Thetford, VT

So I was just sitting in bed, waiting for Biddle's movie to load, checking facebook, email, the usual when I realized: it has been exactly one week since it all ended. It wasn't so much a realization about the length in time - I mean it feels like about one week has passed. I guess it was more that I am now quantifying time from the end of the trip instead of the beginning. During the trip, we would measure our distance by how many weeks it had been - four weeks meant four parent rotations which meant 2/3 of the way done and still over 1000 miles to go - that sort of thing. But now its been one week from the end...what does that mean. As far as I know, it means I am at home, without somewhere to get to tomorrow, and without all my friends.
When I realized all of this, I got what Renzo would call a 'bikers low'. This usually happened (for me at least) when I looked down at my odometer and realized that we still had 30 miles to go until our first snack, not to mention another 70 after that. But as Gwen likes to say, you just have to keep putting one foot in front of the other.
Usually when I ask 'what's tomorrow looking like?', someone either smiles and and proclaims 'short!' or groans and replies '100 and some miles...uphill!'. But now the answers have changed - they seem to all morph into some form of 'rainy. You really need to clean your room'. Each day isn't unique anymore. Everyday is turning into every other, running into the day before it; so I have just stopped asking. I can probably recount every single day of our six week trip - where we stayed, where the wind came from, what we had for dinner, etc. But of the past week, about all I could tell you was that I went to a soccer game at some point and had an eye appointment a couple of days ago. I know it sounds really lame and cheesy but we really did live every day to the fullest. Every single day had ups and downs, good meals and maple sticks, hail storms and sunscreen, songs and grumpy faces, and each of those things made each day real and worth remembering. I think a good sign of an amazing experience is when you refuse to forget any details, when you go over it again and again in your mind, when you write everything down and take a million pictures.
I guess what I am trying to say is that this trip has been truly unforgettable. And I don't know about you guys, but I am still not quite sure how we made it. Thanks to everyone who played any sort of role in our trip, from the person who put up with us camping next to them to the riders themselves, you made the trip what it was and I would never have it any other way.