success!

We have successfully achieved our coast-to-coast journey - reaching the Atlantic Ocean in Kitty Hawk, NC. We cruised south on the Outter Banks and are currently resting in Wilmington, NC. Our OBX (the cool way to write Outter Banks) journey was a little shorter than we had anticipated - due to the expensive nature of a crowded beach community and the crowded beach community. I had visited the OBX back when I was a youngster and had fond memories of a sparsely populated island community - with barley a tourist in sight --- and much to my dismay, it was full of tourist and tourist crap for sale :( -- it was beautiful - however, there was no need to spend too much time there (more rest days!!!)

We have had word from Kev - letting us know that they are just under a week from finishing their trip and that things are going well. They even did a little bit of rock climbing and took a couple of days at Mammoth Caves National Park.

We have had no word from Dave since Damascus - but he has most likely reached the coast and started his ride back to Ann Arbor, MI

Bryan is cruising along and is currently in Missouri - he stayed in Colorado for about a month - where his hottie girlfriend, Jenn (who Karli and I are currently staying with in Wilmington) came out and rode with him for a month -- check out his blog at: http://aguyandhislaptop.blogspot.com/
I may even be able to catch up with him on his ride as I drive back east with Nick -- we'll see though, he might have to ride really slow in order for me to do that and I think he's ready to be back home and will be putting in some big rides.

I spoke with Jay the other day and since I last saw him in New Meadows, ID (where I wrecked) - he rode up to Missoula where he stayed for 5 days, picked up some maps for the Northern Tier Route (http://www.adv-cycling.org/routes/northerntier.cfm) --- he pushed on through Montana, stopping here and there with some families and even working on a farm for a bit -- through North Dakota, where he came down with the flu and had to stop for 9 days to recover ---- and when I talked with him he was just starting into Minnesota and possibly heading up through Canada. His final destination is Boston - where his family resides.

Best of luck to all my friends and fellow bikers that are still riding - keep peddling and may the wind be at your backs ---- keep in touch.

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pics:

the Atlantic is just over this dune (no, we didn't actually ride into the ocean)
kick ass!
totally kick ass!

grass and water -- on the OBXthe Cape Hatteras Lighthouse
our bikes on the OBX ferry
if you zoom in and look really hard, you can see us and our bikes on this OBX ferry
tough as nails -- we had to look tough with all of the tourists checking us out -- otherwise they might have ganged up on us and thrown us over



Joy is of the will which labours, which overcomes obstacles, which knows triumph.
-William Butler Yeats