WE MADE IT!!!!!

I can hardly believe we actually just travelled over 300 miles. . . ON A BIKE!

We began the day early again, getting on the trail at 7am. Zak set out with us, as he decided to ride the whole last day - 55 miles.

Almost everything was uneventful today, until that time I couldn't find Zak. We had 14 miles of the trip left, we had just taken a long break at the C&O Canal visitor area, and we were ready to finish up the ride. We put Zak in the lead and apparently the energy gel kicked in because he took off. I stopped a couple times to take photos and was casually going on enjoying the last bit of the ride. Then I realized Zak wasn't in sight, so I rode ahead to try to find him. I didn't catch up to him until mile post 8! I rode at 15-20 mph for 5 miles trying to find him. I couldn't believe he was so far ahead, and thank goodness I found him when I did because I was spent.

Michaela joined us at the C&O Canal, as she wanted to ride the last miles of the trip instead of at the beginning of the day as she had done all week.

When we got into DC about 1/2 mile away from mile marker 0 - the end of the trip, we lost the trail. It just kind of ended and turned into streets of downtown DC. We weaved our way through that a bit, but ended up calling David to figure out how to get to the end where he was waiting. We finally got turned in the right direction and began heading for MILE 0. We knew that it was behind a kayak shop, as we were told by someone we had met on the trail a couple days earlier. It was not only obscure . . . it was practically hidden! We came around the corner of the kayak shop and spotted David who was frantically waving his arms and pointing for us to turn. We turned . . . and ended up in the kayak storage area behind a big fence. David is yelling "no, this way," so we came back out from behind the fence and saw a path leading around the back of the fence and rode to the mile marker. Considering the fact that the ending mile marker area was so blah, I guess God gave us that bit of humor of making the turn into the fenced area just to spice it up a little. It just cracks me up when I think about it! It's like being in the lead of a car race on the last lap but at the last second, for no apparent reason, you drive off the track!

We hugged and kissed the mile marker . . . and began planning our next bike adventure - Colorado, maybe?!

Considering the rough terrain we have been riding for the past 150 miles, I am amazingly not that sore. I have a feeling it will all catch up to me in a couple days. Right now, my body thinks I'm getting up and pedaling tomorrow. Ha! I was more sore when I was on the bike hitting those roots and rocks sticking up out of everywhere. Our bikes held up really well. No flat tires or broken chains. Michaela's rear is a little sore, but she doesn't have riding shorts and believe me, that does make a difference. Zak didn't complain once about the ride and he was willing to do more and more. I'm really impressed with him. He's not complaining now of being sore either. I think I will take and Aleve before I go to bed though . . . just in case.

Thanks to everyone who has kept up with us through this blog. It has been a lot of fun, and we appreciate your prayers and good thoughts. And thanks to all those who sponsored us. It has been worth it all. I'm sad that the week is over already.

I'm hoping in the next day or two of getting some videos onto this blog. Check back for that.

We are beginning our touring of DC in the morning.

Blessings to all.