I made it, coast to coast!

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Day: 54

Tuesday Mileage: 94

Wednesday Mileage: 81

Total Mileage: 3,039

I made it all the way across the United States! It feels great to be here and to have accomplished a big part of my overall goal. I love opening up a map and looking at the distance I covered powered by nothing more than my body and mind. It really is a pretty great feeling. I feel like crossing the states was boot camp and that now I am ready for some more challenging rides. I sincerely hope that anyone who reads this who may be considering riding across country gives it a go, because if a total greenhorn like me can make it, then anyone can.

Tuesday's tailwind turned out to be nothing more than a tease! By lunch time it had become a crosswind and by the late afternoon the road tuned right into the wind, plus, for giggles, it started to rain! Oh well, it was nice while it lasted. I camped out in Clewiston that night and met two super nice young people who were staying next to me. I am so bad with names, but i think it was Eddie and Beatrice (so sorry if i got that wrong!) But they were both really cool and I am very glad to have been able to hang out with them. Thanks for giving me some spaghetti, i was really hungry. Eddie, i hope you do go to college at FSU and Beatrice, i am sure you will make a great actress or nurse one day.

Wednesday was a beautiful day to be riding, not a cloud in the sky, and i rolled into Miami with a big smile on my face. I finished into a head wind which was fitting for this trip, but oh well, it was good training. Now my legs are ready to take on anything. I love Miami. It is such a fun and cool place. It reminds me a lot of southern California which is good and bad. You get the same obsession with material success here, but you also have the driven, intelligent and fun people to hang out with as well. It is a really sexy, fun city and I always enjoy coming through here.

I stayed with a really good buddy from College last night. He and his great girlfriend, Ashley, were nice enough to put me up for the night and we went out to dinner and caught up. I am in a bit of a rush though, as I have to get to the airport this morning to pick up Trisha as we are about to go out to the Keys for a few days to relax.

Trish and I were dating before I left on my big trip. The timing was bad but the chemistry was good. It stinks to meet such a great person right before I leave for years, but that is life. We ended things on good terms, she understood that I needed to go out on this journey. However, we did want to hang out one more time before i was lost to some exotic places around the globe and so we figured the Keys would be a cool place for some R&R as neither of us had been there.

I am really looking forward to some time just relaxing. After the serious marathon I just did, cycling non stop from New Orleans to Miami, throwing out centuries left and right, i am definitely looking forward to not riding for a few days. On the plus side though, I am in great shape and I know my body is capable of greater levels of exertion if needs be, which is good. I know i have not hit my threshold yet, which makes me confident for some of the big challenges I am looking to overcome later on in this trip.

Well, time for a few days of fun in the sun, I will post some pics of he keys in a day or two.