to see that there has been a lot of hype over this visit to here house.

 

August 3, 2006 Bob Thomas online at the very nice public library in the city of Lockport, NY. Some big thunderstorms did roll through last night waking us even over the rumble of the air conditioning.

 

We had a little trouble with the maps as we left Canada - the mapped route showed roads that no longer exist but we made it back into the USA.

 

Once on the highway we came to a corner of NYS 104 and Military Rd and a woman was there selling fruit just like she was in 1998 when I led some 4H cyclists through the area. We bought some peaches and got a recommendation on a place for breakfast.

 

Turns out the place was off route and down a large hill. We didn't want to go back up the hill just after breakfast so we took a parallel route along NYS 104, then asked a mailman how to get back to Upper Mountain Rd and back on route. He said we would have a big climb and could just as easily stay on 104 - we did that for a while and decided to head south to get back on Upper Mountain Rd.

 

We got up as high as Lower Mountain Rd and followed that as it turned in Niagara St. Just after Niagara St. passed the Niagara County Jail we had a hugely steep climb - not long but Mike says that it was the steepest so far.

 

We met Megan and Shawn (or is it Sean?) at the Brewhaus Cafe and Coffee Shop in Lockport. Had a good lunch and visit. I then came to the library and Mike is hanging out down by the canal.

 

Mike on cell phone waiting for Megan.

 

Megan and Shawn approaching.

 

Megan greeting her dad Mike, after who knows how long?

 

I had added many more photos to snapfish.com

 

On to Middleport to camp tonight.

 

August 4th Middleport, NY - Mike and I came rode along the Canal Trail to Middleport. There was mention of canal side camping (check in with Middleport Police) or a detour off route and uphill of about 5 miles one way to another camp site. We were hoping to find the canal side camping acceptable.

 

As we approached Middleport we saw another touring cyclist with a BOB trailer near some picnic tables on the other side of the canal. We crossed the lift bridge and biked over to ask him what he knew about camping in Middleport. John, a Kodak employee, up from South Carolina was on his first bicycle trip ever and he was doing great. He had checked with the police and the camping was indeed free. Better yet there were two new bathrooms, each with a shower that were open to campers. To top things off there was a diner, Peggy's Place, right on the corner that served breakfast, lunch and dinner at reasonable prices.

 

There was a threat of rain so we began setting up our tents and getting set for the night. As we were setting up the tents along came a local resident Bill, father-in-law of the chief of the Middleport Police. Bill told us about the Emergency Squad garage near the campsite, about the campsite, about the attitude of boaters using the campsite, about teens in town, about building renovations on a lot near the campsite and about 3,000 other things - all told with an animated and interesting style. He offered us the use of his phone later and warned us that his dog might be barking with a strange sound.

 

While we were talking two teens of a group of four or five walked down into the canal and began to swim across with all their clothes on. There is about a 8 mph current there according to Bill and one teen was getting tired. He started yelling for "Help!" but not showing any signs of actual distress. Bill groused again about the teens and then walked up toward them to show them where they could climb out.

 

We got showers and then Mike wandered off to go to an ATM. He was gone a long time and came back a changed man. He was carrying a nice cool diet soda on ice for me or I might have noticed the change, but I focused on the soda. We went to Peggy's for dinner and then ducked into a bar to watch the evening news, especially to see the weather report. Rain. Lots of rain.

 

It started raining as we walked back to our tents and as were talking to some boaters from Canada the rain really came down. We crawled into our tents at about 7 PM. It rained steadily - heavier and lighter until 2 AM. John, Mike and I all had much more water in our tents than we were comfortable with. After the rain and wetness our sleep was interrupted by a few ambulance calls. Quite a night.

 

In the morning as we were packing away our went tents I finally noticed the change in Mike. It had taken him 40 minutes to go the ATM because he went to a barbershop that Bill had told us about.

 

We made free will donations to the village of Middleport in thanks for the fine campsite.

 

August 5 Pittsford, NY - Bob Thomas online at the Karen and Brian's house. Mike's cousin Karen and Brian have been wonderful hosts. We dried our tents and other gear on their driveway.

 

Karen drove Mike to a Dick's Sporting Goods to get some spray on sealer to make the tents a bit more waterproof.

 

Karen told us that she wished Terry was with us because she bought us each a present for our bikes. A kick stand for each bike. We were frozen and didn't know what to say. Touring cyclists very rarely carry or use kick stands. Loaded bike do better by being leaned against a wall. Then she told us that she was kidding and we all breathed a sigh of relief. Karen can be very entertaining, you know?

 

The dinner was great with some wine from Italy and Spain. We heard stories about the More family. Interesting lot.

 

Breakfast was good too and Karen even packed us a lunch.

