After a night of sleeping with the lights on (no switch found!), we woke up to another "DANCE PARTY!!!" as we were all filled with exuberant joy that this day was finally here! As we danced around I jumped on stage to wake up/ share excitement with Christine only to catch my toe on the lip of the stairs & end up falling onto her couch with a slightly bleeding toe--too funny & happy to do anything but laugh! Some of the bearded boys (Jordan, Sam, Tyler, & Evan) then surprised us in the middle of the dance party with shaved faces with nothing left behind except disgusting mustaches. That explains all the noise I heard coming from the guys bathroom at 1am as I discovered how to delete more items off of my GoPro clearing up all 15GB, rather than only 5GB like I unknowingly had been doing all summer--better late than never! We then danced & sang as we put on the shammies one last time & packed up our thermarests, fighting back tears as I did so. We were all going to breakfast at Denny's so Team Fred was off the hook for breakfast crew, and instead we slowly got ready as hair was braided for each other & camelbaks were filled with the spicket outside. With a 6:30 wake up time & 7:30 departure time, we took one last "pre-ride selfie" for Coady in front of the van & trailer before heading off in large groups towards Denny's. Lining our bikes up along the wall outside, we, in pour Bike & Build fashion, took over a large room in Denny's which provided the prime location for our final Town Hall Meeting. After maybe a circle out of the tables & chairs, we shared our favorite moments or ultimate happys from the trip, rather than the traditional Happy, Crappy, Slappy. Many tears were shed as we reminisced about our epic summer together--Carlee being the first to cry (& causing me to cry as well) before we even got started, surprisingly beating Mom to it, although she definitely won for failing to hold back the tears during her ultimate happy. After enjoying my blueberry pancakes with strawberries on top & coffee I decided to share my Happy that went a little something like this: "Since before the trip even started, I told people that what I was most looking forward to for this trip was meeting all of the other "crazy" people that were willingly signing up for this summer of adventure. And I have to say, you did not disappoint. I came on this trip with one of my most inspirational friends (cue reaching across the table to grab Christine's hand for a second) and now I am leaving with 30 other amazingly inspiring friends. I have been so inspired by each one of you and never lacked faith in any of you as we did it! From moments like that after Gatlinburg & looking around at the bar and seeing everyone and knowing that we all just went through hell together & here we were smiling together on the other side, or the high of reaching our highest point on the trip over Monarch's pass & knowing we just f*cking climbed that, my heart has been full of pride in the strength & determination of this team. I am so proud of us & I hope you know that whatever "real-life" throws at you, that you can do anything! I have so much faith in us & I cannot wait to see where everyone goes and what you all do because you are amazing and you are all bound for amazing things. So my happy is knowing everyone one of you, sharing this journey with you, and please know that I love you all very, very much." Ensue the tears I had been fighting back from the beginning of this speech and Breezer allowing herself to comfort me after holding back the whole time, knowing that it would only make me lose it even more. Katie & Christine also hugged & comforted me as Rally Aly shed tears through a smile, rather than just always wearing a smile. The tears continued to well up when Annie & Katie shared, as well as when Kim dropped her words of wisdom and comfort & love (as always!) about how we became a quirky, but very real, family this summer. After singing through our final coffee poo together (real family I'll tell ya!) and paying our tabs, we headed outside for some pictures and our final route meeting. We took pictures of the pairs that came together (Annie & Katie, Kaho & Julie, Alex & Anthony, Tay & Coady, Ben & Jordan, and Christine & myself--Purdue MIA), as well as a group chamois application shot (interesting to say the least!). We gathered in our circle & counted off one last time as we got our cue sheets with THE PACIFIC OCEAN AS OUR DESTINATION!! The leaders got us fired up and then we all headed off in packs for our final 20 miles together. I was silent for most of the ride as I was trying to take in the reality that THIS WAS IT! Katie, Soucy and I got separated from the pack for bit but were all smiles and caught up with the gang shortly thereafter. I made it a point to ride along side of Christine as we rolled closer & closer to ocean, shouting with joy at our first sighting of it! After stopping by the bay for a final pee break, smelling the slat water, & riding along side of Sea World, we all met up in a park a mile from the beach so Kim could join us with her trike & we could all ride in together. As we waited, the push up crew cranked out our final push-ups, personally doing 80 but not even feeling it due to pour adrenaline that was pumping through our system all morning. The leaders were sweep and made it in, as did Kim & the van with her trike. They unloaded, I started recording on the GoPro, and Kim, along with casual crew members Ali & Alicia, led the pack over the bridge & into the pacific. After giving them a bit of a head start, the rest of us followed behind them, overwhelmed with too many emotions to comprehend or know what to do with. Despite my desperate efforts, Christine and I unfortunately did not ride our final mile together, but rather I rode behind Annie & Katie with Lorraine & Redding to my sides. 