Day 42 - Alpine, CA - Pacific Ocean!!!

Last day of the trip. We schedule our departure 1 hour later then normal to try and peg our 12pm arrival at mission beach. Since my family was staying down the road at a hotel we set the alarms and crashed last night. I had a great nights sleep, I still woke up at 4:30am and just laid there and stared at the ceiling, but that is pretty normal for this week.

We may have set a Worley record for getting up and out the doors. We were very efficient today getting ready! We headed to the church were breakfast was as well as the rest of the crew. We got there and ate breakfast with everyone. Rachael Baderman and Melinda Schlosser had joined us around 7am. They had driven up the night before. My wife and Rachael were driving the SAG (support and gear) vehicle today. Once we all ate, we just sat around and looked at each other. We were all ready to go but we still had 45 minutes until it was time to go. So we did things to stay busy until it was time to leave. We all gathered around the RV and took pictures. Today we had the following riders with us, Myself, Shane, Shannon, Kurt, Kerri and Jordan Ames. Jordan is Carl’s son, and since Carl was not able to ride with us today Jordan was picking up the missed miles for his dad. Jordan you are a great man, and a great son!

We rolled out of the church parking lot at 8am and started headed towards the ocean! We rode through the valleys that surround San Diego. There was a morning haze that was quickly burning off. The temperature was perfect; I would have to guess it was 65 degrees out. Hardly any wind blowing, just right.

We made it to our 10 mile out spot we had located the day before. This is the corner that POPs would start riding with us. It also was the spot where Shannon would hope on the tandem with his mom, Mary. We were ahead of schedule by 30 minutes or so. So we waited a few minutes so we would be on time. We also picked up 2 other riders from the local Von's store in San Diego. We have always been excited to have additional riders join us at any point in this ride. That is what it is all about, doing things together.

It was starting to sink in when we turned and road by Sea World. I knew were getting close to the end. I wasn't too emotional; it was just an amazing feeling that we were getting ready to complete a coast to coast bike ride. We finally headed over the bridge that took us to Mission Beach Park. When we crested the top of the bridge I could see the ocean and it really started to hit me. Also on the top of that bridge I saw one of my favorite POPs Riders - Carl Ames. If you remember Carl rode with us from the AZ/NM state line into Phoenix. Carl has Parkinson’s disease and his doctor switched his medication last week and told him not to ride his bike for a while until they got his meds right. So there he was at the top of the bridge waiting for us with a huge smile. He brought with him a bike with two wheels in the back; you know the ones with the baskets back there. It was sweet! That why he couldn’t lose his balance yet still ride with us the leg of the journey. We road right down towards the beach and stopped 2 blocks short to pick us the junior POPs Riders that were waiting for us there. My 2 sons both had huge smiles on there face and where ready to go. Isaac (5yr old) rode his bike. Nathanial (2 yr old) hoped on my bike and cruised in with me. We were met on the beach with a crowd a people holding signs and cheering us on! It was incredible! My family was there, my mom was there. My wife’s family was there as well as a large group of really good friends. Again it was so good to be surrounded by all these people and signs!

We hugged and high fived people. By this time everyone on the beach was wondering what was going on. There was a film crew there doing a shot with us so the camera was attracting some attention. But we didn’t really care. The 3 of us who had ridden the whole way headed down to the water to dip our tires in the Pacific, just as we intended to when we left the Atlantic 42 days ago. It was something special to be out there. This was another moment that will not be forgotten.

After that we posed for some more pictures, talked to some more people. Then I realized that I was just standing there. I wasn’t really sure what I was supposed to do now. I knew we had to get back on our bikes and ride some more for the cameras but that is not what I am talking about. I didn’t know what I was supposed to do. For the last 42 days I have had a mission, a goal to achieve. We had just completed that task, reached that goal – what now? I just stood there for a while and took it all in. My kids with my sister-in-law playing in the ocean, my wife was talking to friends and family members. I just stood there.

We received word that we were going to ride for 10-15 minutes while the film crew took some video of us riding around the area. It was a little frustrating waiting for them to setup and get the shots. It took closer to 45-60 minutes to complete but we just kept reminding ourselves that it wasn’t about us and you never know who this video may reach or what it can do. When we were complete we were about 2 miles from the beach, so we headed back to where we had already been. Everyone had left except our immediate family. We packed up our bikes like we have done for the last 42 days and pulled the RV and the SAG out of the busy parking lot.

After we were checked in to our hotel and showered and cleaned up we headed to our party for everyone that was in town. One of Shane’s co-workers was staying at a beach house about a mile from where we finished our ride. It a cool place right there against the boardwalk and the beach. We had grilled hamburgers and hot dogs and just enjoyed each others company. After we had all eaten, Rachel had presented us with medals for completing our journey across the United States. They were on black ribbon like Olympic medals. We all wore them proudly. Then Keith and his wife presented the 3 of us with statues of cyclist and they had little plaques that had the miles we had ridden and our name on them. Thank you Keith, these are amazing and I will proudly display this at work so I can share the story with anyone that ask!

After we talked everyone for the gifts and hugged Carl Ames presented POPs Ride with BIG check for the amount that his team raised for POPs Ride. The check was for $15,000! We were blown away, we knew Carl was doing all he could to raise money for POPs Ride and he told us one day that he was going to raise that much, and that day was now. He even shared when his daughter was adding it all up with him, it was 14,988 dollars. His daughter asked if it would be okay if she donated $12 to make it an even $15k. It is amazing to see people go out of their way to raise money for this cause.

We had cupcake and cake and hung out on the boardwalk and people watched. We shared stories with each other about the trip and life. A few people went for a walk on the beach, the kids played in the sand. It was a real nice evening. We all headed back to the hotel. I needed to get something out of the RV so I walked down to where it was parked. A few were gathered outside and we talked about what everyone was doing on Sunday. Some are leaving earlier to get back to Phoenix. Kurt and his family along with a few others are heading to Sea World for the day. Our family is heading to a nice breakfast and then maybe we'll walk around the pier for a few hours. Sarah’s parents are flying out of San Diego this afternoon. We will drop them off and head back to Phoenix and back to work tomorrow morning. Still not sure how I feel about having to go back to work tomorrow? The fact that I have been gone for 6 weeks, and I only had 4 weeks of vacation is a major factor in being excited about returning to work. I do miss a lot of my co-workers and will be excited to see them again and share some of my stories.

For all of you that live in Phoenix and want to know more about my trip, please feel free to contact me! I would love to share this experience with you over a cup of coffee or a slice of pie (pizza pie that is)!

Please remember, just because the ride is over it doesn’t mean you can not donate to the cause. Please visit our website if you want to make a donation to one of the charities that we are working with.

So what is next….give me some time to think about this one. Right now I am excited to spend some time with my family. I have missed them! Stay tuned in the next week for a follow up of my transition back into a “normal” life.

You guys rock!