San Francisco!

The trip ended this past Monday Aug 17th with a nice 36 miles ride from Point Reyes CA to Baker Beach in San Francisco. It was quite a cold morning as we left the camp site bundled in our warmest gear. The ride was up and down over the hills and through a few cute towns. We met up about 3 miles from the end and all rode together across the golden gate bridge! My parents were there and got a picture of almost everyone :)
There were tons of family and friends waiting as we pulled into the beah and evryone cheered. We promptly dropped our bikes and ran into the cold ocean! We then did the formal wheel dip with pictures, and enjoyed the party and food for a few hours.

I then spent a few days exploring San Francisco, one in Monterey and driving the CA coast, and am now visiting my friends Doug and Kevin in San Luis Obispo. We are going wine tasting and surfing this weekend!!! Then early
Monday morning I'm taking a bus to LA and flying back to MD.

Thanks to everyone who donated or otherwise supported in my endeavors this summer. It was a wonderful experience and an adventure I'll never forget.

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Day off!

Today is our day off in the Grand Canyon! Our campsite has no cell signal... But had wireless Internet in the general store, lol. We started the morning with a hike and ended at the vistors center to listen to the Ranger's Geological Talk which was fun. I then spent time doing some leader things, and we wen for a little bike ride to eat out. We watched sunset over the Canyon while Jacki played the guitar and sang to us! It was perfect. We then had smores by the campfire to end a fabulous day. 

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Grand Canyon

Thursday we rode into the National Park and the Grand Canyon! locals had told us is was a beaultiful ride... And well we never trust locals too much when talking about terrain (unless they are a cyclist). The local were right, it was beautiful but it was a different beautiful than we expected. There were no rocks or cliffs, but grass and trees!

Thanks to Lindsey Dean for sponsoring today!

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Another fall

Yesterday was another century ride into Page AZ. There was beautiful scenery once again and more heat than we've had in a while. We were exicted to have a few rain showers late in the day! About a mile from host.... I ran off the shoulder as it dropped about 4 inches, landing me on my head and left shoulder in the middle of the street. Luckily the other riders were far enough behind me that they were able to stop before hitting me, and a ranger happened to be passing in the other direction- she stopped traffic and then gave me a ride to host. My helmet cracked, but good thing I was wearing one! I went this morning to buy a new one and am hoping to ride this afternoon assuming my head pain is gone.

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Arizona!

Yesterday we crossed into Arizona! And then we made a little stop off at the four corners monument which was pretty cool. I bought some more jewlery, some for myself and some for family members... Hopefully I will soon stop seeing beautiful things so I cam start saving money!

We had less than perfect living conditions last night... But today we are in Keyenta AZ, a town with 2 fast food restaurants (aka big compared to where we have been visiting, haha). We gave another bike clinic and presentation today, and again mcdonalds donated dinner... And Once again I couldn't stomach it :(

But today was a short 56 mile day with lots of pretty Arizona red rocks! It was also Laura's birthday so we all sang ro her and had some cake. Happy Birthday Laura! Now we are off to bed to prepare for a century ride tomorrow...

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mountains, mountains, and more mountians

We haven't had Internet or even cell phone signal for the past two days... We spent one night camping just west of Cuba NM and then last night we camped out in the parking lot of Appache Nugget Casino on the Jicarilla Apache Reservation. Staying at the casino was interesting... First it was SUPER windy when trying to set up tents, we could barely hold them from blowing away and ended up pace lining them behind the van to cut wind, lol. It was also Becca's 21st birthday soahe had a great location to celebrate! I chose to save my money and only watch the gambling take place :)

The last 3 days have been super hilly, with some great views from the top of mountains. Wednesday we reached over 9,200 feet in elevation! It was a sweet ride down... And I hit my max speed for the trip of 43mph. I tend to get scared going downhill and so I start braking at 30mph if not sooner... So you can imagine how fast some members of the group were going!
Today we are in Farmington NM at the First Presbytarian church. It seems like a nice town and the people are great. A few parishioners have been reading my blog for the past few weeks... Thanks! And I hope you enjoy it :)

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Today was great!

Today we had a day off in Santa Fe New Mexico. I started the day with a much needed trip to the chiropractor, then we went to Trader Joes and dunkin donuts!! Neither of which we have visited at all this trip, and well dunkins was amazing as always :) I wandered downtown a bit by myself and bought a kokopelli blanket and looked at lots of jewelery. I bought a necklace and earing set with turquoise which I'm pretty excited about. We visited the good old post office to send some stuff home and make our bags lighter. Then, Laurel and I headed off for a massage! It was fabulous. We ended the day with a nice Italian pizza and getting organized and ready to hit the road tomorrow.
This is my favorite place we've been yet, and I hope to come back and spend more time!

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