Liverpool, NY to Rye, NH 8-4 to 8-9-10

I biked it all--yes, all 3,751 miles from Astoria, OR to Rye, NH! The finish at Wallis Sands Beach in Rye, NH felt like a long time coming, but the trip overall grew into one big blur of memories--7 days we biked centuries (over 100 miles), but the hardest part for me was climbing the mountains--the Cascades, the Rockies, and the Appalacians. As soon as we crossed over the Vermont state line, I breathed a big sigh of relief to be back in New England again! We averaged 82 miles a day during the 45-day trip of cycling (plus we 5 rest days). Barbie Zucchi and Adele Ames came to the banquet in Manchester, NH, and they brought a yummy picnic to the beach the next day (chicken, cornbread, fresh fruit, etc.) where I was also greeted by Pam, Jocelyn, and Alyson Veilleux and Carol and Cathy from RI! What a wonderful group to celebrate our victory--and even, "wow" balloons from Mom Zucchi! It was a great group of cyclists to travel with--diverse backgrounds, the youngest was 17 and the oldest was 66! I'll try to have my namesake post some pictures in a couple of weeks--the pictures from the last day weren't on my camera, and I'm having technical difficulties posting pictures from a Snapfish album by Adele. I appreciated all the e-mails and facebook comments of encouragement--I read them all, although I was often too tired at night to respond. Thanks for going along with me on a bicycling journey across America!

Brantford, ONT, Canada to Henrietta, NY 7-31 to 8-3-10

Wow, only 6 more days of biking to go--but who's counting?! This trip has been quite a challenge--so far, I've logged 3,183 miles! Forty-six of us are going all the way across country--2 are from Switzerland, 2 from Canada, 1 from England (formerly from Scotland), and one American lives in Hong Kong--so our backgrounds are quite varied. Numerous other riders have joined us for segments of the trip or even for just a few days. Biking in Niagara Falls, on both the Canadian and American sides, was extremely busy due to zillions of vehicles and pedestrians--tourists from all over the world visit the Falls. On my final day off, Monday, August 2, I took the Maid of the Mist boat ride that goes quite close to the Falls--it was a beautiful, warm summer's day so I didn't mind getting wet! The Falls are so beautiful to see up close--as well as at night when the lights change color on the Falls. After the boat ride, we went to get an ice cream , I took a nap, and then a group of us had dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe. Today, we biked 83 miles, mostly flat farmland in NY. Tomorrow, we bike 93 miles, so I need to get some sleep. The days fly by with biking, eating, going to rap meetings (finding out about the next day's ride), laundry, and bike maintenance. Soon we'll be dipping our bike wheels at Wallis Sands Beach in Rye, NH!