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As I'm writing this, I'm at home, sitting in my lazy boy chair, with a cup of coffee next to me. I'm not worried about my battery going dead because there's a electrical outlet next to me. It's a comfortable 77 degrees in our house, and If I choose to, it will remain 77 all day long.

This is likely our final entry to our blog, and we need to try to put closure to our 9 weeks of touring the United States on bicycles. When people ask us to describe our trip, I'm not sure that I have the ability to do that. The trip brought all of our emotion to their limits. I can still recall the excitement of leaving Puget Sound in Washington,and heading inland towards the cascade mountains. Then the 2nd day of the tour, when we reached them, climbing our very first mountain ever. The temperatures were in the high 90's, changing my 6th flat tire for the day and suffering from heat exhaustion . The grade was far steeper and longer then anything we've experienced before. I was exhausted and at that moment, if  my phone had service, I was ready for a ride back to camp, and then to the airport.

    Then I can also remember coming to a mountain river the water was crashing down with so much power we could hardly hear each other talk. I was thinking, "How amazing is our God, to create something like this."

If we were in a car we would have completely missed it, or been in to much of a hurry to stop and listen to the power of the falls, or move to just the right position to see the small rainbow made by the spray. 

Then later coming to another stream the gently and quietly flowed through the ferns and trees.

I can remember riding into the canyons on the dry side of the Cascade Mountains that was so beautiful that riding on  a bike was going to fast to take all  the beauty in.

I realized that how blessed we are as Americans to have such a diverse nation. How each area of our country is different,  yet ideally suited for something totally different. Some states have unending fields of wheat, while others have  corn, beans, grapes, and hops.

We were also able to met many people who we'll not forget. People all over cherish the same thing, to be loved and treated with respect. We'll never forget Northern Lighthouse church, who go into the local prisons to reach the inmates. They bring them into their church and when all the other rehabs have failed, they show them that giving their life over to the Lord is the one rehab that will give them a new and better life. 

Over the past nine weeks we've become very close to other riders, many who I'm afraid that we'll never see again.

We've also learned that we can live very contently with much less then we have. I remember after a day of riding, relaxing in a lawn chair next to our tent. As a slight cool breeze blew across me, I thought, "Why am I so blessed, I have a tent, chair, and now a cool breeze."

We are also blessed by so many people supporting us along the way. We know that many members of our home church prayed for our safety  every day. Our family members encouraged us almost everyday by calling or writing encouragements on this blog. Strangers  would spend hours, maybe even days preparing for us before we entered their towns so we had food and places to sleep.  Others we didn't even know would pay for our meals in restaurants after we told them what we were doing.  Still others open up their homes and let us sleep in their spare bedrooms at night.
How can we possibly thank all of you for your kindness shown to us?

Was the Sea to Sea ride a life changing event? 
Over 2.1 million dollars were raised by the tour. Some of the money will go to micro loans for families in South America, and Haiti and Africa, struggling to survive. Some of the money will be going to help those in our own inter cities All of the money raise will be going to help families around the world and in the states. I think for these families, yes the tour is a life changing event.

Thank You

Doug and Joy

Saturday - Final Day # 61 Sussex to Jersey

This morning, everyone was under the gun to get out of camp early. The trailers needed to be packed up and leave camp by 8:00. All of  the riders were to met at a staging area 10 miles from Liberty State Park at 1:30 This meant  we had almost 6 hours to cover 50 miles. On a normal day, riders leave camp through out the morning but this morning everyone left at about the same time which tends to create large groups of riders traveling together which is not necessarily a good thing for safety reasons.

  After 20 miles it became obvious that we were going to have to kill a little time so we stopped a Dunkin Donuts. As what often happens, when  several riders stopped somewhere, we all stop because we think that we might be missing something, so soon the restaurant will be over run by cyclist who don't really know why they are there other then they saw the others stop.

We made it to the staging area about an hour early, which was in the direct flight path of Laguardia airport, so I spent some time taking pictures of some of the jets coming in for landings.
While we were waiting to line up for our ride into Liberty State Park, we had our last group photo taken, plus a photo of all the riders who use Brooks Saddles on the ride. The plan is to see of Brooks will make a donation to Sea to Sea for rights to the picture. (I have my doubts)  
Our Police escort arrived at 1:30 and we were off in what I think is typical New York style. The police sirens screaming loudly,  and most locals ignoring them completely. It seems that everyone in Jersey honks their horn, generally followed by some kind of hand gesture.  And unlike where we live,  being held up in traffic in common place for most New Yorkers, because they seemed to take it in stride, and I think if we received any response, generally it was positive. 
      I could smell the saltwater before we were able to see the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. As we arrived at Liberty State Park,  we lined up to dip our tires in the bay, we ended the ride exactly as we started it, 3,381 miles earlier, by all of the riders saying the Lord's Prayer.

Not to be outdone, our cooks took wooden spoons and threw them into the bay also.

Our friends, Fred and Marcia Hulst, were kind enough to drive from Michigan to New Jersey. They were at the park to pick us , and bring us to the Hyatt hotel and what would be our first bed since leaving Grand Rapids 2 weeks ago.

In the next few days I'm going to have to wrap this blog up, and get on with normal life again. We were told before we started this journey, that we wouldn't come back the same person as we left. I don't know if that's true, however I do know this. I have become much more aware of some things which I'd like to try to sum up in the next / final entry to this blog.

