Final Thoughts…

Don’t be afraid. As usual, all the advice you really ever need can be found scrawled on the walls in a public restrooms. On my last day of riding I found this quote in a ferry terminal bathroom: “Freedom is my only gospel.” That line summed up my trip in five words.

The best of all freedoms, in my opinion, is freedom from fear. Don’t fear failure, don’t fear risk, don’t be afraid to get out and see the world. What I found on this adventure was that every person I met was friendly, helpful, and kind. It didn’t matter if I was in a dive bar in Connecticut, a lake house near Cleveland, a two-hundred person town in Illinois, a huge city like Minneapolis, an Indian reservation in Montana, or on the back roads of Washington. Total strangers offered me cold drinks, hot meals, bike repairs, or a place to stay for the night, for no other reason than that they liked helping people. On more than one occasion people drove by, stopped their cars, and got out to just to chat, offer snacks or directions, or share some local history.

However, what I did notice is that folks would often say “well we’re nice here in rural Montana, but people aren’t like this everywhere.” Well guess what, people are overwhelmingly nice all across this county, I know it, I just lived it, but don’t take my word for it, step out the door and find out for yourself.

30 Seconds of Hair Removal

Awards

The Best:

Characters : The members of the World Explorers Club in Kempton Illinois:

wexclub.com

Climb: Going to the Sun Road, Glacier National Park

Decent: Down from Rainy Pass in eastern Washington, 15+ miles of wide shoulders and waterfalls

View: Every new angle in Glacier National Park offers another breathtaker

Campsite : Colville Washington National Forrest, Panhandle Campground – beautiful, quiet, and free:

Colville Panhandle

Pasta: Piero's Pasta House, Geneva on the Lake, Ohio – excellent pesto!

Bagel: Pedretti's Bakery, Elkader Iowa

Egg and cheese sandwich: West Glacier

Turkey Sandwich: Big Sky Pantry, Montana, Idaho border – Fresh baked bread

Breakfast Value: The Perkins #12 – as this haiku will explain:

Four cakes and two eggs
Bacon or Sausage, hash browns
Wheat toast, five dollars

perkinsrestaurants.com

By the Numbers

Days on the road: 54

Total Miles: 3804

Average Speed: 12MPH

Average Miles per day: 70.26

High Speed: 42.3 – Endless Hill region of Pennsylvania

People who gave me the Finger: 1, in eastern Washington

Overwhelmingly Kind Strangers: At least 20 who I now have e-mail/mailing addresses for, but truly, many, many more

Cars full of teenagers who blasted air horns at me as they drove by: 2 – where do they learn that trick?

Days it rained a little: 4

Are there other stats you’d like? Leave a comment and I’ll see what I can dig up for you.

Mom and Dad greet me at Logan Airport

Mt. Rainier from the plane

Jazz bar where I celebrated the end of great trip

Seattle, WA from the ferry

Goofy Harp player on the Ferry

A view of the Olympic Mountians

Sunset over Puget Sound

I MADE IT!

I have arrived! This post is comming to you from a swanky hotel in downtown Seattle. Over 3800 miles later if you are still readin along please continue to check in over the next few days for stories, top picks from the trip, and some stunning photos of the Washington waterfront and my facial hair.

Thanks to eveyone for your support over the past two months. Also, if you have not done so already, please click on the link to the right and make a donation to the Lance Armstrong Foundation, it would mean a lot.

Best to all,
-Steve

My first glimpse of left coast salt water

A rainbow greets me on the morning of my last big ride

Washington pass, the last big ride

Slept in this bunk house on the 'walking D' ranch

I'm in Tonasket (thumb), fires to the southeast are contained

Stunning riveside campsite, Ione Washington

Sandpoint Idaho sunset

Spin-my-Blog Post

Jul 20th. Tomorrow should be my toughest day of writing yet. I need to complete 2 Mt. passes in eastern Washington. There'll be over 20 miles of climbing & 6000 total ft. of elevation gain. To make matters more difficult, the roads are rough & thick with logging trucks & forest fires are particular in the area.

