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.
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