P.S.

(Oops. I put this aside to reread and it got lost in the busyness of my life at home. It's now been several weeks and this is still pretty much how things feel.)

We've been off the bikes for a week, and home for five days. All my dreams are still about being out on the bike. The second night on my own bed, I woke up feeling not at all sure that I knew where I was, but slowly, slowly, things are starting to feel normal. If there is such a thing.

Last night as I settled down to read, I saw a big flash of light. Bruce had seen a couple, too, so we climbed up in the big window seat to see what was going on. The sky was clear above us. The moon was almost full, and was shining down. There was a thick blanket of fog, very low to the water. We could see the tops of the Bay Bridge's lighted cables. But within a very few minutes, I saw a huge lightning bolt strike somewhere in or around the Marina. Hmm. I really though we were home, but home never has that sort of weather. We continued to see flashes of lighning, although no more were as close or as vivid. After all the summer's weather excitement, I felt almost guilty, as though the more severe weather had somehow followed us back.

Even before we left, I wondered what it would feel like to have done this. Would we want to toss our bikes in the Atlantic and be through? Would we wish we could simply turn around and ride back to the west coast? Would we be physically exhausted, or stronger than we could have imagined at the start? Would we be really, really excited to be able to change into different clothes?

So I gave it a week, and here's what I have been thinking.

Our routines are so well established that I fell back into mine pretty easily. I remembered all my passwords at work. I knew which bus lines I wanted to take if I wasn't riding my bike. I even remembered most of the places I had left things in the house, and since we had only gotten the drawers built fairly recently, that was not something I could be too sure of. I went to tap today, and my feet don't seem to have frozen up from three months of bike shoes. Home is very welcome. Getting back is every bit as good as I expected it to be.

I did not want to throw the bike in the Atlantic. I actually felt quite sad about ahving to leave it to be shipped home. Fortunately, my other bike is here so I have been able to commute on it and go out on my first Velo Girls ride in months.

Some days, I almost feel as if it didn't happen. Then someone asks me a question about the trip, and I start answering and the memories flood back and fill my brain. I am once again in the Michigan Upper Peninsula, or discovering North Dakota, or Montana. I am thinking of views, of special places we stayed, of spectacular birds, of (the relatively rare) good meals, long days, short days, hard days, easy days.

Then I get back to work and it is once again as if I had never been away.

So, the big questions:

Would I do it again?

No. Too long to be away from home, from friends and family, from other things I really love to do, like tap, and my work.

What would I do differently on another bike tour?

I'd attach more importance to support. On a long distance ride, I would like to have more flexibility in the schedule. On the other hand, having all those reservations was very reassuring. But the trips I would choose first right now would have us stay for several days, maybe even weeks, at a single place, and do rides out from it, or maybe even rides from nearby locations we could drive to. I would like to get to know areas more thoroughly.

How soon would I think of doing another long bike tour? How long would it be?

I'd be ready to go almost any time. It would be anything from a long weekend to a 4-6 week tour.

Where would it be?

Almost anywhere. There were several parts of our route that we would like to see more of. Eastern Washington, Montana, Minnesota & Wisconsin, the Upper Peninsula, New England. It would also be fun to do more exploration of the west coast. I would like to complete the parts of the coast we have not yet ridden - Seattle to Mendocino. Bruce would probably choose to do the new Adventure Cycling route in the Sierras. I would like to spend some time in the deserts, especially in Arizona and New Mewxico. France. Italy. Australia. I guess we have a lot of riding to look forward to.

Am I glad we went?

Absolutely. This is an amazing country. I have a better sense of its size and diversity, of the amount of space we still have dedicated to wilderness. I am more than ever certain I am lucky to live in the San Francisco area, but also more certain that I am lucky to live in the United States. We met people everywhere we went who were kind and thoughtful. We tend to think diversity means the cultural and ethnic diversity we enjoy in our area; I have now seen firsthand that there are lots and lots of life elements in rural states that would feel very unfamiliar to us. We should not underestimate their importance.

What about the clean clothes?

I hope I will never again take that for granted!!!!