Group Photo in St Augstine Fl

Team Canada Wallace (right) Don (center) Terry (left)

Ken and I with bikes in Atlantic

Last night we were staying in a Armoury. It was a big gym so the sleeping arrangements were dorm style or “floor flopping”.  I have never been a fan of floor flopping as there is always some one up walking around or snoring or opening or closing doors or zippers.   So there we are all in the gym and after supper Bubba gets every one to sit in a big circle to talk about the trip.  Bubba talked about our trip and his cycle trip across America. I think the purpose of the talk was to reminisce about our trip and explain to us how hard the trip had been for him as a tour operator.

When we got up this morning we found out that Down Hill Bob who was one of the sag drivers had fallen last night and dislocated his shoulder. I understand that Bubba and some of the crew spent a good portion of the night in the hospital with Bob. He was at the armoury but he looked pretty tough. This is the second crew member that fell on this trip. Sunshine fell and broke her arm the first week of the trip.

This morning we had only 41 miles to get down to the beach so everyone was pretty slow getting started even though someone’s alarm went off at 5:55 Am. Ken was determined to ride all of the last day so I set off with him. We made pretty good time up to the sag stop which was at 23 miles. Ken’s arm was killing him by then and he really needed a rest but then just as we got to the sag stop the lady from the church came out and told us that we could not stop in the church parking lot. So we had to ride on. There wasn’t another stop until around the 40 mile mark where we stopped for coffee. By now Ken was holding his arm in the safety vest. However after the rest Ken was able to ride down the remaining 7 miles to the ocean (yes there were a few Bubba miles here today).

Once we were close to the beach everyone met by the “Welcome to St Augustine” sign for a group picture and then we rode down to the beach. Bubba was standing in the back of his truck taking pictures. At the beach there was the wheel dipping ceremony and lots of congratulations for everyone.

Tonight is the big wrap up dinner and celebration.  It is a big accomplishment. The group has ridden 2971 miles to cross the United States.  While this is my third time across, this is the first time for most of the riders.  I have to take my hat off to them for their accomplishment.

Terry