Happy Easter Everyone! It's a great day for new beginnings...I think today is the first day I woke up and it really hit me that life would be different now. No more adventures every day, no more meeting amazing people from all over the country or seeing new things every day- no more wondering where we will sleep at night or what town we will end up in. We are just going to be like everyone else again- waking up, going to work, coming home, and then doing it all over again every day. There will be a lot to do every day, especially with getting our apartment back in running order, so hopefully we won't get too bored too quickly- and of course there are other trips to plan for, even if they are just short ones. But either way, I decided to do one last blog since today is the day we will see our apartment in Buffalo for the first time since we left. So here's how our first transition day went...After having the rest of Grammy's peanut butter pie for breakfast (an awesome way to start the day!!!), we got ready for church. Since we haven't been back to Buffalo yet, I don't have any dress clothes, or even a pair of jeans to wear to Easter Service. So, we started looking through Grandma Stiller's clothes, and sure enough I was able to find a pair of dress pants to fit me. Problem solved! I can't wait to wear all of my nice clothes again! The original plan for today was to ride our bicycles all loaded back to our starting point for the trip. Although I wanted to go to church with the family, we weren't going to have time to do both (especially since we will be heading to Lyons with Joey's Mom later this afternoon to get our car back on the road and Joe's bank accounts all sorted out). Our plans changed today when the weather was chilly and it was raining. Both of us already feel like the trip is over- Joey more than me. With that being said, Joey said it didn't matter if we did one last day of riding, although I really wanted to finish exactly where we started. In the end, it worked out ok. Both this tour and the last one ended at Grandma and Grandpa Stiller's, even if that wasn't the starting point. Joey stayed at the house with Aunt Jo and Eileen while Grandma and Grandpa Stiller, Mommy Olgin and I went to Mass. It was a very nice Easter Mass. Afterwards, the four of us went to the Four Corners Restaurant in Eden for a Sunday Brunch. It is so nice to get to spend this time with the family before we go back to having busy working lives. When we got back to the house, we cleaned up the last remnants of our party yesterday and got the car all packed. It worked out really well that Grandpa Stiller still had his bike rack. Joey took off our our panniers for the last time and got them all loaded into the car and our bikes on the rack. I guess we were glad to not be riding in the rain, although it wasn't raining that hard. Off we went to Buffalo. It was a really quick drive, or at least it seemed quick since we hadn't spent a lot of time in a car in a while. As we were driving down Main St. everything was exactly as I remembered- like we had never left at all. It was just like a time warp for us- everything just kept moving but yet hadn't changed one bit. Our first stop was the family apartment where Joe's brother Andy lived when he was studying at UB and where Joe's sister Christina and her boyfriend are living while they are at UB, too. That is where the majority of our belongings are being stored. Everything from our clothes to our kitchen utensils. The apartment too looked just as it did the day we left. We took a trip to the attic to look around. The first thing I saw was a pair of boots, I was so excited- I had completely forgot that I had these- It's going t be like Christmas when we unpack everything! I found an outfit to wear so that I can get out of our trip clothes and we were on our way to Linden Ave., where our apartment was. Driving down Hertel Ave. was the only thing that was different. There were a few new stores and some that were no longer there. Our bank was also now officially a First Niagara bank instead of an HSBC bank. 540 Linden looked exactly the same. This too was exciting for us because now we would be living downstairs instead of upstairs. It had been a while since I had been in the downstairs unit even before we left. The good news is that the living room and bedrooms are bigger than I remember, and now we have a kitchen with more counter space and cupboards! It was interesting to do a walk through and see all the work we have ahead of us from the lady that was there the year we were gone. Lots of painting to do, we have to refinish the wood floor in the dining room and living room, and of course lots and lots of little projects from getting blinds to fixing door handles. We have our work cut out for us- we definitely won't be bored for a while! After we got our bikes and all our panniers inside, I felt like we were finally home. Just that little