It took us awhile to get out of our sleeping bags again this morning. It's kind of funny that it still takes us so long to get out of them when it's cold out. Guess it's not something that you can just "get used to." I got out and got our cereal and milk off our bikes and quickly got back into our tent. We were having breakfast in our sleeping bags this morning! After we ate, since we were cold again, we both snuggled up inside our sleeping bags again and laid there until we felt warm. Eventually, we got everything all packed away. As I was packing, I was thinking that there aren't too many times left that we will have to pack our bikes. It has become such a routine; what will we do when we don't have to pack, unpack, repack, etc. all the time!?!? By the time we got on the road it was already almost 10 am. It's a good thing that we don't have a ton of miles to do! In fact, we should have less than 40 to go to get into the city of Erie! I know that once we get there, we will really feel like we are almost home! And that is exactly how it was! After riding into the cold wind (and of course more snowflakes), we climbed up and down a bunch more hills- but as like yesterday, they kept getting smaller and more gradual each time. Eventually, we made it to the top of a hill near a little river or creek. I was feeling really hungry, so we stopped for a quick snack. As we were standing there- Joey said "Listen, do you hear that?" It was the sound of the interstate in the distance-- we were almost to the 90!!! We knew we were getting close now! Sure enough, a mile or so down the road, and there it was- Interstate 90! The last time we crossed this was probably somewhere in Washington state. We've probably crossed almost every major interstate in the country by now. Two more miles after that, we made it to route 20. We took a break in the Burger King on the corner to warm up since by that time we were both frozen. We sat there for quite a while and eventually got the nerve up to go back out in the cold. The good news was that we only had about 10 miles to go to get to Erie and the wind was now with us!!! That helped a lot because with the wind at our back, we were able to move right along and didn't feel nearly as cold as when it is blowing right in our face. Thank goodness for that. Since we knew we would have a little bit of a shorter ride today, we planned on going to the library for a while and decided that once we saw a McDonald's where we could use the internet to figure out where one was that we would do that. So, sure enough, we did exactly that once we found a McDonald's. We found out that the library was just around the corner from the Smuggler's Wharf restaurant that we have been planning to go to since before we left on the trip (we also went to this restaurant towards the end of our NY-FL and back tour in 2010.) It was perfect. Again, it took us a while to get back outside, but after we did we had less than 6 miles left to go before we would be back inside where it was warm. As we were going through town, we saw a couple funny signs. One saying "Aggressive Drivers, High Crash Area," which was so comforting. The day we left Pittsburgh we saw a similar sign- " Beware of Aggressive Drivers." We couldn't believe it when we saw that one that day, but to see another one about aggressive drivers today made it even funnier. We've never seen a signs like that before! The other sign that we saw today read "Buckle up next million miles," which I particularly liked. Once we found State St. everything looked familiar. The ride through downtown was one that I remember doing- although it was really hot last time we rode through there. We found the library without any problem at all. After parking our bikes, Joey said that since he was just going to use the tablet that he would sit in the lobby area at the table so that he could see the bikes so we didn't have to worry about them. So, I headed in to find a computer. The funny thing is that these libraries are all different- and their guest policy is too. This is probably only the second library that I've been to in the whole country where you had to pay to use the computers- it's only a buck for 90 minutes, so it's not bad, but I was still surprised. I got all set up on the computer, started uploading pictures and signed on to start updating the website. It was all taking a long time- this library happened to have slow computers where others have speedy ones- it's so hit and miss. I think I had been there about 15 minutes when something totally unexpected happened. A sweet little voice whispered in my ear and said "Will you hurry up, I'm getting really hungry." I turned around and saw my Mommy standing there next to me and my Grammy right next to her!!!!!!!! I couldn't believe it! What an amazing surprise! I of course started to cry right away because I hadn't seen them in so long- my mom since the day that we left last March, and my Grammy since we left Vancouver, BC back in September. All I wanted to do was hug them. Grammy told me that Joey had called her a week or so ago and asked if "She was going to surprise us in Erie." She had surprised us near Pittsburgh at the end of the last trip and so he was hoping she would again this trip. I of course had no clue this was going on. In fact looking back on it- there wasn't one thing that was suspicious at all. He is very good at keeping secrets and "acting cool." After a couple minutes, Joey came walking upstairs to where we and had a big smile on his face. It was then that he explained that yesterday at lunch when Grammy called his phone by "accident" that she was really calling because he had sent her a text saying we would be a day early-- and here I was thinking that Grammy was going crazy for "calling for no reason" after I had just talked to her about 