Finished =)

We made it!!! After a beautiful ride to the shore yesterday with one of our lovely sisters, Erin, Andrew and I have now completed our trip =) After around 450 miles of hitchhiking and around 3800 miles worth of biking in 53 days we are happy to be home.

I can not end this journey without saying thank you. First and foremost I want to give thanks to God for getting us home safe and sound and giving us such a great experience. It was a constant joy to see Him provide for us. I want to also thank our parents. Kevin and Carol Dolan never wavered in their support of their sons' crazy ideas for summer fun. Dad gave us the idea for the trip by doing it himself 30 years ago and generously let Andrew use his bike. Andrew and I are truly blessed to have the family we have and greatly appreciate all the little texts, phone calls, and messages recieved over the last 2 months! Now for those of you who remember when this all began back in June you'll remember we started in San Francisco. We could not have had such a smooth start if not for our family out West, the Levs. Thank you very much for welcoming us and putting us off on the right footing!! One more group needs to be recognized and that is all the people we've met along the way who made this trip such an adventure!! Andrew and I can't say enough how much we appreciate the kind words, actions and smiles all along the trip!

From me I want to say thank you to my brother Andrew. His unflinching perseverance, resolve, and near constant pleasant disposition made the daily riding a real joy. I am a better man from having spent this trip in his constant companionship.

And finally thank you to all of you who have donated to help give a gift to Living Water!! Because of your generiosity we were able to raise $1300 from private donors and from that we will be able to give a gift of $1100 to Living Water!!

Proof that we made it to the shore =)

Now that the trip is over life moves on, and will actually start speeding up very quickly. Andrew will be going back to school in a day or so to Liberty University where he will continue working on his degree and hopefully be getting a job in the area.

I will spend the next month here at home enjoying the company of friends and family I haven't seen in awhile. I will be preparing to move out to Illinois to start work for CAT on October 3rd. I am very excited about the opportunities before me and have never been more optimistic about the future. Living on my own I plan on learning to cook, golf, and speak Portuguese. I am also anticipating getting involved in the community and enjoying life on a river, ie kayaking =)

Any future adventures? Well...life's an adventure =) it's a matter of perspective, but as far as actual trips outside the ordinary Andrew and I have loose ideas of kayaking from Alaska down to Vancouver, either that or the Mississippi, and of course motorcycling all over the US is a given =)

If any of you are ever doing a big trip and want a loyal follower on a blog don't hesitate to email me at kndolan27.14@gmail.com

It has been a true pleasure,
Nate Dolan

Weather...

Specifically the wet kind, commonly referred to as rain, has been our constant companion almost since entering PA. Besides the little matter of being very wet very often we had a wonderful time through the East Coast. After initially being confused for menacing home invaders by a wonderful elderly couple we found the Colonial States to be very hospitable. We found that people here in the East are least likely to ask you what you're doing riding a bike looking like a drowned rat, I theorize that they must think we are deranged so see little point in talking to us more than they have to, but after we tell them what we are doing they become interested and are quite willing to help us in whatever way possible.

I think it is only fair to say that my chain broke, after all of Andrew's bike problems I finally had my own troubles. Quick note: Dan, I'm sorry for being unclear about what part broke on Andrew's bike, it's the crank arm that the pedal attaches to (I hope that's clearer). It sheared right off, I wish I had a photo with me but I forgot to take one. So anyway we were going through Wilkes Barre (spelling?) PA in the rain and my chain decided that it had had quite enough of this going up hills business and snapped. Praise God there was a bike shop within walking distance and a Best Western that was willing to put up two smelly bikers in dire need of a shower.

Oh! Big news of the day, after riding down the canal path north of Trenton (in the pouring rain) and after fighting through the traffic of 206 and after a wonderful woman asked us blankly how we got from San Francisco to NJ after we told her where we started...she had a delightful accent that just made the moment priceless. After all that we made it home =) we pulled into Daylily Drive to the sounds of loud party noise makers blaring and Molly, James, Sarah, Erin, Mom, and Chester all coming out to welcome us joyiously home. They quickly told us what many people were too kind to say earlier, they told us we stank pretty terribly and that we needed to take showers immediately. Molly, James, and Sarah also made their voices heard as to our general unkempt appearance, specifically our beards. Apparently we need to shave....I agree but not until after we ride to the shore tomorrow =)

So tomorrow we ride to the shore to complete our transcontinental ride. I'll put up one last post after this with closing remarks, photos of the finish and what not, but here are some photos of the last couple days. Enjoy.

