DAY 37 - Going Home

They say all good things must come to an end, and today was it for us. We had a great brunch together in LaJolla before Eva and Mary Kay dropped Maxine and Pat at the airport to fly back to Tampa.  Eva and Mary Kay are spending the night on the road on their way back to Colorado.  

We walked 1158.1 miles this time for a grand total of 2348.5.  Not too shabby for us older grannies. Eva is 64, Maxine is 70, Pat is 76, and Mary Kay is 83. Jacque, who went on the first half, is 69. 

We definitely achieved our goal of raising awareness that older folks can do whatever they set their minds to achieve. 

We had a couple of blisters, a cranky knee, and a sore foot which caused some to walk a little slower or a few less miles, but everyone persevered, and we finished a couple of weeks ahead of schedule.  We got along great, worked together to figure out where we needed to go and what interesting sights we could see along the way and never had a problem sharing a bathroom and 2 beds. We loved every minute of our grand adventure including all the walking, all the sightseeing, all of our friends and family who hosted us and visited us on our route, and all of the friendly and nice people we met along the way. America is a beautiful and great country, and we were so privileged to see it up close and personal and not from the interstates. 

Thanks again to everyone for following the blog and for your comments and support.  We'll let you know when we plan our next trip!!

DAY 36 - Sightseeing in San Diego

We had a great last day together which started with a really good breakfast in a real restaurant down from our hotel in LaJolla, not a breakfast buffet in a motel. We were joined by Pat's niece, Rebecca, and Mary Kay's niece, Rita, and it was nice to chat with them. We drove to Coronado, and just so we didn't get withdrawal from not walking, we walked along the beach for 3 miles and then checked out the famous Hotel Del Coronado.  After that we drove to Balboa Park and walked through the cactus and rose gardens. The roses were spectacular, and there were so many unusual varieties.  We thought we might walk around Old Town San Diego, but after getting there and driving through some of it, we decided it was too touristy and headed back to LaJolla for a final Starbucks stop followed by walking to the beach to watch the sun set. It was cloudy, but that only enhanced the beautiful colors in the sky. Definitely a special end to the day.  After quick showers, we drank another bottle of champagne before going out to a nice restaurant for our celebratory and farewell dinner. 

DAY 35 - WE DID IT!!!!!

After the final 9 miles we hit the Pacific Ocean at LaJolla Shores Beach. It was a spectacular day - bright sunshine, not a cloud in the sky, no wind, lots of surf and waves. The beach was crowded, and the 3 Day Breast Cancer walkers had their lunch stop in the park right by the beach, so it was quite a busy place.  After taking lots of photos, we found a more quiet spot at a picnic table under a tree and drank a bottle of champagne while celebrating our achievement and enjoying a great couple of hours at the beach. The surf was definitely up, and we watched the surfers riding the waves.  We're spending the weekend in LaJolla before going home on Sun, so after checking in to our hotel, we walked across the street to have a late lunch. Then we walked around the shopping area a little and to Seal Cove to see the sea lions and birds and the sunset.  After cleaning up, we went to Jill and Stu's house for wine and cheese and great guacamole and finished the day by meeting Richard's daughter, Julie, for ice cream.  We still can't believe we did it and will be home for Thanksgiving. We have so much to be thankful for!!

We'll post again tomorrow and then again in a day or two with a final statistics edition, but for now we wank to thank all of you for reading the blog, the great comments you made and your support for our adventure. We especially thank those who housed us, fed us, called, texted and emailed, and those we met along the way who enhanced our journey with your conversation. 

DAY 34 - 33.5 Miles

After eating a breakfast at a cute cafe in town, we drove back to where we stopped yesterday and walked up and over a mountain pass and out of the desert. What a change of scenery.  We used a total of 30 banked miles today to avoid having to walk on the most winding mountain pass with no good shoulder, and because we had more than enough to get us from Julian to Ramona as well as up the pass to Julian. We spent some time walking around Julian, which is at 4,000 feet and was 52 degrees. It's a historic mining town, and we watched tour guides driving hansom cabs around and ate some great pie and cinnamon ice cream at a little cafe. That more than made up for the pie we missed in Pie Town.  After the drive to Ramona, we walked to Poway and had probably our best dinner so far.  Tomorrow we hope to get to the Pacific Ocean!!!

DAY 33 - 46.8 Miles

We put in some extra miles today because we started walking right from the motel, and there was some cloud cover for half of the day.  The bad part was a fierce wind in our faces for the last 10 miles, and it was another hot day. There was more farmland and crops for a while, and then we were back in the desert.  More dirt bikes and dune buggies as well as some army helicopters training for Afghanistan.  After checking in to our motel/RV park, we went to the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park visitor center where we had a nice conversation with a couple of volunteers and a park ranger.  We also saw 2 films about the park which is the largest in California and the largest desert park in the country. Since we are on Pacific time, we watched the sun set behind the mountain on one side and saw the colors change on the mountains and rocks on the opposite side at 4:30. The desert is beautiful, and we enjoyed seeing the moon and stars out here tonight. 

DAY 32 - 41.3 Miles

While we were eating breakfast this morning, we saw our guy biker friends from yesterday going in to a cafe across the street.  Maxine went outrank chatted with them and found out that they had ridden their bikes on Interstate 10 yesterday.  Today's route took us through  the Imperial Sand Dunes where we stopped at an overlook for some photos and saw so many RVs and dune buggies. We also walked through lots of farmland and saw huge pieces of equipment and large solar panels as well as a variety of crops.   We're gaining on San Diego!!!