31 riders began together, and 31 riders were finishing strong together on 63 wheels. In usual Lorraine fashion, she started to lose it! laughing and crying and very close to falling off her bike as she claimed her heart was beating out of her chest. This caused me to also lose all self-control, especially after seeing Red wipe away tears after claiming he never cries. Overwhelmed with emotion, we were stopped at one final red light that perfectly lasted a bit longer than anticipated as we encouraged & hugged each other. The light turn green and the pedals started moving closer and closer to ocean as we cheered, high-fived strangers as we told them we came from NC, and squealed with joy at the sight of our families & the pacific. As soon as we hit sand, we quickly dismounted & ran onto the beach, throwing our bikes, shoes, & gloves to the ground as we waited for everyone to gather up together. We then ran into a mush pit of screaming, cheering, and jumping and on the count of three, with hands in, we cheered "BIKE AND BUILD" and sprinted for the water! Giggling, crying, and hugging then all ensued as we flopped into the water and shouted with ultimate joy and exuberance! Deciding we needed to get fired up one last time, we joined together in a circle, arms around one another, kicked & splashed for a bit, and began our "Bike, Build" cheer, not even bothering to attempt to start out quietly being as that would have been impossible with our amount of excitement. Soucy then OWNED the middle as he added in that "NC2SD WE BIKED ACROSS THE COUNTRY!" and we gathered into the circle and with hands in the air we shouted as loud as humanly possible to "Give Us Rain or Give Us Hills, All We Do Is Eat, Sleep, Bike, Build!" complete with a Breezer & Carlee chest bump as we continued in our hugging feast! We soon realized that our friends & family awaited us on the shore so we waded out of the water and hugged our loved ones for longer than ever. My mom, sister, two aunts & their dog (complete with a stroller) met me on the shoreline as I cried "I rode my bike here mom!" Also, throughout the whole end of our ride, cheering & hugging, and meeting up with my family I was crying through laughter that had to be the most obnoxious, uncontrollable, joyful sound that ever has left my mouth. It got to be pretty out of control as the laughter turned more into crying as I hugged my mom and sister on the beach. Having them meet me at the finish line was everything for me! We all took pictures together, family shots, friend shots, bikes overhead shots, and Bike & Build family shots included. I decided to then swim jersey-less with the team for a bit before heading back to shore & putting on my new Rainbows from my mom and heading to the picnic hosted by Breezer's family & Bike and Build. Christine and I walked our bikes over together, attempting to process that we made it and that this was it! There were tents set up with plenty of authentic Mexican food, beer, & champagne to go around. So we sat around in our usual picnic style, ate, cried, hugged, & chatted, with Bri Bri joining us for a bit. My family then decided to head out after the team signed & took a picture with our finish line poster made by Annie's family (who also had awesome shirts for her & Katie's family & friends reading "Katie's Brother" or "Annie's Mom" --so legit!). Christine, Breezer, Leesh, Mitch, and I lingered a bit longer as Mom & the Sams played on Kim's trike. Breezer then drove Christine, Leesh, and I back to the host--so strange to be in a car with biking friends driving--it almost felt strangely normal and bizarre at the same time. We headed not the host, Breezer sadly shattering her phone in the process (after all this time!), and we showered and got ready for dinner. Lauren's parents were gracious enough to host a dinner party for us at Rock Bottom, where we were able to dress up like real people & celebrate each other & our accomplishment. There was plenty of delicious appetizers, drinks (it's a bonus when the bartender forgets to take one of your two drink ticket 4 out of 5 times!), a fabulous salmon dinner (yes all plates were cleaned!), and paper plate awards from the leaders and even some for the leaders creatively crafted by Tyler. Tyler was the first to say his goodbyes for the trip, as the rest of us headed to Lamplighter for some drinks & terrible karaoke. Tay & Ali's friend Mel drove us over, along with Breezer, who was super awesome and really easy to talk to. As always, in Bike & Build fashion, we took over the place, semi-redeemed the karaoke, but mostly just enjoyed our last night out together as we sang & danced together. I ended up walking back with a group and we stopped for some Mexican (great terrible choice) where I struggled to stay awake (surprise surprise!) and get any food down. After everyone's burrito fix, we walked back to the host where I crashed one last time on the thermarest surrounded by beautiful people after a too-good-to-be-true day...
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