7-12 Are We There Yet?????

The morning at Hillsboro was warm and humid but clear and I was very slow at getting up and out. We fiddled around and took a short walk around part of the grounds. The parade was starting to form downtown and we escaped as the folks were lining up along the parade route. I think that in my heart I was seeing the end of this great ride and I was a little reluctant to face up to it. Flashes of the trip went thru my mind again and again like clips in a movie. I know now what some of the Old Folks meant when they would talk about the old days and you could see in their eyes the vision that flashed by and they would get tears and get chocked up. I did that very same thing and at times it was hard to just keep from crying. As I write these things down now, I have to keep the Kleenex box close by. I picked up hwy 9 at some point and the remainder of the trip thru New Hampshire was history as there are not that many miles across it and then the traffic got more horrendous as we snaked our way along the narrow and rough roads. We had made reservations at the KOA campground in Saco, Ma. And the road there was very similar to those in Iowa,wa,wa. narrow, rough and to add to it, the traffic was very heavy, fast and unfriendly as people flashed their lights, honked horns and passed on double lines and hills, very much like being in Ca. I had to keep reminding myself that it was a Sunday afternoon and people were going someplace but there were as many going our way(sounds like a song, again)as there were going the other way. The cops were having a field day too as they were out in force and every one we saw was handing out them little yellow tags. Another oddity that we are not used to is a toll road and as I crawled onto interstate 94 we had to pay $1.50 to careen along with hundreds of speeding machines that were hell bent on going somewhere and this was only for 10 miles. I believe that just because we were from Calif. And was towing a trailer every one of them figured us as being out of sink with their world and should be somewhere else instead of being in their way. Just my own thoughts, but I, being an old trucker from the west coast kept my cool and knowing that I have survived the rigors of driving thru Stockton, Ca. was able to peel off the thru-way and landed at the KOA like we knew what we were doing. Wow! Whew! We got parked just across from where we stayed last fall and as things got settled down, I took a short nap and Gail got the lap top into gear. I read over the notes she wrote and told her to go ahead and post it as I was still not ready to accept the fact that I am just a few miles from the Atlantic Ocean. We both had a good cry as she sent the words out to the world. I called my three daughters to let them know that I am ok and that the end is near and I got to talk for quite a while with my good Buddy. He asked if I was going to ride my bike back and when I said no, he said, good then it won’t take you as long to get home. Skywalker, Skywalker good Buddy, I finally made it to the East Coast and tomorrow I will finish my Bicycle Ride Across America. I love and sure do miss you, see ya soon. Over and out.