I have delayed writing this journal, for the task of summing up the last 70 days seems insurmountable. The trip was a great success, the ending was somewhat anti-climactic, and now the riders we spent our summers with have all gone their separate ways--mostly back to Austin. But when next we meet, it will be very different, and nothing will bring back the experiences of living day in, day out, on the road.

The reception in Anchorage was great, but the end of anything like this summer's ride can only be bitter-sweet. I have been longing for the end, both to see my wonderful wife, and to give my tired and damaged body some good rest (since Fort Collins, not a day went by without at least some pain in my Achille's Heel). The Rocky team was very generous and pooled together to fly Gretchen to AK, and we had a wonderful reunion. And, I haven't ridden my bike in...my goodness, 4 whole days! All signs of squeakiness in my tendon is gone, and my muscles feel better than they have in weeks.

Yet, it is bittersweet. I returned home, after riding for charity the entire summer and seeing all the goodness of people from start to finish, to find my prized collection of tools stolen, including all of my bike tools. This is merely an expense and an aggravation. But, on a much more serious note, Gretchen got word that her grandfather, Dandy, passed away on Thursday night, shortly after we returned from Anchorage. It was a rude welcome to life back in Austin.

At the end of every semester in school, I would get nostalgic about all the rough times I had faced during the semester with my classmates, all the study sessions, endless homeworks and projects, meetings, etc. During the semester, it all seemed so tiresome, but after the last final was submitted, life seemed somehow empty. Everything I had been working at for the past 16 weeks abruptly ended, and I felt out of place.

So it goes with Texas 4000. All of the riding, wrenching, cooking, setting up camp, organizing the van with Team Wednesday!, driving, finding lodging and showers, fixing flats--all of the drone of being on the road has silenced. There are no more presentations to be made, no more towns to visit, no more random folks to meet in the middle of North America... and it all ended with seemingly little warning. Now, I find myself missing all of these daily rituals, like camp coffee, hot water, oatmeal, camping, riding, basking in the sun...

And yet, it is not all bitter. A friend of mine once said, "Don't be sorry it's over, be glad it happened." And I am _very_ glad it happened. The memories will last a lifetime for the two teams of riders that had a dream last fall, a dream to see lives touched, to see money raised, to see an intrepid student group do what very few ever consider doing. All of the hours invested in making it happen before June 1 made the trip all the sweeter. It takes me back to when I was 12, paying for my first lawnmower and trimmer so I could start mowing lawns in the neighborhood. I took such meticulous care of that equipment, after having invested myself. Texas 4000 is much moreso--we all teamed together to make this summer's ride happen, we made a dream into reality, and we each have our own stake in it.

Now, the trip is over, work is about to start, and every summer I will look wistfully to the West and remember this fantastic trip called Texas 4000 for Cancer, where over 40 students stood up and worked for something greater than themselves.

Many thanks are in order--way too many to remember all. --Thanks to all those who supported me in this trip and made it all possible for me personally.

--Thanks to the Rocky Team, and in particular, Lorig Hawkins and Brett Anderson, who both made our leadership day on Wednesdays much more pleasant and who chipped in right when I was wearing thin.

--Thanks to mom and dad, for believing in me always.

--Thanks to my wife, Gretchen--I sit in disbelief some days, knowing that she was willing to let me go and live a dream for 70 days while she stayed in Austin and plugged away, day after day, at her job. I have the best wife of any man! (except, possibly, my father... that's always a tough call! ;) )

--And, finally, thanks be to God for seeing the entire team through without any major injuries, illness, or worse. 41 riders, 4500 miles, 70 days--that's quite a lot of risk to escape unscathed, and someone was doubtless watching over us all.

Andy