20 minutes earlier. It was just so funny-- no wonder Joey started laughing so hard yesterday when I explained the conversation! Being super excited of course, I signed off as quickly as I could, which wasn't all that quick because the computer didn't want to go quick, and we headed downstairs. As we were walking, they told me that the plan was to just surprise us at the Smuggler's Wharf restaurant. Joey had called Grammy while he was downstairs in the lobby to see where they were. Joey told them that since the library was so close to the restaurant that they should just come over there. It was then that they realized they were already so close. They were in front of the Museum that was attached to the library- and didn't even know it. Sure enough when they looked over, they saw the bikes and the rest is history. How funny! I guess it worked out perfectly. So, we jumped on our bikes and headed around the corner to the restaurant. Mommy, Grammy, Chis and Riley dog passed by on the way there-- had they surprised us at the restaurant like planned, they would have got me good too because they were driving my Mom's car- which she got sometime while we were gone so I would have never recognized it. It was so nice to see Riley dog, too! Apparently he knew that it was us or that something was going on, because Mom said that he never barks at cyclists- but he barked at us! It was so neat to go back to that restaurant now because it will help us bring the trip to a close- especially since the rest of the ride from here to Grandma and Grandpa Stiller's house will be the same as at the end of the 2010 trip. I am so glad that my Mom, Grammy, and Chis got to share this with us- it definitely made it all the more special!!! Dinner of course was amazing- Joey got his usual bacon cheeseburger, I got a strip steak, fries and a salad, Grammy and Mom got Prime Rib, and Chris got a chicken sandwhich. SO much yummy food! Joey also got a beer- Molson Canadian, like he used to drink whenever he was home before we left. He made a comment something like "wow, this really isn't that great of a beer." After touring the whole country and trying a whole bunch of beers, microbrews, and home brews along the way, he knows his beers! Crazy how that worked. We had a great time catching up and just being around family. The joke of the dinner was that at some point we mentioned how we were 4 miles away from Mars (the town) a couple days ago. My Mom said that whenever she tells people that we've biked all over to Alaska and everywhere, they think she's crazy, or at least we're crazy. The joke was that all she needed to say after explaining it was "Yeah, just the other day they were only 4 miles from Mars!" We couldn't stop laughing! I am so glad that I didn't have to wait all the way until Saturday to see them! Now I really feel like we are close to home! When the time came for all of us to get back on the road, we said our goodbyes and were on our way. Somehow (probably because of the tailwind) we made it pretty far down the road and had turned onto the road we knew we needed to follow (we remember getting a little lost last time we were here!). Somehow, I think they missed that turn and passed us a little bit after that. We caught back up to them at a stop light for one last adios. That sure did make my day! I love when my family surprises me! Shortly after we parted ways again, it started snowing again pretty hard. The big white fluffy lake effect snow flakes were back! We moved along pretty good and since we were excited it went by really quickly. After about 5 miles, we started looking for overhangs that we might be able to camp under. We saw a sign for a church just down the road, so we headed that way. There were a whole bunch of cars in the parking lot, but when we peaked our head in the door it looked like they were rehearsing for an Easter play. So, we decided to keep going. Around the corner, we found another church. We didn't see any overhang, but couldn't see around the back of the church, so we decided to stop and ask (since there were a few cars in the parking lot) if they had anything that would work. The Priest saw us pull up on our bikes through his office window and gave us a friendly wave. We went inside the office to talk to him and ask if there were any overhangs or places to pop our tent for the night. He thought for a minute and then told us to go around the back to where the little courtyard was and that he would meet us back here. When we got around to the back, he was there holding one of the doors open. He said to bring our bikes right in. We were in the nursery. It was then that he said that we were welcome to sleep in there if that would be better than sleeping outside!!! There were even two recliners- we were definitely going to be more comfortable in here!! Father Dan said he might see us in the morning and bid us a good night. I can't believe we were inside. Today couldn't have gotten any better!!! So, for the rest of the evening, I typed blogs, Joey talked on the phone and we relaxed in the recliners (eating some purple bunny Peeps that Grammy gave us!). By the time we were done riding today, we managed to have 46.98 miles and ended just outside of the main part of Erie in an area called Lawrence Park. We still say to each other a few times a day that "I can't believe we are going to be home in a couple days and right back to where we were before we left on the trip." It turns out that we are going to get to Grandma and Grandpa Stiller's earlier than we thought- on Thursday afternoon instead of Saturday afternoon, but that will be alright because all of Joey's family will already be there, so we will get to spend the rest of the day with them before everyone else comes for the get together on Saturday. It is going to be a very fun weekend!!