This was in Watkins Glen New York. Right on the south end of Seneca Lake. We camped out on the spit of land on the left side of the photo. Lake side camp site for free =) There was a big NASCAR race going on while we were there, very exciting.

This was taken from Hwy 6 in PA going along the river. Beautiful country with great little towns. In recent years these quite hills have experienced an inflex of heavy truck traffic due to the oil shale industry moving into the area. It has caused a lot of angst amongst the small town citizens.



This is the result of me being tired of sleeping outside and being wet.

Our first night in NJ =)

We got to ride along the Delaware canal for a ways today, good thing too, because the road didn't have a shoulder and rain made visibility very limited.

Home =)



So one more ride tomorrow and this little journey is completed. It has been a ride of a life time. As always thank you all for reading along and commenting. It is a great encouragement!!

For one last ride,

Nate

Comment Response:

Liz: Thanks for following!! It has been a great joy to write about the trip and share it with others.

Uncle Bill: Haha amazingly it has held. While everything else has broken the duct tape has held =)

Why you riding eh?

The red bearded Canadian asked me with a smile as he lounged in his lawn chair drinking a cold beer. His two large well bred German shepherds looked up to me with equally curious eyes, asking if I was crazy or not, or maybe they were just wondering if I would taste good...I'm not sure. The gregarious Canadian had just given us a patch of land to put our tent on his quad trails behind his house and we had been shooting the breeze. The question asked was simple enough. Why have Andrew and I spent our summer biking across the continent? He wasn't the first person to ask us and in all probability he won't be the last.

I gave a list of purposes at the beginning of this little journey that sound really good and are by no means untrue, but as the trip begins to come to an end I think it would be valuable to revisit for a minute. As I've pondered the question I think a deeper purpose of mine has been to meet America. I've lived in the Garden State for most of my life. I have always been plugged into what is happening around me. I keep myself up to date on the goings on of the world, and somewhere over the past 20 odd years I've grown to be a little cynical. I know it is not an admirable trait, but there it is, I had begun to believe that decent human behavior was no longer the norm, but instead a slim minority. I had begun to define my world by what I saw through the media. So I had a decision, do I accept this as an immutable truth or do I go out and see if it's true. Do I take a step way outside of my comfort zone and see what's on the other side of the fence.

This trip took me over the fence and I dare say a little over the horizon and you know what I found?? I found an America that still invites a couple smelly bikers into their homes and gives them something to eat. We have met an America that gives us a smile and a hot dog to keep us going on the road. We have met some of the most amazing people, whether they be entrepreneurs exploiting the liberal drug laws of California, a couple of Harley riders hoping to make a go of it as restaurant owners,  a small Southern Baptist church without a full time pastor trying to make ends meet, or just people out enjoying an evening walk, we have found generosity and a smile.

We have found that America is not at all to be defined by our government or media. America is a country made up of people who love to laugh, give of what they have to help those in need when they see the need, and perhaps most of all America is made up of people who are not to be taken for granted or written off. I do not know what the future holds, I am not naive to think everything is roses and buttercups, but I am coming away from this trip encouraged to know that America is still a place worth defending and being proud of.

Now as to the matter of "Where are you guys?" We are back in the US of A!!! The land of the free and the home of the free soda refill. Canada was a wonderful host, we camped free every night, and they have amazing ice cream =) There were many adventures had in our time there, hitchhiking after breaking the shaft on Andrew's bike, having some of the best Fish n' Chips in the world under a tarp in the pouring rain while talking to a man dressed in all white about economic systems, and of course seeing a play at the Stratford Shakespeare festival. Yes I'd say our brief time in Canada was very nice, very nice indeed, but the wind pushes us homeward and so we most go.

We will be taking Rt 20 east through NY to Rt. 14 south into PA and then take Rt. 6 East again and then make our way south east until we hit the ocean =) When looking at the map we are not far away at all.

Ok, now for pictures =)

This was from Manitoulin Island. Nice place, lots of water everywhere. Going this way between Huron and Georgia Bay saved us a couple hundred miles (very happy day!)

And when we got the end of the island we got to take a ferry. After playing around on the pier and going for a swim, we decided to take the midnight ferry over, on the other side we just put our tent down right next to the ferry. It was a very relaxing ride, through a pitch black night, the stars and moon were mostly covered in clouds.

This is a picture of the Festival Theater in Stratford. We got to see Camelot, it was very good, if you get the chance to see it I highly suggest you take the time.

