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At 6:15 on Friday, Stuart and I finished up Broquest by riding into Portland. We put in 4011 miles in 59 days. It was a proud moment for us, and we drank champagne (or facsimile thereof) and called our families at the edge of the Atlantic.


YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!
Our last day was a fitting end to the trip. We camped behind a supermarket in Alton the night before and wanted to make an early start on the day. We were up and on the road at 7:30, and we had great weather riding into Wolfeboro for breakfast. We changed into our riding clothes and got back on the road thinking we would have a relaxed 60 miles into the finish. We were mistaken. New Hampshire doesn't like to put signs up designating state highways, so we ended up making a loop around Mirror Lake before we realized we needed to change course. About that time, the heavens opened up, and dumped rain on us for 8 hours straight. We corrected our course and were able to make it to the New Hampshire-Maine border by 2. We ate lunch and tried to dry out in Limerick to no success.


Pouring some out in the ocean for our dead homies
The terrain was beautiful - a lot of rolling hills through gorgeous forests. Had it not been raining so much, we probably would have enjoyed it a bit more. As we reached 4000 miles, Stuart pulled over to take a picture of his odometer at the bottom of a hill. I could only see 20 feet ahead of me with the rain. I looked up to see him stopped suddenly and hit both of my brakes. The rain had slicked everything down, so I could not stop in time. With 10 miles left in the trip, Broquest had its first and only bike on bike crash. We both had a quick laugh at the situation then pushed on the the finish line.

We've been having fun in Portland so far - you may have guessed that by the delay in putting up an actual posting since we've been here. It's a really weird feeling to be done and wake up in the morning not knowing what to do with ourselves. I woke up yesterday feeling ready to bike 90 miles, but not knowing where to go. Schedules are starting to tighten. Deadlines are on the horizon. My job hunt is becoming more and more imminent. Our lives as vagrant bicyclists are coming to an end (temporarily). Both Stuart and I are looking forward to coming back to Oklahoma to see family and friends for a few days. It has been an amazing journey, and we have been very privileged to share it with you. Thank you for all of your support, best wishes, thoughts, prayers, love, and patience. More to come!