bit of moving in our only belongings from the past year made it feel like we had begun the moving process. It is going to be an exciting week. From there, we headed off to the Olgin family house in Lyons. Such a long car drive, although it went by very fast surprisingly! When we got back to the house, the first thing on our agenda was dinner. We had some salad, bread, and baked ziti left over from the party yesterday. It was a little crazy to go down in the basement and see all of our furniture again. Apparently Joey's sister had decided it would be nice to use our chair, couch and coffee table down there while we were gone. We have a lot of work to do to get re-situated in our apartment. Its so nice to be home, but it's not the same being here at the Olgin Farm without our precious doggie Nala. Oh how we miss her! We took a little time to check our car to see how it was. The battery needed a little juice, but it started right up and everything appeared to be fine- I guess we will see when we take it for inspection tomorrow. Well, with all that being said, we start the next stage in our life. It is amazing how the cycle of life goes. Once we were finally really comfortable with the lifestyle of touring, it was over before we knew it. Now we are on to the next stage and will be facing a whole new set of challenges. The entire trip as a whole was nothing but incredible. The good days and magical memories far outweighed any mechanical problems, bad weather or feelings of defeat. It still brings tears to my eyes thinking about how blessed we were throughout the entire year. We are so thankful for all of the support that our families, friends, and people we met along the way gave us. So many people were praying for us and for safe travels; we are so thankful that we were brought home safely. A huge thank you to everyone who made a contribution to our trip!!!! It is so great that we have so many connections all over the country now! I will occasionally post an update on the blog for anyone around the country who is wondering how things are going. But until then- always make it a priority to make your dreams into reality- accomplishing such goals will give your life a new sense of fulfillment. There is nothing more important that enjoying life. After all, you only live once-- so make the most of it!!
A good way to start off the day--- cinnamon rolls in the oven! So many yummy things to look forward to now that we will have a kitchen to use from here on out. What a crazy day getting ready for the party tomorrow. It worked out really well that we got here a little early so that the family had a little extra help with Grandma and Grandpa Stiller's spring cleaning and setting up. Not only that-- but today is Grandma Stiller's birthday, so we got to spend that with her too! While we were all working on cleaning the house, power washing the garage floor, and getting tables set up, some more of the family arrived! Aunt Johanna and Eileen (and their dog Pico and cat Luna)!!!!! More hugs and happy smiles. After a long day of cleaning, all of us went out to a wonderful fish fry dinner thanks to Grandpa. When we got there, some close family friends (practically family) were there too- it was perfect!! So, we had a nice big table of family to celebrate Grandma's birthday! The fish was delicious and the company was even better. A great day to be back, and wonderful memories! Tomorrow is the big day- we get to see so many people!!! Absolutely cannot wait!!!
It was so nice that we were inside last night. One of the best parts about that is that when we wake up indoors someplace, we have a warm place to eat our breakfast and don't have to worry about finding a place to eat where it's warm. After having our bowls of cereal, we got everything all packed up for one of the last times. It's hard to believe that this will all be over soon. Father Dan stopped by this morning when he got to the office to see how we were. He made a comment of "you are going to ride in this kind of weather?" Of course we were! We are so close to home now and we've been in a lot worse weather than this. It was a little chilly of course, the wind was still blowing (in our direction thankfully), and there was a little bit of misty rain/snow, but nothing was sticking. It was definitely a rideable day! From where we left, we had about 70-80 miles to go to get to Joe's Grandparent's house in Eden. The original plan was to get there tomorrow since we are a day ahead of schedule for the party on Saturday, but at one point during this morning's ride Joey brought up the idea that we should just try to get there tonight because Joe's Mom and sister were going to be there later on in the evening. I wasn't really ready for this- especially since I had been mentally preparing myself for that moment of pulling into their driveway and having it be over. Of course, I know how Joey is, so I should have known that he was