Heads Carolina, Tails California

One of my new favorite songs, because it speaks my mind exactly nowadays. Oh, how I miss the days of Biking and Building!

("Heads Carolina, Tails California" is a country song by Jo Dee Messina)

I never finished writing about our very last day of riding, from Alpine Heights into San Diego. So here goes, the final chapter:

To preface this day, I should say that Ryan, Liz, and I were dreading dreading DREADing this day. After our 137 mile ride, we actually stayed up late just chatting and lying under the stars. Admittedly, I fell asleep, but I was definitely trying as hard as I could to stall the start of our last day. After having had one of the best nights of sleep ever, I awoke the next morning amidst the pile of bags that was still outside on the tarp--I think I was too lazy the night before to bother finding a space in a tent, but it was actually quite comfy outside with the bags!

That morning we got a slow start. Our routine was already much deviated from every other day this summer because we didn't have our familiar van & trailer, and because of the accident, there was a lack of food--that really makes for a lot of hungry hungry bikers milling around looking for something to eat. After eating, we had to tie up some loose ends. In particular, we had to make some decisions about the affordable housing grants. The NC2SD trip had $20,000 to give out to affordable housing groups across the country. We had 5 competing grants from places spanning from Durango to Arizona to the Fuller Center (where Ryan is working next year) to NC State to South of Boston. All had wonderful ideas and projects, so there were some hard decisions to be made. It was pretty empowering being part of a grant-making process, especially knowing that we raised the money and we could put the money where we thought it'd be best.

Next on the agenda was a reflection activity, one that I had stolen from a med school retreat. We stood in a circle and had a ball of string (complements of CVH), which was passed to the person across from you. As each person threw them the ball, they said something about the person they passed it to--a compliment, a good memory, something they appreciated. Finally, when everyone had gotten the string, we had formed a huge web. We cut the string so each person had a piece of it to take home with them, symbolizing that we're always connected to one another, even if we're scattered all over the country. My little piece is going to be tied to my bike. =)


...And then we set off--off to San Diego, off to the ocean, and off to the final mile of our trip! Oh, what mixed feelings I had! I constantly cycled between never wanting to get there and being pumped to finally be at the Pacific. Well, I did get my first wish (almost), because our short 40-some mile ride turned into a 3-4 hour ride. We had about 5 flats in just our group, and my, there were some big 'hills' between us and San Diego! Talk about building up the anticipation, we thought we'd see the ocean at the top of some of the big hills, but we didn't see it until we were 1 mile away. Anyway, it was a good last ride, and wonderful because I got to ride with many of my favorite riding buddies (Ryan, Liz, Meredith, Andrew, Jochem, and Clark!).

At 1 mile away, the entire crew met up, for one last ride together, into La Jolla Beach, where our families and friends were waiting to greet us. Oh, it was a glorious (and steep) downhill to the ocean! .... And the rest is history, for which I will let pictures tell the tale.

Thanks for the final chalking to greet us!


SOOO excited to be there! I was screaming the whole way down!


Dipping our front wheels in the Pacific!


Sirisha came down to see me finish! =)


Playing in the ocean, at long last:


One last chorus of "Country Road":


Photoshoot in the ocean:


My tan line:


Brendan with his inspirational oration to close our trip:


Fin.