Pedaling for Patriots

I’ve had many people asking me when I’m going to “finish” the blog, so I want to sum up our last day and then do another entry with our thoughts about the ride.  There are so many things I want to say and it’s taken me awhile to process everything that went on!

We left the hotel on Wednesday morning and starting riding toward San Diego.  It was a beautiful ride, taking us through Mission Trails Regional Park and up and down some amazing hills.  We reached the water and bought tickets for the ferry which was leaving in about 45 minutes.  It was a quick 15 minute ride, which got us into Coronado earlier than we had planned and we were able to have lunch.  Coronado is a cute little town with a great main street and we enjoyed looking in the windows of the shops as we rode.

As we entered the bike path leading to the Hotel del Coronado, we saw many people cheering for us, along with a couple of TV cameras and newspaper photographers.  We saw Penny, Steve and Barbara standing near our banner and we stopped there to talk with everyone.

It was then that I heard my mother’s distinctive whistle – the one she used to call us home on summer nights when we were young.  I looked over toward the hotel balcony and saw my Mom and Dad, Aunt Rhesa, Uncle Gary and Aunt Phyllis, along with my cousin Doug and his wife Margie, heading our way.  What a surprise!  I had no idea that they would be there!  As we were hugging and crying, someone motioned back over to the balcony and there was Samantha, Rogan and my best friend Kathy!  That was the most amazing gift ever!  Rob had been working behind the scenes (with Penny) to arrange their visit and surprise me at the finish.  Unfortunately, Elias couldn’t get time off from his Marine Corps duties, but it was so wonderful to have two of my children, my very best friend and other members of my family to help us celebrate!

We walked our bikes down to the water and dipped the tires into the ocean.  We did a few interviews for local television and then headed into the hotel hoping that we could shower and change and start to enjoy the fact that we had accomplished our mission.  However, after waiting for over 4 hours for our room we decided to head over to the Marriott instead.  They were able to get us into a room quickly and we began to realize that we really were finished with the ride!  We got a call from Kimberly Dozier at the Associated Press and did an interview sitting on the balcony of our hotel, looking at the water and watching the helicopters from the Navy base.

We met up with everyone at a local restaurant that evening and had a great time telling stories and enjoying the company of friends and family.