We have been in Miami for 5 days now, and though it was a conscious decision that we made to postpone the last 700 miles of the trip until Spring of 09, we were still not ready to accept that our big summer adventure had come to a momentary end; so two nights ago as we walked along the colorful south beach strip; agreeing on a need for closure from the summer experience; we came up with the idea for a celebratory day in honor of all the miles we had ridden and the amazing experience we had had. It happened kinda like this...i said “Cesar i think that in order for us to get closure i want to take a day to celebrate our accomplishments” and Cesar said something like: “How about tomorrow” and i said “Well isn’t that too soon, don’t we want to take time to plan it?” and he said “No, every time we rode our bicycles we had to plan everything the day before, so to celebrate this trip, it would be appropriate to organize the celebration tonight, and we go and do it tomorrow!” And so we spent the next hour sitting on a beach bench feeling the night ocean breeze on our faces and watching tourist decked out on their way to the South Beach restaurants and clubs....we decided that the next morning we would leave the house early and take the bus to the beach. We didn’t want to get a ride to the beach because we wanted to keep our closure experience as authentic as our bicycle trip; so yesterday we woke up and took the bus to Lincoln road, where Cesar wanted 3 eggs and greasy hash browns (in memory of our cycling breakfasts!); but on Lincoln Road it was hard to find anything that didn’t fit the “South Beach Diet” criteria...so we ended up eating eggs and orange juice and eggs and salad, and feta cheese and olives and salmon and tuna...big breakfast full of protein but little carbs...though we did keep sending the waitress back for more bread (and Nutella) !!!

Then we walked around Lincoln Road as if we were discovering a town in Middle America on one of our days off. Finding a gelato store we went in and got a double scoop. I got Almond and Dulce de Leche; Cesar got Mamey and Chirimoya (and ended up eating a little bit of my dulce de leche and most of my Almond ice cream as well). Then we walked 30 blocks on the south beach boardwalk to the hotel where we had made a reservation the night before. It was a super trendy hotel on 39th street. We arrived at the hotel and dropped off all our stuff, after an hour nap (customary on our cycling days off); we got ready for the beach, where we tried to even out our cyclist tans and enjoy the warm crystal clear waters of the Atlantic.

Later that day we walked to the Public Library where we hung out for a little bit reminiscing on our journey; and then we walked back to Lincoln Road for a pizza and beer dinner. We ordered four $5 slices of AMAZING pizza and sat outdoors cheering and celebrating our accomplishments. There we toasted and shared stories about the trip, talked about most memorable conversations, most exciting climbs, most challenging moments, most delicious ice-cream; etc. We laughed and we joked and after a belly full of bbq shrimp pizza and light beer; we walked to Giradellis to share a Butterscotch sundae with two scoops, whipped cream, pecans, a double serving of fudge, and a cherry on top.

We made it back to the hotel just in time to watch Project Runway at 9pm. The episode where they had to make outfits out of car parts; and in that moment i remembered all the sweet things that Cesar had done for me along the way; all the times he would let me sleep while he fetched us dinner, all the times he gave me his arm-bands and sweaters when i was freezing cold; all the times he stayed up to tune up my bicycle so that it would run smoothly and all the times he agreed to watch chick flicks (such as Made of Honor, Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants and Sex in the City the Movie), as well as one of my favorite shows “Project Runway”

What a great ending to a perfect adventure. I am so grateful for having had the time and the drive to set out on something like this. I have learnt so much about myself and about my partner along the way. I remember myself on the first day, so naive, thinking that it would not rain the whole time we would be travelling; well, it rained, it snowed, it winded....and i worked through it and grew stronger from it. I feel so inspired and empowered to accomplish the things i want from life; i feel closer to my dreams they are so much more at reach than they used to be; because one of the lessons i learnt from this experience is that if one commits to accomplishing small things everyday that get you closer to your ultimate goal; before you know it, you will have accomplished something amazing and incredible. It was because of our commitment to doing 40-80 miles per day every day regardless of the hurdles and challenges that life put in our way (climate, mountains, head winds); that we were able to accomplish 3680 miles at the end of 3 months. I will never forget this. And i am grateful for all the people in my life who supported me through it; with their words, with their love, and with their kindness. I am grateful for all the new friends we have made in such a short time; and i am excited to come back to Berea, Kentucky next spring to cross the Appalachians and the beautiful state of Virginia!