The Grand Finale!

Sincere apologies to those of you who have been faithfully following our blog for the past 3-ish months. In the excitement and anticipation of the final week of the tour, we neglected to find a computer with internet capabilities… which has left you all wondering, “did they finish?”, “did they get swallowed up in the hills of Pennsylvania?”, “did they decide it wasn’t worth the trouble, pack up, and go home 175 miles short of their destination?”…. Well the good news is that we did in fact make it. The other good news is that we FINALLY have pictures. There is so very much to tell so we’ll go through this past week day by day-

Monday, 8-18: Jonathan and Jenny celebrate their first wedding anniversary while in Jonathan’s home town of Dillsburg, PA. He had a great time showing her the finer points of the greater Harrisburg area, which (of course) included a trip to Chocolate World in Hershey, PA. They had planned to celebrate their anniversary on their bikes, so this was a wonderful surprise. The other big excitement is that our long-lost driver, Autumn, returned to us after her hiatus of wedding attending and friends visiting. We were happy to finally be a whole team again as we got ready for the final stretch.

Tuesday, 8-19: This was the day of the reception at the American Lung Association office in Camp Hill, PA. It was another no-bike day technically, although we did bike about a quarter of a mile in Camp Hill, PA in order to make a grand entrance. Unused to receiving so much attention, we were all smiling sheepishly as we pulled in to the sight of a small crowd cheering and holding up a welcome banner amidst reporters and TV cameras. After some quick greetings, Jonathan spoke to media (and later appeared on the evening news of two different stations!), and then we all headed inside. Our good friend at the ALA, Chris Gow put together a fantastic event with great food, the chance to tell some of our favorite stories, and recognize a few of the many people who have made our efforts so successful thus far. We then went to visit our friends at Holmes Cycling (also in Camp Hill) to get a bit of a bike tune-up and say thanks again for all their help. Holmes is the company who helped us choose and order our bikes and equipment. They have been and continue to be so helpful and friendly.

Wednesday, 8-20: By Wednesday we were all itching to put in some miles, so we left Dillsburg and drove the 20 minutes down to Heidlersburg where we’d left off several days before. Thankfully, the steep and winding terrain of the Appalachian Mountains had subsided and we were able to weave our way through the cornfields with ease. We passed through the cities of York and Lancaster, and crossed over one of the widest parts of the Susquehanna River. Our “lunch” break was at a mall in Lancaster where we stopped at an Eastern Mountain Sports store to stock up on bike tubes and a few other necessities. Beyond Lancaster (on route 896) we found ourselves in the heart of Amish country. The afternoon and evening were sunny and cool as we rode past sprawling farms and horse drawn buggies and wagons. Beautiful and surreal. When the sun started to set, we stopped in the little town of Christiana, PA (70 miles from Heidlersburg) where we convinced the local police to let us camp in their park. Dinner was at Pasquale’s Pizza where Mr. Pasquale himself served as our dinnertime entertainment. He had a thick Italian accent and pleanty to talk about. Before we left, we had all been gifted with Pasquale’s Pizza pens and 2008 NFL calendars.

Thursday, 8-21: On the 21st we crossed the border into Delaware, our 12th and final state! The wealth in Delaware was apparent almost immediately in the sprawling housing developments, filled with enormous houses. In Newark, we rode through the lovely campus of the University of Delaware and then onto Route 9, which wound us through rural DE… although the housing developments remained. The whole day we were all straining our necks to the left, searching for blue on the horizon. Alas, the blue we saw, at least during the 82 miles we did on the 21st, was the Delaware River- bordered on the other side by New Jersey. Our last night of camping was in Killins Pond State Park, near Frederica. We cooked our favorite camp site meal and Autumn made a valiant attempt at S’more Cake…. Tasty… but not really cake at all. We then crawled into our tents and Carrie read from her journal what we’d been up to on this night one and two months ago. A fitting grand finale.

Friday, 8-22: From Frederica, we rode 30 miles down wild and crazy Route 1 into the heart of Rehoboth Beach, DE. We met Autumn in one of the many Tanger Outlet parking lots and feasted on Subway, courtesy of Carrie’s grandmother. By then, Jenny’s mom and step dad had arrived from Maine so we visited them for a few hours and took showers in their hotel room. For the nights of the 22nd and 23rd we had arranged to stay with the grandmother of one of Jonathan’s co-workers, Meghan. Again we were amazed by the generosity and hospitality of strangers as we arrived in Ocean View and met the lovely and talented Mimi. Mimi is a beautiful person, inside and out… and her house overlooking the bay is stunning. We could not have asked for a more wonderful place to spend our last few nights together and Mimi tried her hardest to fatten us up with Grotto’s pizza and two amazing breakfasts.

Saturday, 8-23: We all awoke on Saturday like kids on Christmas morning… wildly anticipating the events of the day ahead of us. After a delicious breakfast we put on our home-tiedyed ALA- Steps for Stanley T-shirts and headed for Lewes. A few short miles on our bikes and we found ourselves pulling into Zewaandel Park where a huge group of friends, family, ALA representatives, media and local anti-smoking groups. There was a lovely ceremony to welcome and congratulate us. Guests of honor included Mayor Ford of Lewes, as well as the CEO and the vice president of the American Lung Association, and our princess of PR, Bridget. After a few minutes of meeting and greeting, we were wisked away by police escort, to Cape Henlopen State Park (about a 2 mile bike ride) where we took off our shoes and wove through the crowds on the beach. It was a blur of excitement and activity as we dipped our front tires, and then ourselves in the salty water of the Atlantic Ocean. Many beach goers came up and asked who the crazy people with their bikes in the ocean were. After a sparkling cider toast and many many pictures, we made our way off the beach. We couldn’t have asked for a better ending.

Here are a few pictures we scraped together. There are many more that we’ll be able to post when we get home and sort out our cameras. Check again please!