Yep I really did it

Mike F and his beautiful wife Sophia

Harry and his Mary looking good

Michelle drove the whole trip to keep Tom company

Great beer courtesy of Richard M

Tony, Rich and Nick

Our awesome Crossroads staff

Tracy giving me my certificate

John K speaking heart felt words of wisdom

Hello everyone,

This will not be my last post on the ride, but it was the final end to the tour.

After we got back to the hotel, it was a time to prepare our bikes for shipment, get some lunch and get ready for our banquet feast that evening. Some of us were staying for a few days, but it was really the last time that we’d all be together as a group. Before the banquet, we had an energetic happy hour and the proceeded into the banquet room.

It was our last chance to reminisce, tell jokes and enjoy the company of the group. After dinner, we all received our certificate for completing the tour and several special awards were given out. The awards consisted of the 1000, 2000, 3000 mile signs and the end map and a couple of special awards. Chet received one for the leadership he provided, Harry for his humor, John F got a special award that was to be delivered to him by Patty, Larry received one for his toughness, Wendy and Barry for coming back after Barry’s awful crash and injury 7 years prior.

The big award was given to John K and he received the CrossRoads map of the tour that stood on a pedestal. John probably had the most folks come out to ride with him throughout the tour. He is one of the oldest riders and certainly holds his own. John recently lost his wife of many years to ALS and they were constant riding companions on a tandem. John was always soft-spoken on the rides but he was an inspiration to us all. I was very happy to see him get the grand award!

We all als signed John F’s award and wrote some encouraging notes. Mine contained a reference to one of his favorite topics – beer. It was my one great disappointment that he couldn’t ride into Boston with us.

Thus our journey of a lifetime ended and the next day many of our group would be heading home. All of this had not yet sunk in and as larry had said, what we did would change us and our lives going forward. In what ways and how much would be determined in the future. I am confident that we will remain friends and that some of us may do this ride again in total or in part. Many of us will go on to new adventures, but this one will always be special because of the preparation, the length of the passage and most of all because of the great group of folks assembled.

Even though the ride is over, I will add several post scripts to this story and hope that you continue to follow. I want to thank everyone for their kind words and encouragement along the way. A few folks came out to see me and that was a treat. There were a couple of days that I really doubted the wisdom of this ride and it is hard to express how much the encouragement made the miles go by easier.  There are a few stories that remain to be written and a few areas of the blog that I’d like to expand on / finish including:

• Final reflections and thoughts
• recommendations on anyone attempting a ide of this nature (this may be long)
• Follow up on some of the riders such as my injured friend John F
• Finalize the rider profiles

Tailwinds

Chuck