Doug and Joy

Friday - Day 61, Dalton to Sussex

Last night, our nephew, Bill and Amiy Boekestine, came and picked us up, and took us to their home in Carbondale, PA.
(Picture of Bills family

We were able to catch up on a bit of laundry, and getting to know their family again. However it wasn't much of a confidence booster for tomorrow's ride. As their car flew almost effortlessly over the never ending hills and valleys of Pennsylvania, Joy and I knew that in the morning we'd be climbing these same hills.  Even after climbing 5 mountain pass, and riding almost 3,000 miles, I wasn't confident that I could climb these hills. While not nearly as long as the western climbs, these were much steeper, and they just seem to never end. In fact, for the first time, I decided to leave my camera in the truck because I didn't want the extra weight on the bike. As we started out, Joy and I had every intention of riding together which we did up to Carbondale. As we left town, we came to the first of two, 700 ft. climbs. It's easier to be able to ride your own pace, and I tend to climb a bit faster then Joy does. So instead of me waiting at the top of each hill, or Joy trying to climb faster then she liked, we just each rode our own pace which worked out really well. Joy eventually hooked up with Lisa Brower, and I rode by myself most of the day. Our route took us up and over Mount Davis, the highest mountain in Pennsylvania. As we reach the summit we were welcomed by a group from the Sussex C.R.C. who had water, fruit and homemade cookies for us. The final 18 miles were pretty much downhill, into the town of Sussex. We stayed at the Christian School which is right next to the Sussex Christian Reformed Church. The Church members made  more food then we could possibly eat and once again we all ate way to much.

Doug and Joy

Thursday - Day 60, Binghamton to Dalton

Last night we Chennango Forks school which is in the process of be remodeled. I don't think our director realized that the construction company is working 24 hours a day so the school will be ready by next week. During the night, there were dump trucks running through the parking lot.

We left about 7:00 and we were soon out of the state of New York.

We were warned that Pennsylvania  would be hilly and that certainly proved itself to be true. We stopped in a small town for our 2nd breakfast, and started talking to the locals about our trip.

As we were getting ready to leave  the owner said that someone had already paid for our breakfast. I'm sorry I didn't get a picture or last name but Ross, Thanks again.

We came to a large cement train bridge crossing the valley, which was built in 1915  to transport coal from the mines.

The bridge is over 2,000 feet long and took 3 years to build by 500 construction workers. It saved the mining company so much money that within 4 years it was paid for.

Tomorrow we have a very hard day, 80 miles and over 6,000 feet of climbing. Every one is very nervous about being able to make it through the day. Please keep us in your prayers.

Doug and Joy

Wednesday- Day 59 - Romulus to Binghamton

This morning was another very nice sunny morning. Just as yesterday, our ride started out very hilly again this morning. We've sort of gotten out of our climbing mode since we left the west, but Northern New York is very hilly. About 2 miles into our route, we came to a falls which were about a mile off our route, and up a rather steep climb. As we were cycling into the parking lot, I said to some people, "Please tell me this is worth the mile long climb we just did." I guess you be the judge.

We came to the town of Ithaca, New York, and after looking around through the downtown area, which is very nice. Joy wanted her picture taken riding a horse for our sister in law, Beth Post.

We asked some locals where is a good coffee shop and they all directed us to "give me coffee" as it was voted the best coffee in New York by someone. We found the place only a few blocks from where we were, and yes it was good coffee.

At about 65 miles we came to another welcome sign on a very nice farm silo.

I really like the old barns here and in fact this farm had an old wooden silo yet. They are not large farms, maybe a 100 acres, but they are very neat, family owned operations.

We are staying at Chenango Forks School tonight with a C.R.C. church right across the road. The church has offered to feed us dinner tonight, which we are very thankful for. Tonight will be our last night in New York. When ever I thought of New York, I've always only thought about New York City. However, It is a beautiful state, and I'm glad we had the chance to go through it.

Doug and Joy

Tuesday,Day 58 - Byron to Romulus

We haven't had any Internet for the past several days, and we received the news that our wonderful Satellite dish is not going to be working for the remainder of the trip. I have some advise for anyone considering buying anything form Datastorm Technologies. Don't! And if you ever get into a situation where you have no choice, assume that  it will never work, and then on the rare occasion that it does, you'll be pleasantly surprised.

Today we rode 76 miles from Byron to Romulus. We woke up to a heavy dew on the ground and temps. in the low 50's. Our tent could not have been any wetter if we had dunked it in a bucket of water. The morning started out a little hilly, but it was a beautiful morning with bright sunshine and no wind. East Palmyra C.R.C. was kind enough to provide dinner for us at one of the farms along the route.

This is our first time in upstate New York, and it is very scenic, with large dairy and crop farms along the route. So far, New York has had the best road for cycling on that we had. Large smooth shoulders are a real blessing.

We rode past large vineyards also and Joy and I decided to stop in and visit one.

We did a little sampling and took a short tour of the process of making wine.

Our stop for the evening was at Sampson State park, and absolute  air force base from world war 2. It is a very nice park with wonderful view of the finger lakes. On the way in, I went for a wild ride on one of the jets on display.

How many of you think that this is real or photo shopped?

Doug and Joy

Aug. 24, Day 56, St. Catharines

Last night we set our tent up right against the fence of a neighbor of the school. They were working in the backyard, so we started telling them about our tour. We found that they spoke only broken English, French being their first language. It's hard to understand how a group of people can isolate themselves so much, in an English speaking Country, that they are hardly able to understand or speak English. 
At about 1:30, we took 2 school buses to Qweenston Park, near Niagara falls. Just as we arrived, the rain started pouring down on the several hundred people there. We walked to a restaurant in the park and sat down and ordered a cup of coffee. We sat for an hour and half waiting for the rain to clear. When we paid for the coffee it was came to $7:50. The rain cleared in time for the celebration rally to go on. As it turned out, it was very nice, and I would estimate that about 500 people came out. 

When we got back to the school, Joy and I decided to pack up the tent and sleep inside the school building. We found a classroom that was unused , and laid our sleeping mats out for the night. We've become quite adapt at sleeping most anywhere.

Doug and Joy