 

 

 

August 6th Fairhaven - Sunday

On the way to Fairhaven we biked along the Canalway Trail as far as Palmyra. On the trail we met Harvey Botzman - author of the "Cycle Round Lake Ontario" "Cycle Round Lake Erie" books. He recently bought a Bike Friday World Traveler bicycle and was using it when we saw him. He was talking to Chris Knight of Goldbar, Washington. Chris had just finished hiking the Appalachian Trail and decided to top that off by biking back to Washington state from Bar Harbor. He had only an umbrella for rain gear.

 

While we were talking to Chris and Harvey two other cross country cyclists happened along. - A man and a woman headed for West Hartford, CT. That was quite a gathering of cross country cyclists.

 

We had a dinner at a biker bar on the left just as you come into Fairhaven. It is named "Cutters". The park was full so we camped at a private campground just a few blocks from the gate. The private campground had no showers so after setting up our tents we biked over to the state campground and got showers there.

 

There was some sort of party at a campsite near us and they were pretty loud for a long time but eventually we got to sleep.

 

August 7th Selkirk Shores State Park - Pulaski, NY to Boonville

We had a pretty hot hilly ride from the Renaissance Festival to the Park. There were lots of steep hills. It was a bit like doing "interval training" - but that is not supposed to last all day. Fortunately the hills got less steep and further apart the further east that we got.

 

We shopped for Selkirk on the edge of Oswego. Mike and Pat went into an Aldi's Supermarket and came out with a dinner for three for only $5.80! It included a 32 oz box of spaghetti for .99, a quart of spaghetti sauce, 8 oz of pepperoni and 8 or 12 oz of grated parmesan cheese. We were all full after eating that.

 

The wind blew hard and the waves crashed on the rocks below the campground all night long.

 

We camped near a friendly family of kayakers from Buffalo.

 

The riding from Pulaski to Boonville was wonderful. OK - it was a bit hilly - but the pavement was very smooth and the traffic was very light. We met a couple cycling cross country on a pretty blue Santana tandem. We talked to them where we met them stopped along the road and then they started off.

 

They climbed faster than we did and descended faster than we did. We might be able to match them on the flats - but there were really no flats. They were from Phoenix and had crossed into Canada and gone north of the Great Lakes until Niagara Falls.

 

We caught up to them in Redfield and chatted again.

 

We stopped for lunch in Osceola and had huge hamburgers in a bar that had a full sized picture of John Wayne and two sheep herding dogs that would bring a tennis ball for you to throw endlessly.

 

We caught up to the tandem couple again in West Leyden which is where the nice riding ended. NYS 294 from West Leyden to Boonville was full of frantic truck traffic. We talked to the tandem couple at the Hilltop Market and they left just before we did. They zoomed down the hill and their tandem became very small in the distance and then just disappeared into the vastness of America on an August afternoon.

 

We had dinner delivered to us at the campground in Boonville.

 

August 8, 2006 Mike Here at Mary Jean's house. Bob, Pat and I arrived this afternoon after an exhilarating ride from Boonville. It was mostly downhill. Something of a strange thing since reentering NYS. The weather broke last night when we were camped at Rocky's Recreation Park and Campground in Boonville (the recreation is square and round dancing). It threatened rain but we didn't get any. As soon as the wind slowed, so did the temperatures and humidity. We lucked out with no rain. There has been plenty lately.

 

The ride along West Canada Creek was enjoyable as have been the last few days in new territory. The big differences in terrain have been hills again. I actually had to walk a section of hill after leaving the Renaissance Fair in Sterling on Sunday. We had a great time there. The actors did great jobs at their tasks and roles. We watched a joust that turned into a big time wrestling match in the dirt, saw Hey Nunnie, Nunnie, an act by two nuns and a washwench act.

 

We had a great time at Karen Shaughnessy's and are relaxing nicely here in Mohawk. We had a great meal and visited in the cool of the back yard. Mike and Jack are home, Tom is in Saratoga at a concert. May see him in the morning before we leave.

 

All is well here. Tomorrow we ride to Bob Thomas' house in Morris and then on to Margaretville.

 

I am getting excited about being home and the two days to go will seem like an eternity. I will still enjoy the ride but want to be home. Both Pat and Terry will be there. Pat is with us now and Terry will meet us on Thursday as he is in Binghamton visiting family friends. It will be nice to link up after several days apart. The stories are always intersting when you part and come back together.

 

August 9, 2006 Mohawk to Morris. The Gorge - the Ilion Gorge was the start of our day. We rode from Mohawk to Ilion via a very level Main St. We stopped to pick up a few items at a store in Ilion and then turned south and uphill away from the Mohawk River. We went through about a mile of Ilion streets and then left the houses behind as we climbed into a twisting shaded gorge filled with the sound of the rushing waters of the Steele Creek. We climbed up and up for about an hour before emerging into the sunlight near Cedarville.

