7/9 Jill's Bike Log

7/9- Destination-Hartland, Vt. (Biked 64 miles, total, 1171). In the morning, there was a mixture of excited and nervous energy. Today was our last day of biking with a celebration awaiting us in Hartland, but we also had to climb over the infamous Killington mountain to get there. We were instructed to arrive in Hartland around 4:00 pm. We didn’t want to wait too long before climbing the grade because we new it was going to be another hot day. We decided that we would hang out at a rope swing 10 miles from Hartland to kill some time.

Trevor worked on cleaning and lubricating his dad’s bike to increase its performance. He decided to ride it for the first 20 miles to Rutland and Keith would ride his bike. Kim headed to Hartland to help prepare for the welcome home party. We departed on our bikes from the campground shortly after 8:00 am. After a relatively easy ride to Rutland, we met in the city park and fueled up with food before attacking the 8 mile climb. We said goodbye to Crystal and Esoy who headed to New Hampshire for a Peace Corps reunion. Keith decided to sag to the top of the mountain since riding his clunky mountain bike would be a challenge.

We all arrived to the top of the grade by noon. We unanimously decided that the climb wasn’t nearly as challenging as we had anticipated, and the ride to Hague in the Adirondacks a few days prior was much more rigorous. Lynne bought food for lunch and made us wraps. After a good rest at Killington, we headed down the other side of the mountain, and met up again for an ice-cream break in Woodstock at the White Cottage. Wow, back to very familiar stomping grounds…Karen, Wes and Grandpa drove to the White Cottage to bring everyone Cyclo Healer t-shirts to wear for our entry into Hartland. We decided to bail on the rope swing attraction since it’d make us late for our 4:00 pm arrival time in Hartland.

As I rode the last 15 miles to Hartland, I felt a combination of emotions from excitement to be home, to a sadness that this journey is ending. I relished the daily simplicity of moving each day from point “A” to point “B”, rarely fretting about work, house renovations, or family issues. It has been a long time that I’ve fully embraced each day. I gained inspiration and nourishment from old and new connections I made along the way. It was wonderful to embark on a journey together with my children; to have friends and family drive the sag van along the way, and to have Todd and friends join us on the last leg of the trip. We were locked into stopping points, but we allowed the journey to unfold with impromptu adventures.

We all gathered at the Hartland UU Church so all 12 of us could ride in together. It felt strange to be leading the pack. I enjoyed my station bringing up the rear. For the last two miles, the excitement rose as we made our grand entrance at home. The lawn was lined with friends and extended family cheering us on. As a special surprise, my uncles Doug and John flew from Washington D.C. to be here for week-end. I felt overwhelmed with emotions that I’m not sure I could define.

As the trip was coming to a close, people have been asking me what have been the high and low points of the trip. I truly can’t single out one high point, but I have to say my overall high points have been the connections I’ve made with new and old friends and family, and our shared adventures. I am blessed to be surrounded by wonderful family and friends. The low point would be that on only 4 out of 32 days on the trip, the temperature was below 90 degrees.

As soon as we arrived, it was apparent all of the work friends and family had done in preparation for our arrival; particularly my friends Lucia Jackson and Sue Buckholz, and sister in law Kim Anderson, our contractor for our house renovation/friend Eric Kleber, and my mom who had been helping to organize the end of the trip celebration for months. This doesn’t include all of the people who brought food for a pot-luck meal. My friend Beth Rice had a welcoming banner silk screened as her way of being part of the celebration since she was going to be out of town. I was told that since the people on the home front weren’t able to participate on the actual trip, this was their way of feeling like they were part of it.

One of the big surprises was seeing the house renovation. I was told that Eric worked late hours feverishly trying to finish it. Although the renovation isn’t complete, the transformation is spectacular. We now have an awesome living space.

We were able to throw some inflatable mattresses on the floors in areas where stuff wasn’t being stored during the renovation and the back yard became a tent city, so we handily accommodated 20 people for the weekend. Before heading to bed, we watched the slide show of the trip that Karen stayed up until 2:00 am the night before putting it together. I’m already reminiscent about the trip…



























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