A number of people commented that it did not feel like there was a last post about the first leg of our Transamerica ride last year. There is a reason for that: it didn't feel like the leg actually finished. The final day's ride was cancelled due to cold and snow. Some amazing women chose to ride anyway, but most of us did not. We got out of the snow and into the van and we drove to West Yellowstone, the final destination of the first leg. And we all said goodbye and we went home. It was all kind of anti-climactic and it didn't feel like I had much to say about it.

Today a group of us rode that final leg. We rode our bikes from Ennis to W. Yellowstone as we had planned to do 11 months ago. That ride is now complete.

I am not one to feel like I need to ride every mile. Last year there were a couple of legs that had portions that did not feel safe for me personally. The route was safe and the support fabulous, but it was not for me on those days. So I chose to ride short distances in the van. I am fine with those choices and I would make those decisions again.

But this was different. It was the final leg. The entire final leg. We didn't finish on our bikes. It just felt incomplete in a big way for me. Not everyone felt that way. Not all of us rode it today, but for me, and perhaps the others who rode, it finished something that felt undone.

I am very grateful to WomanTours for letting us ride those last 71 miles today. I am looking forward to our first leg of TA2, which takes us into Yellowstone National Park. I have spent a week exploring it with Margaret, but doing so mostly by car is very different than by bike. When we ride the pace it allows me to see and hear things I never would from a car.

I really wanted to see a grizzly this week and yesterday I did. I do NOT want to see a grizzly while on my bike. I do not want to see many bison blocking the road as we did in the car. I really do not want to meet any wild animals while on my bike, but I am excited to see and hear the Park in a new way. Onward!

Osprey! Seen on a more typical September day in 2019.

Sue makes a snowman on what was to be the day of our final ride into West Yellowstone in 2018.