Aug. 15th, Bucksport, ME, 87 Miles!

Awoke today expecting to see a lot of rain, but just a drizzle.  Wake up call @ 5:15 a.m., threw on my bike clothes, ate a great bfast put on by the wonderful Hampton Inn, and by 6:30 a.m., I was on my bike headed 87 miles down the road to Bucksport.  I rode with my friend, Ellen, a kindergarten teacher in VT.  We had the most incredible, stellar ride today!  It was like all the others have been recently, full of steep climbs, and heavy traffic. We laughed, talked as we rode, and the miles flew by.  We rode on Rt. 1, and many of the back roads, which had the steep hills.   Still, it was an incredible ride, and we were the first ones to finish out of the group.  We rode really hard, and basically were super strong the whole day.  We were glad to finish safely.  Tomorrow, we have our final ride into Bar Harbor, 47 miles.  It is hard to explain how I am feeling, but it borders on elation, excitement, and some sadness that this routine I have been living for the past 43 days will be ending.  All I've had to do is ride, eat, sleep.  I need to thank everyone who supported me, and gave money to my fund raising for Roswell Park Cancer Insitute in Buffalo, NY over these past two summers.  It has meant the world to me.  The real heroes are the people we all know, family, relatives, loved ones who are fighting Cancer.  All I know how to do is ride my bike, and raise money in hopes this disease will some day be put to rest.  I never lost sight of the purpose of my ride, and it kept me motivated, and going to ride some 2,400 miles over these 6 weeks. Ithought of my beautiful aunt, Ann Newell as I rode each day in her memory.  Her St. Jude medal protected me from a lot of challenging moments on the journey that I faced.  Including last summers WA State- Fargo, ND, 1,850 miles ,it is a total of 4,050 mile that I rode to cross the USA. Tomorrow, we get into Bar Harbor, at the West St. Pier.  We will ride in between 11-12:00.  Paje will be there to greet me!  So will my good friends, The Lambs (Laura, Jay, Jennifer, and Madeline)  I can't wait to see them all!!!!  Tomorrow night, we have a send off Banquet where we all eat, drink and say farewell to all of our biking friends who we've shared so much with over these intense 6 weeks. I am so fortunate.  I have had it all. 
Love,
Kit