Breakfast at 6:00, load at 6:45. Early! You might have thought the last day they'd let us sleep in!
We were in our AbB jerseys and there were red, blue, and silver beads being passed out. I had my squirt gun loaded and in my jersey pocket. Just in case.
It was just another beautiful day to be out on the bike! The New Hampshire roads were lined with trees, the temps were pleasant. There was still some climbing to be done but after all, who wants 65 miles of downhill to the beach? ME! ;) I think that's Russ out in front, Udo in front of Fiona. With the shorter distance we seemed to be less spread out than usual.
Spent some time riding with Andy as well. Had some nice freshly paved roads. I love Colorado but riding through scenery like this, I was not anxious to return to my customary training rides!
We all needed to meet at Rye Junior High by 11:30 which was 52 miles from our starting point. We made it to Exeter and the 40 mile mark in plenty of time to stop off at a coffee shop and share a drink and snack with quite a few of our riders.
We were meeting a police escort at Rye Junior High to take us the rest of the way to the beach as a group. We got there with time to relax and chat and take some photos. Here we have (left to right) Veronica, Russ, Rene, Andy, Jeremy, Doug, Dave, Ingun, PC, and Brantley.
There may have been enough time for some tom-foolery as well. Don't worry, I didn't stay dry either!
Me, Fiona, and Patty
Me and Michael
Just chillin' on the front steps - Vern, Michelle, Barry (Texas Barry) and Jed
And one last picture with the whole crew! Back row is Veronica, Barry (Texas), Udo, Russ, Jeremy, Gene, PC. Third row is Andy, Dave, Ingun, and Jed. Second row is Vern, Barry (Ohio or Red Barry), Michelle, Rene, and Kathi. Front row - which is a bit jumbled - is Brantley, Dick, Konnie, Doug, Marv, Jane, Kettie, Fiona, Patty, Michael, and Shane. What a fun group of people!
And then we were off to Wallis Sands State Beach! It was only about a three mile ride. Fun to have the police escort though so we could take up the entire lane and not worry about traffic. You can see Kathi and Patty here with others behind. They'd passed out noise makers at the junior high and we were all whooping and hollering as we rode along. And then all of a sudden there we were. They announced over the loud speaker that we had ridden our bicycles from San Francisco and were finishing our cross country ride so we had some people cheering and some people asking us questions and congratulating us. My moment of fame I guess!
We took off our shoes and trooped down to the water to take some photos! It was kind of a gray hazy day which matched our San Francisco beach day pretty well. A lot warmer though!
I can't imagine a better traveling companion. We had a blast all the way across the USA!
Meet Jane - one of the staff and an amazing person. As I gave her a hug she thanked me and told me I'd made it a remarkable journey for them.
Them meaning she and her husband Gene who was our mechanic. Always happy to lend a hand and fix whatever Fiona had done to her bike. ;)
Then we figured we'd ride our bikes to Maine, just for fun! I rode up wtih Fiona, Patty, and Dick. We stopped in Portsmouth on our return journey for some ice cream then headed to the motel. And that's when it really started hitting me that the whole thing was coming to an end. :( Shane took me and my bike over to the bike shop so I could drop it off to be packed and shipped back to Colorado. I felt lost without my bike!
It was late afternoon by the time I was showered and ready for anything. Rene had made reservations for us all to dine as a group at Jumpin' Jay's in Portsmouth. Some went in earlier, Fiona, Patty, me, and my parents came a little later in a taxi. It was a fish place - to be expected I suppose - so I had limited options and ate steak my last night. After eating, we used modern technology to find a walking route back to the motel and since it was only about a mile and a half we - me, my parents, and Fiona - decided to stroll back. It was a pretty walk and relaxing after the busy day.
We captured a beautiful sunset and reflection off the north mill pond and enjoyed strolling past some nice New England homes. It was a lovely end to the day and the trip.
