We started driving the motorhome up I-5 at 8:00 pm last night from La Habra, California. We drove there after reaching the Mexico border at about 3:00 pm and ate dinner and showered. We have been driving all night and should be home about noon. The trip will be officially over. This has been a great trip. Probably the easiest of the twelve trips I have done. No rain except a few morning drizzles, camping in the motorhome was comfortable and convenient, there were mostly tailwinds when there was wind, no dogs, no bugs, very few rumble strips, mostly good roads, lots of designated bike lanes and trails, hills but not like the Rockies, Appalachians, Cascades, and Ozarks, and the camaraderie and fellowship with the team was great, at least for me; I enjoyed all of them but I am not sure if they enjoyed me! The scenery riding along the coast was beautiful and we met lots of nice people along the route.

The best thing about every trip is the amount of alone time that I have with the Lord while riding the bicycle or driving the motorhome, and the extra reading time that I have at the end of each day’s ride. It truly is a spiritually renewing and growing time.

I had a lot more trouble physically this year than on any of the previous trips and drove the motorhome rather than ride the bike about a third of the days, it was nice to have that option, and the rest of the team didn’t make to much fun of me and call me a wimp, except my brother, Cliff. I am not sure if the problems were caused by age or Parkinson’s. The main issue was not being able to sleep well, not getting rest, and nothing gives me a wimpy attitude more than not being able to sleep. I had decided that this was my last trip, but I have changed my mind about that, I enjoy these trips and get too much out of them to quit now. I am going to exercise more, and do more bicycling outside on my bicycle. One of my new goals is to join a group that bicycles together regularly so I will have the accountability to do it so I stay in bicycle shape. This year I got bummed when I decided to drive a day instead of riding my bike, but I will just make that part of the plan in future rides if I need to. Even with getting older and with physical and health issues, most of the battle to endure is in my head not with my body, it is good for me to fight those and win.

Thank you to all of you who took this journey with us via this blog and for all the kind responses to the blog that many of you wrote that were truly motivational for me.