This is what Southern Ontario looks like away from the industrial centers of the coast lines. Lots of dairy and farm land. 

Oh yeah, we went to Niagara Falls! It was beautiful. We found the surrounding cities to be places to get through as quickly as possible, but the actual falls are truly magnificent!

And so here you find us, around 500 miles left in the trip and none the worse for wear. Andrew and I are still on good terms, even though I'm consistently beating him in pool whenever we take time to stop and play =)

Riding on,
Nate

PS We are well over 2000 views for the blog! Now assuming that half of that is me checking to see if anyone is reading and at least a 1/4 is my family checking to see if we're still alive that means at least a couple people are legitimately following us! =) very exciting. Thank you for taking the time to read, we appreciate it greatly!

* To those new to our journey, 80% of all donations go to Living Water International (www.water.cc)

Oh Canada =)

We made it through the UP and are now in the middle of Ontario, specifically we find ourselves on Manitoulin Island.

But lets rewind. The last I spoke with you we were in Norway Michigan, a lot has happened since then, abandoned fire towers have been climbed, massive airstrips have been found in the wilderness, and friends have been made. The UP was very kind to us. Every night we found good people to stay with, or rather good people found us =) One of the first nights we stayed on a beautiful lake right outside of Gould City along Rt. 2 with a great couple, Steve and Gail. We met them at a gas station and they were gracious enough to invite us to their lake front property to spend the night in their spare bedroom (the Slipstream, or Airstream I forget what it's called, one of those shiny silver camping trailers). We greatly enjoyed the conversation, food and a warm place to sleep!! (Thank you both!!).

After that we had a ride up to Brimley (right near the border crossing). In Brimley we had the good fortune to meet Cindy and her husband Dan. They let us stay on their church property and gave us a great breakfast. We spent much of the day eating big hamburgers, watching big boats, and debating how to get across a rather large bridge. We did end up crossing into Canada with ease and have been enjoying the easy going nature of the Canadians since Thursday afternoon.

Today we stopped heading East and started heading South on Rt. 6!! This is big, mentally I was just tired of heading North and East. We both are ready to get home =) but first we're going to stop off in Stratford to catch a play and then check out Niagara Falls. After that we will be making for home with all possible haste. We are on schedule to make it back before our deadline of August 20th. I have no real major thoughts or reflections to add, except that I think I've grown to appreciate the need for a home. I've been gone for awhile now. Before this trip I was in Brazil, which I absolutely loved, and before that I was working in Ohio, which I enjoyed, and before that I was in school, which I finished =) but right about now I'm just ready to be sitting in front of the fireplace at home on the big couch away from all the mosquitoes and rain, and be reading a good book or playing games with my sibs.

Side note. Today is a very auspicious day indeed for more than the obvious reason of us reaching Manitoulin Island. Today is the day that two very dear friends of mine will be joined in Holy Matrimony (that is, they've decided to go off and get themselves married) actually it's happening right now. Nate and Jess, you know I wish I could be there, I wish you both the very best. I miss you both very much and can't wait to see you in September. I expect to have little nieces and nephews to spoil at your earliest convenience =)

Well now that I all done being sentimental, enjoy the pictures, we've enjoyed taking them and sharing them with you!

This is in the UP going down the driveway to the lake lot where we got to hang out with Gail and Steve. The lake you can barely make out at the end (I was a big dummy and didn't get a pic of the lake but it was really nice) We got to wash off, after which we actually felt almost human =)

Ok, this was me climbing up the fire tower. I recently asked Andrew what my biggest weaknesses are, he told me I thought too much and was a pansy...I disagree on both accounts. I would say my ability to think has often led me to avoid dangerous situations and I think being considered a pansy is often confused with being risk averse, but in this instance I put aside my fears of rickety, rusty, precarious fire towers and climbed (after all my little brother had just called me a pansy).

 And...this is the view we were rewarded with for risking life and limb. Trees. Lots of them. You couldn't even see the lakes (this was on the UP still).

 

This was a picture taken at the giant airstrip we found. It was comprised of 3 very long and very wide sections of concrete intersecting each other in a triangle. It was right outside of Raco MI if you care to look it up. It was really eerie to think of all the activity that must have surrounded such a huge piece of infrastructure that is no longer in use. 

This boat took a solid hour getting itself into the Locke at Sault Ste Marie. It was cool though to see how simple engineering could get such massive vessels across what previously had been an impassable stretch of water.

