I have been waiting for this day a long time. I guess its fair to say 39 days long. Now I'am living the moment, and many thoughts run wild through my mind. I think back to a lesson my high school wrestling coach (John Putnam), taught our team. Everyday before wrestling practice we would have a team meeting. At the beginning of each team meeting Coach Putnam would have what he called "word of the day". I remember clearly a lot of coaches word of the days, but none more than, "The 3 D's". The 3 D's, stand for Dedication, Determination, and Desire! Coach went on to talk about each one of the 3 D's and explained the value of them. The 3 D's is something that has stayed with me for over 25 years and I believe in it. I have thought back to Coach Putnam and the 3 D's many times over the course of this journey. It was a lesson I will never forget and one I choose to live by. Without anyone of those 3 traits, there's no way I would be where I'am standing today.
Super excited to ride my final day, I was up at 5:30am. To dark to ride, so I ate breakfast, and packed up for the last time. It's still hard to believe. My body is so used to getting up early and exercising all day. Yes, I'am exhausted, but how will my body react to just stopping after today? How about my mind? This adventure was just as much mental as it was physical. There's a lot of things out there to play games with your head, and it's important to keep mentally focused each and everyday. If not, you have no chance of success.
The sun is up. I'am packed up, and I'am off. I bid farewell to the town of Palatka and cycle over the St. John's River into East Palatka. I'am now starting to see my first signs for St. Augustine with a new excitement each time as the miles drop and drop. I again choose to take my own route instead of Adventure Cyclings and it worked out very well. Route 207 is a straight shot from Palatka to St. Augustine and that's what I'am taking. The other cyclists I have been following through their blogs have taken this route and liked it. Almost all of Route 207 had a 5 foot bike lane and for about 15 miles of it, had a bike trail which is part of the East Coast Greenway. The East Coast Greenway is a projected bicycle corridor from Maine to Florida by connecting all of the rails-to-trails. They say its about 35% completed. It was very enjoyable but I will say that they need more signage. I biked to a complete dead end with no where to go but backwards. Luckily it was only a few miles back to the main road but I still wasn't pleased.
The road signs counted down the miles to St. Augustine, 28, 16, 9, 3! Wow, this is it. If I could have high-fived myself, I would have. I was congratulating myself while thinking back to the many ups and downs of this trip. My emotions running out of control. In 3 miles, I will have bicycled across the country. Not just a country, but a continent! This will be my forth time crossing North America with a bicycle. Is that possible? Many people I met along the way didn't seem to think so. At times I didn't think so either. Now it is reality. I saw a sign that read, Route 312 St. Augustine Beach and I took that right hand turn east heading for the coast. My mind went blank, and all of a sudden I didn't care about the conditions anymore. I didn't care about the heat, the humidity, the winds, the traffic, the pavement, or where I was going to sleep tonight. I didn't care! You know why? I was finished. I was done. I was through. I could see the ocean. What a feeling! Its 90 degrees out, and my body is engulfed in goosebumps. What is going on? It was my body's way of saying Congratulations, You Did It!
I found the first public access to beach and wheeled my bike right on to it. Wow, St. Augustine Beach is huge and hardly a soul on it. I parked my bike in the sand just shy of the water. Out came the sign I made up last night, along with my magic marker. I needed to put the finishing touches on it now. I looked at my bike computer and the total mileage was exactly 2,775 miles. With hardly anyone on the beach, I did what I've done hundreds of time before. I set up my iPad, put it on self timer and took many photos while celebrating.
I wasn't finish yet. I had one more thing to do. I walked slowly down to the oceans edge. I bent down and threw my hands into the Atlantic, just as I did 39 days ago in the Pacific. The cool water never felt so good. Now I was done. Now I was satisfied. Now I can say that I bicycled from the Pacific to the Atlantic and mean it.
I may have completed my goal of bicycling across the country but I still wasn't done. I have a few more things to do, important things. I have to find St. Augustine's Post Office. My drivers license expired on my birthday last week and I need a current copy of it to rent a car. I had renewed it online weeks ago and it arrived in Marshfield. Bonnie was nice enough to color photocopy it and send it to me in Louisiana, at an address I gave her. The problem was, I took a side route and never went through the town I told her to send it to. About a week ago, I called that Post Office and asked if they could forward it to St. Augustine, which they did. On my way to the Post Office I was delighted by the beauty of our oldest city, St. Augustine. My first time here, so I biked ever so slowly enjoying this historic city. I easily found the Post Office which is in the heart of the city. I was elated to see my letter had arrived.