going to want to get home even earlier. As we rode along route 5, there were some pretty views of Lake Erie- quite different than the views we saw when we rode in on our last trip during summertime. Like most of the roads that we had ridden down on past trips, there were parts that were exactly as we remembered them while other parts that we didn't really remember at all. We rode by all of the vineyards and up and down a few rolling hills (for some reason we remembered it being almost completely flat-oops). After about 15 miles, we made it to the oh so important last border. Once we crossed that border, we would be in New York, and all of our travels would be behind us. Those last few moments in Pennsylvania will be the last time for a very long time that we will be in a state other than New York. It was a big deal. As we pulled up to the border, we had to take a picture with the PA sign (since we missed it on the way into the state) before crossing over. When the time came, we crossed over and took our last state picture- one of our triumphant return to our home state. My feelings were very mixed. It was almost like we were just taking "another state picture," but at the same time I realized that we REALLY were actually almost done and back to where we started. Surprisingly, I didn't have any tears like I normally do. I think I was just taking it all in. I thought back to different parts of the past 13 months, from the day that we left, to my favorite places, some of the people that we had met, right down to the best and worst times too. It's so overwhelming now that I look back on the whole thing. I find that during the trip, we just got caught up in the segment of the trip we were on and didn't think of it as a whole as much, just for that reason alone because it was overwhelming thinking of it as a whole. Although touring is what I love, it is still a little amazing to me that I have done such a tour, especially when I think of myself when I was in high school not knowing what my life would hold for me. This is definitely not what I had ever imagined. It's better!!!! Just like it always does when you get close to home, the miles seemed to drag by today. There was a lot going through my head, so I was surprised that the miles didn't fly by. Our plan was to eat lunch in Dunkirk, but by 20 miles into the ride, I was feeling really hungry. Joey picked on me a little because it was so soon into the ride, but then 5 miles later, he was saying the same thing. It was pretty funny. Knowing that we weren't going to be very happy campers waiting all the way til we got to Dunkirk to eat, we decided we would eat earlier. We rolled into the little town of Barcelona. There was the lighthouse- just as I remembered and the little convenience store. Joey asked if I wanted to just eat here. Definitely! At first I didn't realized there was a little restaurant/cafe around the side of the building, it was perfect. There special was Pizza Burgers and fries!!! I had a pizza burger towards the beginning of the trip in Illinois and it was amazing. So, we both ordered one of them. I also got a hot chocolate that just hit the spot. A very yummy lunch for what would end up being our last lunch on the road. I called home to my grandpa to tell him that we were in NY. I called home on quite a few of the borders, but this would be the last call for that. There are so many "lasts" today. When we headed out for the afternoon ride, we had about 17 miles to go to get to Dunkirk/ Fredonia. We passed by Lake Erie State Park where we camped the last night of our 2010 tour before reaching Dunkirk. We stopped for a quick break there, but just as we were about to leave, realized Joey had a flat tire on his front wheel. Of course we couldn't just make it home before having any more flats! When he fixed it, he found another one of those little pesky pieces of wire from the truck tires. Those always give us slow leaks, which is why it probably took so long for us to realize he had a flat. About 5 miles further down the road, I got a flat, but this was no slow leaker. Joey was waiting for me at the top of a little hill and I was just hoping that it would make it until I got there. Somehow it did. Just 1000 feet down the road was a parking area. Since it made it that far, we decided to get to the parking area so we could be off the road to change it. The culprit this time was salt. It didn't help that the back tire that is on there had 10,000 + miles on it and is very worn, but then again, NY is salt happy in the winter time and the shoulders are covered, so it was bound to happen at some point. I feel bad because poor Joey has to fix them and freeze his fingers while I get to keep my hands in my warm gloves. What would I do without him? Before we knew it, we were in Silver Creek and climbing the pretty steep hill we remember from last time. The amazing thing was that the entire ride up the hill, all that