This was at a little restaurant beneath the bridge called West Pier. Andrew's pretty excited about eating a 1 lb. bacon cheese burger, I took the more conservative route of enjoying a 1/2 lb bacon cheese burger with a side of fries. We really have had good luck with finding these little hole in the wall type places. Last night we discovered the Canadian delicacy called Poutine. It's fries covered in gravy and cheese (sooo good).

This is the bridge into Canada. It's two lanes, one going and one coming, no shoulder, and yet they still let bikes go on it. It's like a joke to them I suppose. They don't let bikes across on the bus, but they get some sort of enjoyment out of seeing if bikers can make it across the bridge without getting hit. In all fairness the drivers were really courteous and we did cross uneventfully.

Oh my I am looking forward to being on a ferry tomorrow morning heading to Bruce Peninsula. We ran into a Canadian gentleman who insisted that we were cheating by taking the ferry....if biking over 3 thousand miles to take a ferry 50 kilometers is cheating we are guilty, but since we get to make the rules of our own adventure we've decided that it's not =) I definitely won't be losing any sleep over it.

Riding on,
Nate

* 80% of all donations go towards Living Water International

Comment Response

Mom: Haha yes it was big, it was actually in Wisconsin. Right now it's raining...and I don't like riding in the rain, so we're in the library in this great little town called Gladstone. It's right on a bay, quite nice actually =)

Dan: That's awesome! Tell her thanks for following!!

Megan! hmmm well I asked my brother and he and I agree that probably the funniest story was a giant deer (big antlers and everything) that we caught in Yellowstone taking a dump off the side of the road. Andrew took a video, I turned my head in respect. We also enjoy getting the cattle to run with us. Horses are less prone to do this, but cattle always seem to want to come along for the ride.

Uncle Bill: Thanks!

Liz: Thanks! I don't know, they've been in a little town called Crandon for six years now. He used to be a resturant manager. Great couple.

Greetings from Norway!!!

not Norway Europe, we're in Michigan =) We just crossed the border into the UP. We have a 60 miles to go before we reach our destination tonight. We had the good fortune to meet Ed, Donna, and other members of the Living Faith Church of God. They let us stay last night in the basement on couches!! It was soo comfortable and Donna made us dinner! We we're living like kings...and then we had to wake up and roll out this morning, but if we make it to Gladstone Ed has arranged for us to stay with friends of his.

But I'm ahead of myself. We are out of the Midwest and into the North woods!! You know you've crossed that vague border when gas stations start having big stuffed bears in the corner of their stores and the men start having grizzly Adams beards. We have definitely crossed that border.

Two days ago we nearly got caught in a very bad storm. We were flying along through the heart of Wisconsin. Clouds had been gathering all day but we had been assured by a store clerk that the storm wouldn't break for another several hours...well yeah it didn't wait that long. We were about 5 miles outside of the next town and the sky behind us turned green. The wind started kicking up and the rain started coming down. We rode faster =) we came flying into the town at 30 miles per hour on flat ground (very fast) the sirens started going off. Thankfully the local gas station let us take shelter till it blew over, but it was all very exciting I assure you.

Today's highlight was seeing the world's biggest soup kettle. Don't believe me? See picture below.

This is a scene from Minnesota. It kinda captures a lot of what we saw on our ride....a lot of farms.

This is Cascade Falls in the heart of a little town in Wisconsin. It was a pleasant surprise to find this gorgeous waterfall on a day when we did not really get anywhere due to construction and detours.

Oh yeah. It's big.

Woohoo Michigan!! Next stop Canada =) you didn't know this was an international trip did you? Well it is

That's all for now, my esteemed collegue, Andrew, is wanting to hit the road, and to be honest we should really be rolling or we'll run out of daylight.

Till next time,

Nate

PS Sorry about not being able to respond to your comments on the last post! I hope to be able to respond tomorrow!

Comment Response

Well once again I'm struggling to comment on my own posts...rather frustrating actually. But here are some responses to the previous two posts. Thank you for your comments!!

Hello Wonderful sister Molly. We missed Montana though I have it by reliable sources that it is quite beautiful =) Congrats on climbing Mt. Marcy! I have yet to climb it. We both love you dearly and miss you lots.

Mrs. Grimes! Happy to have you along for the ride! Andrew doesn't have a nickname yet, perhaps Juggernaut, or Mountain Master (M&M for short) but nothing has stuck.

Dad: I agree. thanks!

Erin: Haha well we're still a little ways away. What are the dates of VT? (text me the dates)