August | 2024 | Mountain-Boy

I’ve been everywhere, man
I’ve been everywhere, man
Crossed the deserts bare, man
I’ve breathed the mountain air, man
Of travel I’ve had my share, man
I’ve been everywhere – Johnny Cash

Last day on the road, wooohoooo!!!! Just one last push and I’ll be home. There were a couple thunder showers that pushed through during the day where it was raining so hard that I couldn’t see and had to duck into first a pizza place and later a convenience store. Funny, but Vanessa said that we were in the middle of a drought. So far, it didn’t seem like one.

First view of the Merrimac River. Yes it’s muddy and full of random tires, cars, shopping carts, refrigerators, and the occasional headless body, but this is my river. The same river that drains into the salt water estuary near our home where it meets the Atlantic.

Stopping at our home in Amesbury, our cats were all over me. They probably thought that I’d been run over by a car or some such and now they were following me everywhere and wouldn’t let me out of their sight.

My beautiful wife Vanessa bicycled with me the 8.5 miles from Amesbury to Plum Island to complete this adventure and there’s no way I could have finished without her support.

It’s only starting to sink in now that I actually bicycled all the way across freakin’ North America. About 3,800 miles in a month and a half. How crazy is that?

Thanks all for reading and hope to see you in the next adventure.

Today was hills day and the one I had been apprehensive about for the last few weeks. I had visions of long steep twisty climbs through the mountain passes like in the Middlebury and Appalachian Gaps. These never happened. Sure, there were climbs but these were mostly pretty manageable in my low gears and definitely easier than going through the Rockies. In some cases, there were some very steep sections well over 10% but these were generally short and you could tough them out. It turns out you can listen to your fears but you can’t let them boss you around.