Day 59 - York, PA to Middletown, DE - 81 miles - 4865 feet of elevation gain

Staying at The Barn was perfect, because it allowed the boys to see their families, tell stories as a team, and wake up to a home cooked breakfast before our last really tough day. Marcie put together a spread of 3 egg casseroles, cheesy potatoes, muffins, and OJ. We were also able to sit around the table with Lee and tell some stories, and he encouraged us with words from Theodore Roosevelt. Usually our day started with me reading a text from Lee, so it was nice to have the live version!

A friend of Lee’s named Ed (not my dad), arranged for us to have a police escort from The Barn to the Wrightsville bridge. Officer Drew showed up in his SUV to give us the fully lit escort with a few siren blows too! So after breakfast we rushed around to get our bikes ready, water bottles filled, and belongings loaded in the trailer. As I was taking my duffel bag into the trailer, with it on my back like a backpack, and my actual backpack on the front of me, I reached over to get a box and completely fell on top of all of the other duffels in the trailer. I was almost pinned down from the weight of my bags, so I was glad that I managed to get up before anyone noticed. Could you imagine me having to call out “Help! I’ve fallen and can’t get up?” while the officer is there ready to escort us through town?

The police escort was fun and he saved us from a little dog that wanted to run out and nip at our tires. Before and after the bridge crossing there were people out with signs of encouragement and cheers as we passed by, it was so cool! We picked up extra riders for the day as well, so that was fun to talk with others and reminisce about the trip. We knew Lancaster County would throw lots of hills our way, and I really tried to pick roads that were going to be nice to us because the area we were passing through was my training ground. The guys were all amped up from seeing people along the roads that they were cruising. I raced ahead at one point to say hi to my friend and her son, and the team thought it was a cue to go faster. I fist-bumped my friend’s son and quickly jumped back on the bike to try to catch up. After the hills started I gave up trying to catch them and just enjoyed the ride, and answered a few text messages while rolling. One of the riders that joined for a short while was another female who had the SAME bike as me, just a different size. We got a pic together before parting ways!

My sister was gracious and put lunch together for us, even though they weren’t going to be home. It was nice to have a hot meal waiting for us with Klondike bars and Nutty Buddy cones for dessert. Lunch was a little longer, because of getting things ready and telling more stories to our new riders. After her house we had a few more hills to climb before we entered Maryland and it started to flatten out. We had a big crazy bridge to cross the Chesapeake and then made our way across the Delaware border. There were no pictures of the Maryland or Delaware crossings, because there were no welcome signs. You’ll just have to trust our map!

At the hotel, I decided it was a night for dining in, so thankfully there was a Grotto’s pizza next to the hotel. I collected orders and then my parents went a picked up the food. We had a great dinner discussing more stories from the trip and going over some stats (which I will share at a later date). Mike did devotions one last time. We also took a Last Supper photo that Mike had been talking about doing for a while. Then it was time for me to hand out a surprise memento to all of the riders. My sister helped me create t-shirts for each of them that related to something unique about them from the trip. These represented stories or jokes we shared or conversations on the bikes, it was a little way to remind them of the trip after we’ve parted company. Hopefully they like them and will wear them out and about!

Tomorrow we end it with a tire dip in the Atlantic Ocean. It seems like eons ago that we started riding, and yet I remember being at day 1 thinking “what in the world did I agree to do?” We’ve come many miles since that day, and have experienced so much… we have a lot to process once we get off of the bikes!