Our last day, 18 days, 16 days of riding and six states. The PAC NTC full riders are on Day 25 with just seven left to finish their epic journey of 3,569 miles.
Midland to Imlay City, MI Stats:
Craig and Vikki - 103 miles and 1,200 feet of climbing.
Total Stats
Total Calories burned - 40-72,000 calories
Total Calories ate - ~ 64,000 calories
Half and almost half of a crossing for each of us.
Craig:
Miles - 1,824
Climbing - 47,980 feet
Vikki:
Miles - 1,671
Climbing - 43,590
It has been four days since we finished with one bit of devastating news that has changed some of how I feel about finishing our 'vacation'. I have several pictures from the ride as well below. I don't even know where to begin on the 'recap' of our trip as the last few days have been all consumed with shock, sadness and anger. I will talk about that last.
The day was fantastic, although I knew I would be sad to say good bye to our new friends and of course our PAC friends. The night before I had talked to Uncle Al to let him know when we would be going by his farm/ranch that day, as the route took us right by his front yard!! Unfortunately, he had a doctor's appointment during the exact time that we anticipated many of us would go by. I was pretty upset by this, as I really wanted to see him. We made a few alternate plans so if it was possible we would get to see each other. (Uncle Al is my Great Uncle and the husband of my Gram's late sister, Aunt Doris. He celebrated his 87th Birthday in April!)
The morning was melancholy as I watched the group prepare and eat breakfast, knowing this would be our last time going through the rigorous flow of a PAC day.
We were one of the first groups out and we had Carl on our train - he is amazing to ride behind, a strong horse for sure!! I knew I wanted to get to Uncle Al's as soon as possible, so that if he was home we could spend at least 10-15 minutes with him. We cruised along quickly with one stop and got to 50.4 miles (where Uncle Al's home was along the route) at 10:30 am, the exact time as his appointment. To my surprise, his garage door was up - which meant he was home AND he and Suzy had put up signs that read, "Go PAC", "Keep Pedaling" and others. It was AMAZING!!! I hadn't expected that because his knees had been killing him. I was not only thrilled to see the signs, but even more so to see HIM!! Craig, Lisa and I stopped and got to hug him up and give him smooches!!! LOVED it!!!
Then we cruised on to keep riding and enjoying the beauty of Michigan and life on the back of our bikes!!!
I love the PAC Tours, however, they aren't easy. They are very challenging, I know that, but I hadn't trained hard enough for it to be 100% enjoyable. The stress of keeping up with a large traveling group adds to the anxiety. The suggestion is to ride 300 miles a week for training prior to the tour. We averaged about 250-270 a week. Lon said if he told people to do 900 miles per week, they wouldn't do it. I definitely needed more training. These tours take such mental and physical toughness that you really have to be ready for them. I was frustrated by my inability to do 100% of the miles, but I am also proud of myself for not taking it so seriously that I was constantly bummed out that I missed those early miles. I was finally able to build my strength and keep up towards the end.
As always, I won't miss the issues you get when riding over 1,600 miles to your skin and your rear-end. I was thrilled to shower and exfoliate my body and face after so many days in the pounding sun and then drenching my body in Shea Butter to help with sun poisoning affects. I will however miss the ability to just ride my bike, thinking about whatever was on my mind, challenging my body and my brain to accept and move forward. I will miss the people, the smells of the world around me, the quiet misty mornings and riding along watching the scenes unfold around me. I wish I had more words to describe the trip, but as I mentioned, the day was filled with wonder and accomplishment but also an unexpected bit of news that I never saw coming.
Another delicious PAC breakfast! Bacon, eggs, fruit, yogurt, oatmeal, hemp, flax, toast, bagels, pastries, many different kinds of milk, juices, coffee and more!!
My Dad and Marti picked us up in Imlay City. They met several of the riders and I tried to get my Dad to meet Lon and Susan, but his back was killing him from working on pulling up his patio and laying brick pavers. Susan, bless her heart, came over to meet him. We had a whirlwind 'good-bye' session and we were off. As we drove towards home, my Dad asked Craig to pull over to get gas. He actually directed him to do this and as we drove we were NOT headed towards gas, instead, Dad asked us to pull into a bank parking lot. Alarm bells were going off in my head. I looked at my Dad, who stared out the window, tears in his eyes, not yet coming down his face. Marti then had the task of telling us what was going on. He had strained his back tearing up his patio to re-do it, the pain was so bad that on 22 July - yes, 11 days before they picked us up, Marti took him to emergency. They found that his calcium levels were very high. The suspicion was that he had cancer. After, many tests and days, it was discovered that he had small cell lung cancer two tumors in one lung, other lung lymph node tested positive, four vertebra in the thoracic spine, lesions on the liver, pelvic, hip and sever emphysema. They decided not to call and interrupt our trip. I was shocked at first because I definitely would have flown back! I am grateful that they took that burden upon themselves to keep that for so long so we could finish our vacation. I can't imagine the stress that put them through and the relief to finally be able to tell us.
I listened and tried to understand but there was no understanding, my brain was screaming and thudding inside my head, my feeling was get out of that truck right now. I had to get out for a few minutes to scream, kick or hit something or squeeze my palms into my face and eyes - none of which really helped so I ran to the side of the truck that Dad was on and just squeezed him and sobbed and sobbed. I still can't believe this has happened and so quickly, they think it could only be the last two - six months. WTF! We are dealing with it head on and he has a great attitude. I am still in shock and can't quite get my head around it. We are all making ourselves available to talk to him and see what he wants, the journey he anticipates, how and what will need to be done when and if things don't go so well. I always say, our time here on earth is between us and God, no one can tell or predict what it will be. He will start chemo soon and we hope it will work for the first try and we will have an option to see if he qualifies for the clinical study for immuno-therapy, please pray for this as he is so sure it will help him to see the kids graduate. (8-12 months, with it ~2 years, again, i don't believe anyone can give you a time) So, please send positive healing thoughts out for my Dad and support of us as we try to work through all the next steps. I am incredibly thankful that he and Marti have such a strong faith and belief in God and know that they have accepted him as their savior.
As I couple this news with the end of our trip, I have to come back to some basic thoughts. Time is short and it waits for no one, as my Grams (Fern) always said. You have to strip away what is important and what is just a distraction and not important at all. There have been many times in my life when I have tried to re-prioritize and after each monumental experience has ebbed, I have always gone back to my 'normal' routine, were work went right back to being the number one priority. I have to take a step back and understand why that is and what I must do to change it. I'm not saying I don't think my job is important or that I"m not making a difference, I just need to really figure out how it can become lower on my list of 'things that must be done'.
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