Last Day in New York

East Meadow, Long Island, August 26    

With thousands (more like tens) of well-wishers cheering me on, my dad, sister, Aunt, Uncle, and Nathan there to greet me at the coast, and Long Island Newsday (the local paper) on hand to cover the event for inquiring minds the world over, I completed my 3 month, 4,300 mile journey across North America at 2:30pm this afternoon. It's been a long, yet exhilarating day today, but I am exhausted. I wish you all a good night, and I shall write all the details of my final day in the morning. Good night!
much love, Darren

...

What a Day! A day that began bright and early at 5am, as I awoke from my last slumber on the road to hit the road by 6 and get a good start to the coast. First milestone, the George Washington Bridge, which had a nice bike/walking path for me to avoid the traffic crossing the Hudson River back into New York State. Once I was over the bridge, my route took down Broadway and the 170th streets in Washington Heights. By 7 I was cruising down Riverside Drive in Harlem, marveling at the skyscrapers in the distance as they shimmered in early morning light. By 8 I was in midtown Manhattan; thrilled to have left the streets in favor of a great bike path that follows the Hudson down to Battery Park at the southern tip of Manhattan.
   At 8:30, about when I stopped to call the Long Island Newsday Paper and give them an E.T.A. for me on the coast, the Statue of Liberty came into view, providing me the first real glimpse of the Atlantic. What a welcome sight it was! Then it was off through the financial district, which fortunately for me was a ghost town because markets are closed on Saturdays. I must admit that to my surprise, the cars, taxis, and trucks I did run into on the Island were far more courteous than I expected.
  Anyhow, after Wall Street I headed east over the Brooklyn Bridge to Brooklyn. Once over the bridge I stopped to ask some locals their suggestions for getting to Long Island on a bike. They suggested Flatbush Avenue all the way down, so that's what I did. Man o Man, was that an experience. Brooklyn on a Saturday morning (probably every morning) in that area was an absolute zoo!. Cars double and triple parked on every street. Thousands of jaywalkers who dart out of their cars and shops leaving you no time to react to their presence. Potholes, nails, garbage, and other hazards littering the streets. Generally treacherous conditions to ride a bike through is what I'm trying to convey. But following Prospect Park, things lightened up, and once past Kings Plaza Shopping Center on Flatbush and Avenue V, smooth riding resumed.
   By 10, I got word that my dad and the Newsday reporter and photographer were already there at Robert Moses Beach. I picked up the pace a bit, but was forced to stop at Gil Hodges Memorial Bridge and wait for a bike shuttle that would take me across due to bridge construction. That delayed me a bit, but once over the bridge I found myself at Rockaway Beach, a true beach with sand, beachgoers, waves, and all! What a glorious sight it was. Upon learning that Robert Moses beach was another 40-50 miles away, I began wishing that I had chosen Rockaway Beach instead.
   But the remaining miles were beautiful coastal riding, so I had no reason to complain. By 1:30 I was at Point Lookout Beach on Long Beach in Long Island. There I rendezvoused with Nathan, my sister, and my Aunt & Uncle. They were the first familiar faces I had seen in over two months! I gave Nathan and Eve my camcorder to film the last 15 miles of my journey, and then we all departed on the Loop Parkway (cycling forbidden, but rules are made to be broken, right?) to Jones Beach area. With Uncle Marvin & Aunt Julie riding with their hazards on in front of me, and my sis and Nathan riding behind me an filming, I was escorted to the coast in style! I'd say there was an even mix of cheers and irate cursing from passing motorists. The final hurdle was the Robert Moses Causeway connecting Long Island to Fire Island. Once again cycling was forbidden, but was not about to end my trip riding alongside my bike in a car! So I crossed the Causeway unaided, and arrived at the beach by 2:30pm.
   I was greeted by my dad and the reporter and photographer, who snapped shots as I rode in from the parking lot, although another take was necessary when my wheel fell of the trailer mid stride!
   A crowd started to materialize as beachgoers realized that some media event was taking place. I was joined by family, friends, and well-wishers as I dragged the bike the remaining 100 feet to the waters of the Atlantic. The trip was complete, and I eagerly celebrated by hurling myself into the water with reckless abandon.
   Following the interview with Newsday, some photo-ops with family and complete strangers who wanted to record the moment too, we settled down to a champagne toast and a lovely day at the beach.
   I want to personally thank you all for following my trip across North America, and supporting me on my quest to complete it. I especially want to thank those of you that wrote to me, even if it was just once or twice. Those emails were tremendously important to me and made me feel much closer to home even though at many times I was thousands of miles from all of you.
  I sincerely hope you enjoyed reading about my travels and I hope I will continue to hear from you all even though I won't be writing regularly any more. I will, however, be updating the website, www.biking4books.com, as soon as I am able to with more photographs from my trip and other goodies as well.

Newsday did an article of my trip's conclusion for those that are interested. 

  A couple words of thanks are in order at this time. Many thanks to Zac Bell (zacbell@hotmail.com) for all the work he did for me on the web site, and for making the process of sending out my daily reports so simple and enjoyable as well. Thanks to Zac, Eric Z., and Jeff, Ellen, and Hannah Smith for scanning photos of my trip for me so that they were available to the masses. Thanks to Festina Corporation for their generous gift which helped me on my trip immensely. Thanks to all of you who sent fabulous care packages along the way, providing me with added incentive to reach St. Cloud and Pierre in record time to receive all your generous goodies! Thank you to Felipe Padilla for giving a daunting trip like this a try. For if you hadn't taken that Greyhound trip with me up to Florence, I would not have even begun this journey, let alone complete it. Thanks go out to my family, especially my parents, for dealing so well with the stresses you faced at home, knowing I was out on the road for months.
  And finally, thank you so much all the folks across the US and Canada for treating a scraggly stranger so incredibly well each and every day. Your kindness and generosity made this trip a joy to be a part of, and I hope to see many of you again soon when I do a repeat of my cycling route one of these days.
  So that's that! Peace out y'all, and be sure to write!

Darren Bates
darrenbates@pocketmail.com
www.biking4books.com
(818) 261-2101