Voice-to-Screen messaging - powered by SpinVox

Ginormous Libby Dam

Lake Koocanusa

Big horn mountian goats, of course.

Rockies crossing

Spin-my-Blog Post

Jul 17th. I've now gone up & over the rocky(?) & I can surely say that it wasn't that hard & that ___ in National Park is the ___ crown of a national part system. It's a wild beautiful amazing place with great mountain scenery & beautiful crystal clear lakes. What I'm told now though is that the cascade in Eastern Washington are actually much harder for biking then the rockies so I've got those to look forward to in the next few days.

Voice-to-Screen messaging - powered by SpinVox

Biking buddy 'kindergarden' Kelly Taylor

Going to the Sun road, Glacier Park

:)

Indian Days parade, Browning MT

BNSF Freight train

Cut Bank Sunset

Alyx and Josh, staff at the Cut Bank MT town pool

95F when this picture was taken

'tags' at the Rudyard Museum

Big sky in Montana

The Donaldsons, Haver MT

On a packed train, with Menonites

Spin-my-Blog Post

Jul 12th. A big thank you to the Donaldson. John Donaldson is director of Student Support Services at Montana State University Northern. When I spoke with him about staying on campus, he invited me over to his family's home for dinner. The food was excellent & the company even better. Thank you.

Voice-to-Screen messaging - powered by SpinVox

Fast Forward

I'm making a leap...
So that I don't have to rush the rest of my trip I'll be taking good 'ol Amtrak from Minot, ND to Haver, MT. I've met many west bound cyclists who all rave about Glacier National Park in Western Montana and the Cascade Mountains in Washington, but the reviews on eastern Montana are less enthusiastic. More of the same they say. So, I'm skipping ahead.
Tonight will be my last night with the guys from Virginia and one of them is celebrating a birthday so expect some good pictures tomorrow.
Finally, thanks to everyone who is reading along, Mark, Jeff K., Rob K., and Floris I appreciate the comments, and yes there are no pictures of me so that the beard remains hidden until the west coast. I hope the suspense is building.
Best to all,
-Steve

Rugby, ND

Lunch at the meat locker in Esmond, ND

Landscape in North Dakota

One of many grain elevators that rise above the flat landscape

Bbq and pie lunch to celebrate Hope, ND 150th aniv.

Biker bob, riding 6500 miles this summer to celebrate his 65th birthday

Spin-my-Blog Post

Jul 8th, North Dakota's population density makes Indiana seem more like New Deli, India but when people do get together here they have a great time. The city of hope celebrated their 150th anniversary with 150 different kinds of pie. Their also advantage is to having no people around. Nuclear missiles are siload(?) in the fields, surrounding these small cities.

Voice-to-Screen messaging - powered by SpinVox

A hot afternoon in Fargo, ND

Misty Minnesota sunrise

July 4th Battle Lake, MN

Vining, MN - the artist's daughter is an astronaut

I'm riding with these Virginia boys

Dancing to Cuban Jazz in Minneapolis

Zach and TJ, 'thru bikers' from Boston

'The Cities'

I had a great time in the twin cities, simply 'the cities' to locals, the last two days. Big thanks go out to Beau in Minneapolis for inviting me downtown for a Sunday afternoon Cuban Jazz concert. The headliner, Nachito Herrera, www.nachito.net, is an amazing piano player and his band includes talent from Sudan, Israel, and South America. Go see this man if you ever have the chance. Not only was the weather perfect for this outdoor concert in Peavy Plaza, but the Beer was cheep too!

Best,
-Steve
From Cambridge, MN

Biker Ben, a cyclist's best friend in Stillwater

Crazy, MILF-ish, 80's hair metal cover band

Sailboats on the Mississippi River, Lake City, MN