6/23 70 79mi 5:25 VIRGINIA BEACH,VA

For some reason this morning my bike computer decided 'oh well he is almost done dragging me all over the usa and expecting me to work so I guess I should be nice and work on this last day. No idea why it worked today, it just did. Woke up late and sat around. Ate some pasta I found in the cupboard. Read some articles/stories in a notebook left by transam riders. Read one article and cried just a little bit. I think the reality of what I had done finally hit me. They were happy tears though, not sad ones like they usually are. Got on the road around 10 ish and the adventure began. I started off on 17 south and there was absolutely no shoulder and I thought 'oh, f-it I'm not getting killed by a car just so I can say I actually touched the atlantic ocean.' About a quarter mile from where I turned on it widened and there was a shoulder and more stoplights and turn lanes, so I could actually ride with some peace of mind. I was riding in the tiny shoulder over the james river bridge and a policeman pulled up behind me and turned on his lights and said that only cars were allowed on the bridge. He said there was a phone to call the transit people and they would bring a transport vehicle and transport me across. Cool I thought and went in search of the phone. It didn't exist. I flagged down a local biker and he got me a number to the department of transportaion and they knew nothing about it. I saw 2 guys walking out of a restaurant right by the bridge and explained my situationa and asked for a ride. 1 guy said he had to be at a meeting at 1 and he said his buddy was with him. I turned away and muttered a thanks anyway and 1 guy said oh, I'll drive you across. That was pretty cool. He drove me across and I got back on the road. I didn't plan this very well, and I took roads to a tunnel which I obviously couldn't cross and then to a bridge that was under repair and finally, third try is the charm, got across on the military highway road. I got a little love tap from a car by a clueless lady who was talking on her phone. I was riding along and felt a pressure on my rear left side of the bike. She had brushed my rear pannier without even knowing it. It happened very quickly and all I thought was 'o.k. I can't move left, but I'm not being pushed into the gaurdrail, so I'm o.k.' I kind of waved my hand at her, but she had already passed me oblivious. There were a ton of stop lights and I ended up pulling into a bike shop to see if they had a bike box I could use. They did and I pedalled on toward the beach. I could smell the salty air about a half mile away and knew I was getting close. I saw the beach and walked my bike towards the ocean. Stopped and aksed a russian girl to take my picture adn she took a couple of me and the bike and the ocean. I talked to her for a bit and she thought that I was crazy and done some drugs to think up this trip. Rode back to the biek shop blissed out of my mind and got a bike box. I stupidly tried to ride and carry the bike box at the same time. Needless to say I got about 2 pedalstrokes in and fell over on my left side. Scraped up my knee and my pride. 1 of the bike mechanics gave me aride over to the fedex store and I rode my bike over thier to box it up. Took off the wheels, seatpost, handlebars, pedals, skewers adn threw them all in the box along with some other stuff andf tried to pad it as best I could. Put something in my fork so hopefully it won't get damaged and taped the crap out of it. Sent another small box of unneeded stuff home and then just had my drysack filled with stuff and my companion of the last 2 months wating around to get sent back home. Went back to the bike shop and ate at an Italian resaurant. I had been waiting to eat some good Italian food for a while and I ordered a bottle of chianti classico to celebrate. 2 entrees and 1 dessert later I felt satisfied. Talked to the waitress a little and she was impressed by the trip. I'm a little impressed to. I guess I just never sat back and really realized just how massive it really was. Just like with anything I try to look at small little chunks because they seem more manageable than being overwhelmed by the enormity of it all. Asked about some cheap hotels and started waling in that direction. Oh yeah, the food was delicious. Had some ghnocci pasta and it was different from the normal penne thatI usually get but it was good adn the chicken dish that morgan recommended was great. Stoped at a k-mart adn bought a backpack and some more food. I am going to have ahard time not eating everything in sight when I get home because I have ate whatever I wanted for the last 70 days and still lost over 10 pounds. Walked by a busstop and asked bout cheap hotels and the lady there named angel said to follow her. I sat arounda the busstop for about 40 minutes waiting for the bus to come. It finally did and a little while later a transvestite got on and then got in an argument with a guy in the back. They sat and insulted each other for about 5 minutes and then the guy in the back got off at the next stop. It was pretty entertaining. I was one of the few white people on the bus and that was different than I 'm used to up in washington state. Angel and I transferred and my phone had slipped out of my pocket and I didn't realize it. 2 phones lost/broken on the trip. Waited for a couple minutes and got on another bus. Finally pulled up to a stop and angel told me there was a hotel right there. It was about 1:40 a.m. by this time and I ended up paying $45 for a room that I had to leave for checkout in just over 9 hours. I am pretty pissed about my phone, but what can you do? It was an interesting night to say the least. Glad to be done and not have to pedal anywhere tomorrow. Now I just need to figure out how to get to d.c.

I DID IT!