The FINAL Day! We MADE IT!!!
$830,000 has been raised for veterans, including $125,000 this year.
Please help even more Veterans by SUPPORTING our ride today.
Ultimately, these rides are not about the riders but about the veterans we assist with the funds we raise. This is the seventh day of the ride and the last day for this year. There was much excitement as we prepared during the morning, and already, we were looking back at what we had each accomplished.
Pastor Alex Chatman, our dinner sponsor last night, met us at the hotel and offered a prayer of thanks for our efforts for Veterans and for protection during our last day of the ride. The Crestview Fire Department Battalion chief met us at the hotel and provided an escort for the first few miles, stopping traffic at major intersections.
When I dropped off my key card at the hotel desk, I was asked the day’s most challenging question: "What was your room number?" After seven days, the rooms and room numbers all run together. Mornings can be intense as we make our preparations for the day. We have breakfast and then put on all our gear, including bicycle shoes, socks, shorts, the correct jersey for the day, sunglasses, helmet, gloves, headband, and bandana. We fill our water bottles, mount these onto our bicycles, and put snacks into our pockets. We update our smartphones and bicycle computers with the route for the day. All this has to be done correctly, as the wrong gear can be uncomfortable. We can't get back into our suitcases to make a change. We pack the remainder into our suitcases and bring them down at Bag Drag. Then we go back up to our rooms and bring down our bicycles. Then we listen to the final briefing, do our 22 push-ups, mount our bicycles, and ride out.
It is a lot - every day for so many days - it is a lot.
During our ride through Alabama and Florida, we saw the iconic southern agriculture of cotton and peanuts. Those of us who are new to the South had not seen this before. The cotton was ready to harvest, and the plants were full of white cotton balls. Some cotton and peanut harvest was in progress.
Olive Baptist Church, Pensacola, provided lunch, which Mike Dimick, a retired Air Force Veteran, brought to us. For much of the day, we traveled on four-lane roads with many traffic lights, heavy traffic, and businesses on both sides. This ride provided a different challenge from those earlier in the week. Still, we had the advantages of limited hills, a tailwind, and well-practiced teamwork. For the final few miles, we rode on Perdido Key and through Orange Beach. The Gulf of Mexico was to our left, and Bayou Saint John was to our right. Even in this late season, early October, many people were at the beaches.
Tonight's dinner was a shrimp boil brought into the hotel from Lartigue's Original Fresh Seafood. It included boiled shrimp, sausage, potatoes, and corn on the cob. After dinner, we said our farewells as we all will disperse tomorrow.
Although the 2024 ride has been completed, yet there is also a sense that nothing has ended. This is our sixth consecutive year of riding and already there is discussion of where we will ride in 2025.
Special thanks go out to the SAG team:
1. * Lynne (Nurse Lady) Watson – Head of everything.
2. * Dywane Griner - Truck/trailer driver.
3. * David Edge - Truck/trailer/ auxiliary driver and luggage porter.
4. * Jenny Woodruff – Motorhome driver and SAG scout.
5. * Loretta Daniels – Medical and SAG.
6. * Laura Stagliano – SAG.
7. * Lynn (2.0) Watson – SAG.
At dinner, Loretta presented each rider with a Quilt of Valor. She and her team of quilters had prepared 32 quilts for the trip. This evening we each reflect back on the week. Each of us has some new accomplishment with which we are proud. We have renewed old or made new friendships. We have enjoyed a week of deep camaraderie and teamwork that remind us it is special to be part of USNA, Class of 1983. Stay tuned for 2025.
Final Statistics:
Day 7: 87 miles; 1585 feet of climb; five flat tires; one fall.
Grand Totals: 545 miles and 22,235 feet of climb.