1 Day away

Day 71 - Aug 12, 12:38pm
51 miles. Santa Rosa, CA to San Rafael, CA

Don't quite know how i got off count with my days but figured i might as well correct it.

Am writing this listening to one of my favorite new songs, Shooting Stars(Kris Menace Remix) by Bag Raiders while OVERLOOKING THE BAY! Can't remember the last time i felt like this. Its an intense combination of calm, exhaustion, and appreciation all before what i know will be one of the most unforgettable days of my life tomorrow.

Today was the last real day of riding and i topped it off with Dennis all day(the birthday boy!). What an awesome guy. Imagine the purest mix of energy, sincerity, and goodwill all rolled up into one pirate imitating bundle of bearded goodness. Enjoyed discussing the merits of gas station food and also touched on how for the past two months we're technically physically unlike normal humans. Kinda like having mutant powers! like Wolverine! Except not really. Actually not at all. But its been fun being able to blindly consume 5,000 calories daily while its lasted.

Had lunch at a horse stable today which was really cool since we got to pet them and all. Gosh they're so beautiful. The only problem was this dog Sam who kept raiding our lunch and legit ate one of Anne-Lise's sandwiches while she was turned around. What a cutie though.

Dennis, Larry, and I finished out the day spectacularly riding through some really cool and bicycle friendly towns. It was just the right level of traffic to make for safe yet exhilirating highway. We caught 3 yellow lights on this one circuit highway and for the most amazing 30 seconds had this entire three lane strip to ourselves as we flew by at 30mph. Also, first palm tree sighting! The bay area is wonderful and you can't help but get a great chill vibe from here. Coming up on our first glimpse of the boats docked in the bay was obviously amazing. While riding, it was mindboggling to think that wait, we're actually here, as in we can be at the bridge in an hour if we wanted. Can only imagine how crazy it will be tomorrow.

When we learned the pool was closed, a gracious church member brought us to her very spacious house to use her pool and showers which was so nice. The shower was one of those full glass ones, which we lovingly dubbed "the octagon".

The Presbyterian St. Luke's church here is super kind. They have the most awesome patio overlooking a part of the bay and made the best chicken and pineapple shish kebabs. After dinner we all went around and said our highest high and lowest low of the trip. It was really interesting to see the overlaps and differences between people's comments and how they related to mine. Even more fun though was the singing we did thanks to the accompaniment of the 4 church members playing their guitars! Nothing like a fuzzy sing a long to reflect on how much we love each other.

As if it wasn't getting mushy enough, we all gathered afterwards to distribute commemorative bracelets of the trip. They were made by cutting up our sweep capes into 32 pieces which definitely carries a lot of symbolism of us caring and watching out for each other. Such a great way to literally carry a piece of the trip with us. Am very happy with that choice. It worked by each person picking someone to complement and then giving them a bracelet, then that person would pick someone else, etc. Do that a lot on FOP and i sometimes dislike how it can feel contrived but i was super glad to be able to share some words about Larry, since I've shared a really genuine bond with him more than almost anyone else on this trip.

Fun, Larry and Dennis shaved their beards finally today and its actually scary how unrecognizable they are. I decided to keep mine, as much as im beginning to look like Abraham Lincoln to see how it fits into the real world. Man what i would give for a haircut right now...

So yea, this is it, i look forward to tomorrow being filled with as much laughter, tears, and joy as possible. We deserve it. This is our day our bridge and our time.

Life is really just one connected series of adventures i've realized, (or at least id like it to be) and one exciting part of tomorrow's celebration which i think may be undernoticed is the joy of knowing that with the closing of this great accomplishment, it only means that there is now the potential for many others now open to us.