 

We followed town roads past some Mennonite farms where toddlers clutched hands when they saw the Lycra clad trailer pulling cyclists pass by. We took a break in West Winfield along US 20, which we had last biked on in Cleveland, OH and then rejoined NYS 51 to climb over from the Unadilla River Valley to the Wharton Creek Valley.

 

We had lunch in West Burlington and then made steep climb over to the Butternut Creek Valley. Fortunately that was the last "serious" climb of the day. But three tough climbs are enough for any given day of cycling anyway.

 

In Morris we had some ice cream before going to Bob's house for the night.

 

August 10, 2006 Morris to Margaretville. We rode with the wind at our backs for the last day of the trip to Margaretville. The day started from Morris with a long climb up Patrick Hill with everyone wearing some extra clothing to stay warm. The temperature was barely 50 degrees and at the base of hill you could clearly see the exhalations of the three cyclists like little steam engines puffing and pumping their way along.

 

After making the summit we enjoyed a long downhill to Oneonta where we fueled up for the long drag to Grand Gorge along NYS 23 where we would turn south on NYS 30 toward Margaretville. More fuel was needed by the time that we reached Davenport but what we got there was enough to carry us to Mike's mother's house in Roxbury.

 

At Mike's mother's house we enjoyed a nice visit and some iced tea and oatmeal raisin cookies.

 

We headed along NYS 30 expecting to see Terry Hoffart cycling out from Margaretville to meet us = but the first cyclist we encountered was Mike's renter Tom. He joined us and after quite a while we met up with Terry.

 

We rode until the outskirts of Margaretville where all the vehicles of the Margaretville Fire Department plus the local ambulance squad met us at Cemetary Rd. Mike has written about our escort into Margaretville in the next entry.

 

Oneonta Daily Star photo by Anita Briggs

read the full Daily Star story at

http://www.thedailystar.com/news/stories/2006/08/11/porter1.html

 

 

 

August 11, 2006 Well everyone, I am home. I cannot say it was without incident but I am home. The incident was a parade through town with fire trucks and the ambulance. I guess they wanted to make sure we did not collapse at 20 mph that the parade traveled. Really it was quite embarassing and a little unnerving to feel that so many people thought this trip was something special.

 

Have a look at the scene of the arrival in Margaretville by following the link below.

http://www.catskillimages.net/Galleries/MikePorter/index.htm

 

I had such a good time and saw so much wonderful country that I should thank everyone for their support during my trip. Before continuing on my journaling, I am going to take some time to thank all those who made this trip as great as it was. Without the unending and complete support of Becky and the kids, Jed and Megan, I would not have even attempted to do such an adventure. Thank you so much. I love you all.

 

The people who rode with me for even a few days deserve a thanks, Charlie Ginn, Jay Essington, Pat McCullar, Terry Hoffart and Bob Thomas were most instrumental in my successful completion.

 

To all those who hosted or otherwise supported us on our way: The Joe Hewitt Family of Issaquah, Wa, Heather Hoffart, Tempe, Az., Dee and Brian Manning of Whitefish, Larry and Karen Weisz, Les and Jarine Miller, and Grandma Weisz of Hazen, ND, Dave and Kathy from Sauk Centre, Mn., Greg and Jaci Wollner of Hudson, Wi., Randy and Janet Kittle of Mound, Mn., Joe and Cher Kelly of Reed City, Mi, Hup, Betsy and Erin Shaughnessy, Mark Shaughnessy, and Greg Shaughnessy of Lakewood, Eric and Nancy Marshall of Northeast, Pa., Bill, Ann and Kelly Kilpatrick of Perrysburg, Oh., Karen Shaughnessy and Brian Frye of Pittsford, Mary Jean, Ed and boys Scudder of Mohawk, and Bob and Carol Thomas of Morris, I could not have done it without your support.

 

The familiar faces and talks of old times and family also made it possible to be away from home for such a long time. To all those who sent words of wisdom, encouragement or otherwise thanks a ton. It made my stops at computers more than just the chore of writing an entry for the day or two since my last entry. Though I really don't think I did anything to deserve it, thanks for the parade and recognition that not many people can make it across the country in fulfillment of a dream.

 

Lastly to Michelle and Lisa, it was inspiring for me to be able to have the chance to actually help someone afflicted as I have been. I look forward to other possible opportunities.

 

THANKS AGAIN FOR ALL YOUR SUPPORT.

 

More will follow after I cook dinner and finish my visit with Terry and Pat before they head off to Bar Harbor, Me.

