R4WH 2009 Epilogue

Well, it's Friday afternoon. I've been home for 5 days now. My clothes have been laundered, my bike got a much needed bath. I've been out for a couple of rides & have one with friends planned for Sunday in Chester County. I've showered every day & slept in the same bed all week; my familiar, ultracomfortable waterbed. I've had dinner with family & met up with a few friends to catch up on each other's past 2 months. I've fretted over paying for my son's college. Tomorrow I return to my aikido practice. Monday, I go back to work. :-( Looks like life is getting back to normal for me.

I have just a couple more things I've been thinking about, then I'll be done. I do miss my teammates & hope that in some small ways, we'll keep in touch. This trip has been profound & I hope you've gotten a sense of that from reading along with me.

I've seen the country in a way few get to see it. I've met people & been to places that I otherwise would never have had the chance to do. From big cities like LA, Vegas & Kansas City to towns of 140 people total like Boulder & Hanksville in Utah.

I've also learned exactly how powerful the Internet & this thing called "blogging" can be. A few years ago, my uncle went on RAGBRAI & his son, my cousin, started a blog for him. I called it a sort of web diary; that was all I knew of it. So, I started this blog primarily as a way to allow those who donated & supported my ride to keep tabs on me along the way. It became much more.

First, I found out that some of my teammates, Christian for example, had parents & grandparents that read my blog to see how we were doing. Then, I started meeting people along the way who seemed to already know me. I would introduce myself as "Steve" & they would say something like: "Yes, Steve Klein. I've been reading your blog. Thank you." From parents to OSUMC faculty, to my own friends, knowing that people were reading kept me writing; I felt I had a real reason to keep posting. I hope they weren't too rambling, including this one. OK, this 1 rambles, but it's the last one, I'm sure.

One more thing. If any of you are in the Philadelphia area, here's a list of bike rides this summer. I'll be doing the ACS ride in July & the MS150 in October for sure as well as others as I can. Get out & ride & maybe I'll see you there.

So, thank you all for following along & letting me know it was worthwhile. I certainly enjoyed doing it (the blog & the ride, of course)! TTFN (Ta Ta For Now) ---Steve