Today the Long Ride North came to an end…at least the physical part of the ride. We are back home after 8279.8 miles and 28 days. I have to say that I’m ready for a break. I think I’ll take the rest of today and tomorrow off and then on Monday I’ll start to get on with the rest of my life. There have been some physical side affects related to spending that much time in the saddle on the road that I hadn’t considered when we started out. My hands started to swell a bit about a week ago. Each day they began to get a little stiffer too. I’ve worn that helmet for 28 days straight. My neck and shoulders are tired. Other than that and feeling pretty tired this afternoon, I’m surprised at how well I feel. I attribute this to my regular workouts and the general overall level of fitness I entered into the ride with. Unfortunately the exercise routine suffered greatly the last 28 days. I did pretty good with my diet and suffered no ill effects there. Tomorrow it’s back to the gym however. Although I didn’t get even one painting done I have a vast treasure trove of reference material. Hours of video to process and edit which will be produced into a documentary type video available to the public. Several thousand photos to sort through and organize, and a book to write that I will publish as an e-book. All of that, and paintings to get started on. I will plan on having a show next year to celebrate the first year anniversary. That’s why I say that the physical part of the ride is over but I’m afraid this is really just the beginning. This was a tremendous adventure and I will cherish it. Thanks to my wife Kathy for riding along with me, her brother Tim and his wife Donna. It was a fun adventure to share with them. We had a blast. Thanks for coming. I especially want to thank daughter Mandy for house sitting for us, keeping the gallery/shop open and caring for the animals. Her biggest responsibility turned out to be caring for my mother. Thank you Mandy. With out you this wouldn’t have been possible. I would also like to thank all of you faithful viewers for following us along on this ride. It was a pleasure having you. And I’d like to thank my sponsors, MasterCard and Visa who made this all financially possible.  I urge everyone to stay tuned however as I will be posting more photos, updating you on the movie, the photo collection and most importantly, the paintings. In the meantime I’ll leave you with this shot of a big black bruiser strolling along the highway right-of-way. I don’t remember off hand where we saw him.