 

Aug. 13, 2006 It is Sunday evening, Yesterday Becky and I took Terry and Pat to Boonville where they resumed their adventure today heading towards Bar Harbor, Me. Their stay was real nice and relaxing. Besides getting home and knowing that my travels were over, Pat and Terry enjoyed the stay. They were a part of the "parade" that ushered us into town. Bob was also with us. He stayed overnight Thursday and rode his bike home on Friday. Becky totally enjoyed being a part of this segment of the trip. She had been living vicariously through the journal and phone calls for so long that it was nice to be present for the stories and other events. I think that Margaretville made a lasting impression on the guys. After the "parade" my mom, Sarah, David and Elaine and kids, Bill Reynolds, Becky's dad and sister all got to meet Pat, Terry and Bob and hear stories and see pictures Becky had printed from photos I had sent home. Lisa and Michelle, who had helped arrange my speaking, newspaper, radio and TV spots were here to meet everyone also. The time spent reliving events of the trip will be a big part of my time for the next couple months. It would be nice if Terry and Pat get back here after Bar Harbor, but I think they will both find other things to occupy their time before they head home. Charlie should be home this weekend also. He rode south to La. and across the Southern Tier to St. Augustine, Fl. His mileage will have been somewhere in the 4500 - 5000 mile range. Way to go, Charlie. My paultry 3761 miles pales in comparison. When we took Pat and Terry back to Boonville we returned to Rocky's Recreation Park and Campground. On the previous visit a few days ago, I had learned that the owner, Doris Lyon, was a relative of two Walton women who Becky, Betsy and Lindy visited occasionally. Becky and Doris had a nice time talking about the Howland sisters (they lived to be 103 and 107 respectively). We watched the square dancing in the hall and hung around until tents were set up before saying our goodbyes. It was truly the end of the adventure for me as I knew that I would not be riding out in the morning. I was kind of sad, as I thing Pat and Terry were, to see our time together end. Jay called Thursday to welcome us home. As usual it was nice to talk to him and keep him a part of the loop. I am i the process of beginning the organization of all the photos and getting ready to begin the formal journal entries. For those who might be interested in the full journal, I will be putting it together with photos over the next couple months. It will be available for sale, only kidding, sometime around Christmas. My mind is racing as I try to remember where photos were taken. I will most definitely have to refer to journal entries to help out with many of the pictures. Until a further update is necessary, Mike signing off. I will be back in a couple days to wrap up things.

 

August 23, 2006 Epilogue to the Adventure Yesterday, Pat and Terry completed their journey to Bar Harbor. They took 10 days to travel from Boonville where Becky and I left them on Aug. 12.

 

Pat will go to NYC for a few days and most likely take a bus home.

 

Terry is busing to Boston and heading home.

 

Both enjoyed their last days on the road and did some good old northeast hills and had some good old northeast storms along the way. Neither had any interest in riding any longer. I can understand that.

 

Though I have not talked directly to him, Charlie arrived home last week after riding down the Mississippi, along the Natchez Trace, then the Gulf Coast to St. Augustine. He had a great time also.

 

It was an amazing trip. Each of us had possibly the best times of our lives and will never forget the times we spent together and apart on the trip across the country.

 

For me, here at home, I had an eventful day yesterday. Actually, both Becky and I had interesting experiences. I was invited to do a video as a NHL survivor and user of Rituxan for a meeting of sales people for Genentech. These sales people are out selling the use of Rituxan for NHL and its other uses. They were interested, of course, because of the publicity from the previous events along the trip.

 

Becky did about an hour of question answering before work in the morning and I was involved in filming from about 8 to 2 oclock. In addition to the film being shown at the meeting, I am going to speak live.

 

Both Becky and I will be flown to Scottsdale, Az on 9-11. That date rings a bell to me. Give me time and I will figure out where I remember it from.

 

We are also going to stay a few extra days and do some sight seeing. As it turns out, Terry lives very near Scottsdale and we will stay at his house for a couple nights and then do a day or two on our own out of the city area. It will be nice to be able to relive parts of the trip so soon with a major player.

 

Interestingly enough, Pat McCullar will be contacting Jed when he arrives home as he lives near where Jed is for the summer and Charlie will be calling Megan to arrange a possible golf lessond as he lives on the opposite side of Atlanta from her. Megan is trying to learn golf and Charlie is a good golfer.

 

To me it is an amazing series of coincidences that led us 4 bikers together and to members of our family after. I am in the process of putting my photos in some order and getting some of Charlie's, Pat's and Terry's incorporated to give me a more complete show. There were times where one of us took pictures for everyone so we will all share pictures as we get organized. I am also getting my journal set up to type so I can have both a written and photo memory of this trip of a lifetime. To get Becky directly involved, we are going to try a 3 day ride this weekend on the tandem with BOB in tow. I got the bike ready today and will start getting our gear together as well. I hope we can carry all we need in just the BOB and rear panniers, as the bike doesn't allow for front panniers. Wish us well.

 

Until a further epilogue is needed, thanks to all of you who followed this trip and contributed in any way to the successful completion. MIKE