we could smell was cinnamon rolls!!!! We couldn't figure out where the smell was coming from and never did. But after that, all we wanted was cinnamon rolls! A few miles later we were crossing the bridge into Erie County!!! We figured our way to go the back way to Joe's Grandparents and knew we were less that 10 miles away. I guess we were getting there tonight!! We crossed back over the I-90 and Joe noticed that his back tire was getting soft. Not sure if it needed changing, he just put air in it hoping it would make it all the way to our last destination. The last few miles went by really quickly. When I saw the welcome to Eden sign it was almost surreal. Hard to explain those emotions really. To make the moment even more "special," that tire that lost some air, was officially flat. So it was official- 3 flat tires on the last real day of riding, of course! We ended up stopping in the church parking lot (the same church that Joe's parents were married at!) to get off the road so he could fix the tire. As strange as it is, I got thinking about how crazy it was that we were there in THAT church's parking lot, fixing a flat tire at the end of an unimaginable journey. Once the last flat tire was fixed, we got back on the bikes and rode up the hill to Grandma and Grandpa Stiller's. Poor Joey all of a sudden started to feel completely exhausted and struggled a bit up the hill-- which is completely unlike him. I wonder if it had anything to do with the idea that the trip was only a few pedal strokes away from being over. It was pretty overwhelming. We made it to the top of the hill and turned onto Kulp Road. Shortly after making the turn, we had to take a quick break because Joey was feeling dizzy. It's so sad that he was feeling so exhausted!. From there we only had a mile or two left- then we rounded the corner and saw Grandma and Grandpa Stiller's house. That brought new meaning to the idea that the end of the trip was in sight. We pulled in that driveway, I unclipped for the last time, and the tears began to flow. I just couldn't help it. It was so overwhelming thinking about all the places we had been, and how we always talked about- "when we get home," and now it was the reality. Although I was excited for things after the trip, I was also very upset that the trip was over. We had the most incredible year- it's hard for others to understand just how wonderful and gratifying it really was (except for the "not working part"-- everyone gets that part!). Touring is what we love- for a never ending list of reasons; it is going to be such a long time before we are going to get to do anything like this again- but someday! The moment of sadness was turned around by laughter. While I held Joe's bike, he went and knocked on the door. From inside, we heard Grandma yell to Grandpa-- "Frank.... get the phone!!" Joe and I couldn't stop laughing- they are just the cutest old couple ever!! I couldn't wait to hug them! Shortly after, we heard Lillian barking. She pointed them in the right direction and they came to the door. They were so excited to see us and likewise. We got our long awaited hugs and then rolled our bikes inside. Joey went in right away, but I was too overwhelmed and "needed to cry some more" to get it out of me. Pulling in that driveway was something I thought about for quite a long time. I wondered how I would feel- but had an inkling that it would be similar to this- completely overwhelmed. Once I was "better" I headed inside and were greeted by Lilian and Seneca waiting at the top of the stairs in the kitchen. I was so happy to see them, but then got sad again since our beautiful Nala was not their waiting for us like she should have been. I don't know if we will ever get over the fact that she passed away at such a young age- while we were gone!! Grandma and Grandpa asked all about our trip and we enjoyed some goulash for dinner. We had a chance to share the video we made while we were in Wheeling, WV with them- they were definitely surprised at some of the pictures of places we had been and things we had seen. It was a very enjoyable evening of sharing stories and just being in their company. Around 8:30, Joe's Mom, Sister Lizzy and her boyfriend Tristan arrived at Grandma and Grandpa's. It was so nice to finally meet Tristan, as they have been together since April. Seeing Mom and Elizabeth was so nice too, although not quite as emotional as seeing Grandma and Grandpa Stiller since we had seen the family in Florida about a month ago. I cannot wait until Saturday to see everyone else!!! Even though we were supposed to roll in for the party on Saturday, it worked out just fine that we got here when we did. So, over the next couple of days, we will close this chapter in our lives and set out to write the next. A new kind of adventure will begin- that of being back in the work force, keeping up with our home, and spending time with family and friends.
|
|