The final piece to this puzzle was to find a rental car agency. I didn't reserve a car because on a bicycle, you never know what might come up. I used my IPhone to look up car rentals in St. Augustine. There are many. I locked in on Enterprise which was 3 miles away. So off I happily biked knowing soon I would be cruising these same streets at 60 miles per hour. I came up to Enterprise and pulled in the driveway. I said to myself "that this was my last pedal stroke that I would have to take for awhile". I was greeted by the bad news of, they had no cars available. The woman said that some returns would be coming in this afternoon, if I wanted to wait. "Sure, I'll wait" I said. I could bike around the city more checking out different sites. I than told her I needed to return it in Tampa. "That is a problem", she said. You have to call this number and talk to them. Ok, whatever I thought. I can do that. Oh, and one last thing. I only have a copy of my current license, and explained why. "Well, we can not rent you a car without a current valid license", she said. My heart sank. I have never gone from such a high, to such a low so fast. I'am in trouble here, I thought. I asked if there were any other car rental agencies near by, and she told me of a Hertz and a Budget close by but didn't know their policies. How am I going to get to my condo 4 hours away on the Gulf Coast? I was thinking a bus to Tampa, then who knows what. Now I am just depressed, upset, and mad at myself for not taking care of this license thing before I left. I first noticed my license was going to expire inside Logan Airport as I was departing for San Diego, and far to late to do anything about it.
Ok, so back on the bike for about a mile and I come to Hertz. This time I'am going to play dumb and not say anything about my license. I walk in covered in sweat. The only man there was on the phone. I sat down wiping my myself dry. The agent gets off the phone and I say, "please tell me you have a car I can rent". He smiled, "one left, the small grey one out front". "I'll take it", I said. He also seems happy to be rented it out. I told him what I needed, about returning it in Tampa. "No problem", he said. So far so go, but I am still nervous. "Would you know if the seats fold down in the back", I asked? I explained I have to bicycle and this is a small Chevy Aveo. Pretty much what I wanted. Small, and good on gas, perfect. He throws me the keys and tells me to go look at it and make sure it will work. I went out and looked and believe me, I will make anything work at this point. It was going to be a tight fit, but I will take the whole bike apart if need be. I walk back in and get hit with a bomb. "Tell me you have another license" he says to me. "Oh no, here we go again", I said to myself. "I sure do", I said. Right here, I open up the letter Bonnie had sent me and handed the photocopied license to him confident as I could. "Oh, perfect", he said, that will work. I had to keep my heart from jumping out of my chest. I can't believe it, it worked. I have a car. I'am going to get to my condo after all. I won't get to excited until I'am driving away in it. Sure enough, the paper work is done and keys are in my hands. I wanted to hug this guy, but didn't. Then the hard part came. Fitting the bike in this matchbox. I did have to disassemble the entire bike, but I got it in there. Parts and pieces everywhere, including my heart, brains, and guts.
I'am on the road, and as luck would have it, the shortest way to my condo is the same way I just biked. It was a treat to backtrack my route for 50 miles before turning south on larger highways. 4 hours later I was home. My second home, in Weeki Wachee, Florida, and I love it here. I have been thinking of this place for thousands of miles, and now I have arrived. First order of business is a dip in the pool and a jacuzzi. I deserve it, don't I?
It's a blessing that I did come here. I noticed that I have a leak in the roof above the kitchen. Who knows how long it has been like that? That's the nice part about a condo. You just make a phone call, which I did. I will have to take care of the patch work inside, which will be a little plaster and a little paint. I'am just glad I came to visit. Right now I have a large tarp on the roof it keep it from getting worst until a roofer can fix it. And that's how this story ends.
A big thank you to everyone who has been following my blog as I crossed the country. It was so nice to get comments and emails from people along the way. When I left I didn't have text messaging on my phone, I told AT&T to remove it from my plan. When I was in Arizona at my friends house, I decided I should add texting to my plan as a way to stay in touch with family, friends, and co-workers. In just one month I made over 1,200 texts and had a blast doing it.
Last but not least, thank you to everyone who donated to the National Breast Cancer Foundation. Though you donated on behalf of me and what I was doing, it's far greater than that. Breast Cancer is real, and a real problem. Though I didn't reach my dollar amount goal, every little bit counts. Remember I said one day at a time, one mile at a time. Well it's the same way with fundraising. One donor at a time, one dollar at a time. Just as the miles add up, so do the dollars. Thank you and God Bless You.
-The End
( Facts & Figures coming soon )
Photos: Only 16 miles to go - The East Coast Greenway ( next 2 photos ) - No signage for the end of the East Coast Greenway ( this is called Trails to Rails ) - The last bridge and river crossing to St. Augustine - The sign I have been waiting for, St. Augustine Beach - The beautiful St. Augustine Beach, wide, empty, and nothing but sand, shells, and water - My finish line sign - Celebrating success ( next 6 photos ) - St. Augustine lighthouse - America's oldest city, St. Augustine, Florida over 400 years old ( next 7 photos ) - Thank You Hertz ( my rental car, Chevy Aveo )
