Day 27

September 8th 2008

San Diego, CA to Border Field State Park

21.2 Miles

After all the miles I put on yesterday I slept great last night. I even slept in, especially since I knew today would be a short day. After getting up and getting ready, it was 11:30 before I was rolling away from the motel. I needed to catch a passenger only ferry over to the Coronado Peninsula, which left at noon, lucky for me te ferry dock was only a few blocks away from the motel.

Ferry to Coronado

See the resemblance?

AT&T now offering less bars in San Diego

I boarded the ferry at 12 and by 12:30 I was pedaling again. Even though th mileage was going to be short, I faced a steady headwind. That slowed me down a little, but nothing could keep me from pushing the pace so I could finish quickly. Within a couple hours I was riding up to Border Field State Park. Waiting for me was Monique (awesome), and a Border Patrol Guard (not so awesome). This area of the border and this park in particular has regular problems with people who enter the country illegally. The Border Patrol wasn’t concerned with me so it really wasn’t a big deal but still it seemed to put a downer on the whole triumphant finish thing. Wow, this was it. I was finished. Just like last time it seemed unreal and anti-climatic. I’m sure I’ll have a different perspective tomorrow, but for now, I was ready to just snap some photos, and load up the bike and head home.

After the photo-ops, Monique and I were walking the bike back to the car. Soon the Border Patrol guard came racing by us in his Jeep Wrangler. A few hundred yards up the road, he and some other agents were arresting 4 young men. They were already on there knees on a dusty side trail with their hands behind them, secured by zip ties. I thought about the opportunity I just had to ride from the top to the bottom of this great country. I thought of the incredible places I saw, and the interesting and quirky people I met. I also thought of the good, the bad and the surreal experiences I had along the way. I realized that watching four men get arrested was about as fitting an ending as anything I could have scripted. I’ll have one last post for you all tomorrow, containing my final thoughts and some of the important statistics. Until then, thank you so much for following along with me.

Maury

done

“I promise you this one sweet victory over our enemies, over those desk bound men and women with their hearts in safe deposit boxes, and their eyes hypnotized by desk calculators. I promise you this; You will out live the bastards!”

-Edward Abbey