Finish line

We've covered over 500 miles in four days. It's 11:30 now, and Tom and the crew are sound asleep. Tomorrow we are getting up at 5:00am so that we will have time to ride to the finish line at Vanderbilt by noon.

I can't believe that we are almost done. After three months, this has become quite a habit. It's going to be an odd thing for us - being finished. We have grown so used to all of this:

sleeping on couches, drinking warm gatorade, coping with saddle sore, fixing flat tires, eating stale granola, staying with people we don't know, getting bike grease on everything, getting lost, asking strangers for directions, having people honk at us, having people yell at us, traveling over 30 mph under the speed limit, traveling over the speed limit (once), riding on backroads, riding on the interstate (once), looking for silverware in people's houses, wearing the same clothes every day, forgeting various things at various homes in various states, begging guys at bicycle shops for discounts, asking people for donations, reading the label of a twinkie and deciding it is a good snack, explaining ourselves, etc.

Man, I'm gonna miss this job. So ... tomorrow is the big day. We're not sure what will happen on campus ... all we know is that we have to be there by 12:00 ...

~ Austin