Day 87, Journey's End.
   7/23/01
   Total miles pedaled: 5422
   
   I dropped off my poor bike this morning at a bike shop, and took a
   taxi to the airport to fly back home to Houston.  At the end of bike trips,
   I find it much easier to hand it to a bike shop and let them deal with
   UPS rather than trying to deal with boxing it up at the airport since
   boxes are not always available.  It's usually about $20 less expensive
   as well.
   
   I write this sitting in an airplane departing Seattle while the view
   of Mt. Rainier fades into the distance.  Soon fading *into* my view will
   be the fax machines, traffic jams, and windowless cubicles of the
   modern world (add to that a flooded-out apartment).  Allow me again to give a
   heartfelt thanks to all of you, both at home and those I met along the
   way, for your wonderful acts of kindness and support.
   
   It befalls me to put the trip in perspective as I speed away from the
   northwest.  I am, if nothing else, "The man who puts the odd in
   odyssey."
   
   Nobody, I think, can argue that it's been a life-changing trip,
   diverse in experience and rich in enlightenment.  Truly, they were the best,
   and worst, of times.  There were so many ways the trip could have come
   to an abrupt end, yet I was lucky enough to squeak by on each occasion.
   The question "Would I do it again" is not worded well, so let me
   phrase it this way: Would I do the trip for the first time, knowing what I
   know now?  Absolutely!  Would I do it a second time?  Hmmm...
   
   People have asked me, "What was the scariest part of the trip?"  And
   the answer is not climbing mountains, nor crossing washed-out bridges,
   nor anything so tangible.  It is, of all things, having the courage to
   write the words that I do.  The physical danger, for all its
   intensity, is over quickly; but pouring my soul into these logs, exposing 
   that which I am, risking the judgment of all those who read, is one that I
   have faced every day.  Yet I'll not shy away from presenting the
   unvarnished truth - this has been the experience I have lived, good or 
   bad, and my task has been to report the reality of the endeavor.  Perhaps, 
   if I have done a good enough job, someone somewhere will be inspired to
   start their own journey, whatever that may be.
   
   Adventures await!
   
   "We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring
   will be to arrive where we started, and to know the place for the
   first time."
      --T.S. Elliot

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