Reflections

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My dream of riding a bike across the U S has been partially realized. Now that I have finished I have some reflections about my trip. I placed an ad with Adventure Cycling looking for companions to join me on this trip. I received several replys some which I rejected right away. There were several folks who sounded like hopefuls but for different reasons most were unable to join. Sam was the first to reply with a solid 'I want to go along'. Ten days before my flight was to leave Bob and Mary called wanting to join. When Bob called he was at his local bike shop getting Mary's bike ready to leave. I remember Bob asked how committed I was towards this ride. I replied I must be committed because I had already shipped my bike and belongings and I had my plane ticket in hand. I will have to admit I over planned several aspects of this ride as well as over packed. My wife had to endure my obsessive talking about all the details. I have heard less is more and after riding this distance I have learned this first hand. I mailed several things home and I probably should have sent several more pounds home as well. When I was planning this trip I had planned to tent camp a lot and cook my own meals. I would stay in motels when the weather was threatening and eat out once in a while. As it turned out I only camped a handful of times and ate out quite often. The cost were almost doubled what I had originally planned. The total length of this trip was 1519 miles and I am proud to say I peddled the entire way. I will have to say I met several really nice folks. People who were willing to give us a hand and visit with. I was also blessed with my riding companions. Talking with someone on the phone and then ridding a long bike trip are two different things. We worked well as a group and I was grateful to have ridden with them these long miles. I hope this won't be my last long ride, with the Lord's blessings I would like to ride completely across the US some day. This has been a dream realized.

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