A journey complete

George and I rode across the Golden Gate Bridge into San Francisco on Sunday afternoon, the 17th of May. What a feeling! And what a way to wrap up this incredible adventure we've had together.

Our odometer tells us we biked almost exactly 1200 miles since we left Vancouver, BC, on the 22nd of April. If you take out the days when we were not riding, either because we were with Liz and Duncan, or because of foul weather, we averaged just about 60 miles a day. Slow days were 40. Long days were 80. We didn't break any records, except our own. But I think we absolutely got out of it everything we set out to do. I wanted to see a part of the country that I didn't really know all that well. I wanted to do something adventurous and "out-of-the-box." I wanted to do something physically challenging. I wanted to spend time with George. I accomplished all of that, and I think George pretty much wanted the same things. We had a really great time together.



There are far too many details to share completely here, of course. And it will take me some time to figure out what this experience has really meant for me. I did a pretty good job of journalling every day, even if I couldn't always blog -- sometimes because we didn't have phone and internet service and sometimes because I was just too exhausted.

But I'll take some time to read through my journal -- and, oh yes, see the pictures. I'm sharing a few here. But even as I do, I realize that they capture only small fragments of the experience. They're mostly shots of us standing still, looking at beautiful places. And there were far more of those than we could possibly have taken pictures of or shared here! But, there are no pictures of us screaming down the side of a mountain at 40 miles per hour -- or sweating our way up at 5 or 6. There are no pictures of the 30 mph headwinds and rain that made parts of the journey so interesting. There are no pictures of the smells or sounds, or just the feeling of being in these places. It shows nothing of the interesting people we met along the way, many of them cyclists, too. And there are no pictures that can capture the deep bond of a father and son sharing such an adventure together.


George let me know that this was so much more interesting and enjoyable for him than the coast-to-coast motorcycle trip we made together in 2000. He was only twelve back then, and his role was a pretty passive one much of the time, sitting on the back seat riding. It was long and sometimes boring. But there was very little that was inactive or boring about this trip. It put every fiber of our being to work -- all the time -- physically, emotionally, spiritually. That's always a better recipe for enjoying something completely.

We had the perfect end to our trip spending two days in San Francisco. We were hosted by David Kyle, a young man who grew up in our parish in Topsfield. David is a runner (marathoner, in fact) and a cyclist, too. He's also a very enthusiastic 6th grade social studies teacher at a boys' school in the city, and the founder of Books for South Africa. He was a great host, and it was a lot of fun to reconnect. We ate some great Thai food one night and had homemade pizza (hand thrown, no less) at Dave's house the next. George and I got our bikes packed and shipped home, then did a ferry trip out to Alcatraz. We now know we're both glad not to have been prisoners there -- although I have to say how interesting it was and what a beautiful view of the city it gives. We enjoyed two visits to Ghirardelli Square for ice cream, an art gallery next door, and the overall energy of the city. It was George's first time to be there.

We flew out the next day, he to Richmond and I to Boston, just in time to get home for the tail end of my birthday and my reunion with Carolyn. I hadn't been home since I left for Japan on March 15 -- over two months ago. It was REALLY good to be home!