August 18, 2018 Durham NH to Gloucester MA The last day

Last night was the final awards night of the tour and there were quite a few awards, most of which involved thank you’s for the staff.  However one award was a real stand out.  The other Terry on the tour is a sketch artist and he had prepared little sketches of everyone on the tour including all of the staff.  It was really amazing.  He put a lot of work into it.

After meeting it was out to my tent and the last night in my tent until the next tour.  It has been a fun time camping this summer.  I have really enjoyed it and especially sleeping on my cot.  It was so much better than my self-inflating foam mattress.

The morning was gray and threatening but with no rain. The forecast was 80% chance of precipitation with potential for hail.  I packed the heavy duty rain gear into the trunk on my bike, and headed off to breakfast.  We only had 61 miles down to Gloucester so there was no real hurry but Bob and I didn’t fancy getting a soaking either.  The route took us down a lot of smaller back roads which had a surprising number of short but steep pitches.  We were in picnic by 10:30 Am where we caught up with Ken T.  Ken’s weather radar projections have been uncanny and when he said that there was a possibility of threading the needle between the rain clouds if we hurried there was no messing around Bob and I were off like a shot.  Ken was right and we cleared the remaining 24 miles down to Gloucester without a drop of rain.   We even stopped for an ice cream.

Crossing the finish line was great.  My third time with Cycle America and my 5^th cross the North American continent.  It was great to accomplish this with my friends Ken, Bob, and Martin and Beth as well as some of the other sectional riders who were on the trip such as Tom R and Dan O.   In addition there are all the new friends I made on this tour. 

I got busy and repacked my gear and dried my tent while I waited for the rest of the riders to arrive and for the final mile down to the Atlantic and the ceremonial wheel dip.  This wait would turn out to be a long wait as one of the riders was late.  In fact he was three hours late and in the meantime the forecast rain moved in and turned into a total deluge.

When the delinquent rider finally showed up we followed the police escort to the ocean and had the wheel dipping.  Some of the riders even jumped into the water.  I was content to simply dip the wheel and get a couple of photos. 

Bob, Ken and I were then off to enjoy a celebration seafood meal as Gloucester is known for its seafood. I had the fresh haddock which was absolutely great.

The evening’s celebrations with the riders was a harbour and margarita cruise.  It was a lot of fun comparing notes with the other riders and exchanging contact information.  I know that someone wrote a book saying that it’s all about the bike but I think it is really all about the friends and people.

What a tour and what an adventure but Dorothy said it best “There is no place like home.”

Terry hot biker