Day 35

First, I would like to apologize to all my followers for taking this long to get to the final two days of my journey. The final day (Day 36) and my afterthoughts will be posted over the course of this next week.

As you might have suspected, the excitement of the final two days and all the things to follow had me quite distracted and unfortunately my blog fell by the wayside. There were other reasons more psychological in nature that also kept me from finishing my story which I will discuss later. Now back to the story...

Since you may have forgotten where I am in my story due to the fact that the last post I made was well over six months ago, here is a quick recap: Yesterday was my journey over the final summit in the Sierras. It was a terribly cold journey as I made my way down the mountains stopping for the night in Pollock Pines. 

I woke up in the morning rested, warm and overwhelmed with excitement to be so close to home. It was finally hitting me that this journey was coming to an end. It was a very weird feeling. On one hand, I was excited to be so close to accomplishing what I had set out to do. On the other, I was soon going to have to get back to the real world and a whole new set of challenges. Not to mention all the other things going through my head. Fears of something going wrong in the final days that might keep me from finishing. Fears that my motivation might give out and I might have somebody pick me up now that I was within a reasonable driving range. I had also grown very fond of all the attention, emotional support, and the feelings of accomplishment. How would I handle it when all of that was gone? Needless to say, I had a lot to think about on that day's ride.

When I left my room to head to the free continental breakfast, I was astonished to find a nearly three inch layer of snow on the ground. To think that I was and would continue to bike through weather like this had me questioning my sanity. Regardless, I fueled up and set out. First thing was first, I stopped at a gas station to try to find some better gloves for the cold weather. Sure enough I found a pair that ended up working great.

After hopping back on the highway, I hadn't made it far into that day's journey at all when I came across a sign saying that bicycles were not allowed on that particular highway. Which I found infuriating at the time but hilarious in hindsight. There were no such signs when there was no shoulder, falling rocks, and blind turns but now that there was a huge shoulder, no blind turns, and no threat of falling rocks whatsoever, I was not allowed to cycle. However, the detour it forced me into taking was quite a beautiful one.

Tonight I would be stopping in Sacramento because I had a pair of friends that I would be staying with that night, Karlin and Megan. As I was making my final approach into Sacramento I now realized pretty quickly that I was back in California. Drivers here do not have much or any respect for cyclists. From the Midwest to here, I saw a steady decline in people's tolerance for cyclists. Out in the Midwest, most people would follow behind me if they could not safely pass with a great deal of distance between them and me. As I moved more and more west, people started passing closer and closer and at higher rates of speed. Now that I was back in California, I hardly felt safe on the road at all. I just got the feeling that people no longer viewed me as a living, breathing human being that could die if they accidentally hit me. Now I was just something in the way that might make their commute home a whole 10 seconds longer if they chose to pass me safely. Needless to say, I hope that anyone reading this will take the time to pass a cyclist safely next time they come across one on the road.

As I neared my friends' home, I realized that I should grab something from the store to thank them for graciously offering their place to stay. I texted them to see what I could bring. In the end I was looking quite classy with an 18 pack of Bud Light strapped to the back of my bike. Haha!

It had been so long since I had seen Karlin and Megan but the way they welcomed me was like it had been just yesterday. They were so awesome, as were their five amazing dogs or "the stampede" which they were dubbed at some point in the night. It was also so amazing to finally see some familiar faces. We shared some great conversation and they even treated me to dinner. Karlin and Megan, if you're reading this, thank you so much for everything that night, it meant so much to me!

That day I had told my dad that I was going to be heading out the next morning (my final morning) by 8am. Having so much fun with my friends though, I soon lost track of time. Next thing I know, there's no way I was going to be taking off by 8am... but who cares. It was my last couple days on my journey so I was going to take my time to enjoy them.

Next post to come... THE FINAL DAY!!!