After 392,808 steps, 160 miles and 22 days I decided to stop my journey and come home. I’ll explain some more about why in a second but first I want to talk about my awesome experience I had yesterday. 

Yesterday, while walking down Route 66 in the middle of nowhere, I crossed paths with a man named Fred. Fred is a 65 year old Vietnam war veteran and a total badass. He rode his bike up to me and stopped, asking what my journey was. I told him what I was doing and then I asked him what his was. Turns out his friend from the war told him to come up and visit him in Alaska where the friend was gold mining in a stream.  Fred’s response was “Ok. Well I’m in Florida so I’ll see you in spring!” He was telling me all sorts of stories about his time on the road and gave me some helpful tips. I asked him how long he’d been traveling for, his response was “I left Florida 8 weeks ago but I’ve been riding all around the country for 15 years.” I tried to get a picture with him when we were done talking but his response was “nuh uh. After 15 years you get tired of that shit.” Fred is awesome. 

Ok. On to the other part. I’ve decided to head home and end my journey. It wasn’t a decision I made lightly, it wasn’t just on a whim. It actually took many days of fighting back and forth with myself. It was a culmination of many things that brought me to the decision that I don’t want to list to sound like I’m whining. I will say that it added up to total exhaustion and major discomfort. 

I can honestly say that this was the most difficult task I’ve set out to do. Even though I didn’t make it across the country I think I did what I set out to do, challenge myself and learn to overcome when things seem frustrating or impossible. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to quit on day 1. Hell, I almost wanted to quit before starting. That’s why I posted everything on Facebook, to overcome my fears and push my boundaries. On this trip I pushed myself farther than I ever had before physically, emotionally and mentally and I think I’m better for it. I wish I could say I made it all the way across the country but sometimes reality is more difficult that you could plan for. It was certainly harder than I expected. 

Thank you everyone so much for your support. I honestly couldn’t have made it as far as I did with out it. This is the end of this trip but I’m sure I’ll do something crazy in the future. Maybe I’ll swim across the Atlantic. 😛