I made it!

After two and a half months, 2 flat tires, 2 broken spokes and 6690km, I made it to Halifax! I actually arrived here a few days ago on the 13th, but I start where I last left off.

So after spending a couple nights in Fredericton, visiting with my cousin and seeing the sights I headed out for my last five days! It was originally supposed to be just 4 days, but because I was a bit ahead of schedule I figured why not slow down, and take my time? From Fredericton I was headed to a small town about half way to Moncton. It actually turned out that the woman I stayed with in Fredericton was going there for the day because she has family and friends who have a cabin on a lake there, so I had yet another place to stay:) It was a short ride that day, and I had a tailwind for the majority of it. When I arrived at the cabin there was a group of cheering strangers greeting me haha, although they weren't strangers for too long after that. We spent the afternoon lounging around in the sun and visiting.

The next day was a bit longer, and I was headed to Moncton! I don't recall anything significant from that day. Moncton was where my highschool teacher had kindly given me a night at a B&B. i had never stayed in one before, and therefore didn't quite know what to expect, but needless to say it was very comfortable. It was right downtown, so that evening I was able to go for a walk and give myself a little tour. For breakfast we had french toast and beans in maple syrup.

From Moncton I made my way into my last province- Nova Scotia! It was another short ride to the small city of Amherst, although I think I remember there being a headwind that day, and I actually had my second flat tire on the way. I lucked out with the location or where it happened. I was in the town of Sackville and very close to a Tim Horton's. So I actually went for a coffee first, then got to work. I was sitting right on the sidewalk outside of the restaurant, and as such had several people ask if I need help. I also had a few older women fascinated by the fact that I could fix my own flat tire, and watched me for a while haha. Anyways, it wasn't too long before my tire was back together and I was on my way again. Knowing that I was on my last couple of nights, and since it looked like it was going to rain that night, I decided to call up my auntie and uncle for the second hotel room they had offered me. I toured around the town a bit in the late afternoon; nothing really caught my eye or jumped out at me.

The next morning I was riding to Truro. It was a bit of a long day, especially compared to the last few days, but because I knew it would be longer it wasn't so bad. Truro was my last night before Halifax and I had someone to stay with there. She actually lived a bit out of town, but worked in town at the hospital and luck for me she had a truck. I rode into town, waited until she got off work and we drove out to her home. It was really nice to not have to camp on my last night; have some company, good food, and actual bed. It's pretty amazing how much I've come to appreciate these things.

My last day of riding...I wasn't really as excited as I thought I would be. In fact it was almost frustrating that day; I think I just wanted to get there. I had also been told that the road from Truro to Halifax was flat. You would think that by this point I would have learned to always question what non-cyclists tell you about the road ahead, but I didn't, and it definitely wasn't flat. It was very windy and a lot of little ups and downs, although it was quite pretty because it was followed many small lakes and eventually the Halifax harbour.

In the late afternoon I arrived right downtown in the main part of the harbour where I met my parents- I was done. It was great to see them, but I wasn't really as excited to be done as I thought I would be. I expected it to be this amazing moment of disbelief, and great accomplishment. It was more like,"okay I'm here, that's done. What are we going to go do now?" We did take a couple celebratory pictures. It was really crowded there though because there was a busker's festival going on for the next few days, so we headed to the hotel to visit and so I could put on something other than cycle/spandex clothes (oh the luxuries I had been missing haha)

My parents had flown into Halifax the day before I got there. After we all got to the hotel we had a really nice evening of catching up and enjoying a celebration dinner. The next few days we basically spent doing the tourist thing: we saw some of the attraction of Halifax, drove out to Peggy's Cove, spent a couple days in Lunenburg- a small touristy town an hour or two away. We came back to Halifax for their last night before flying back to Kelowna. It was an interesting switch in travel styles between my 2.5 months of biking time, a lot of which was by myself, to touring the Halifax area with my parents. It was almost like two different trips.

I'm still here in Halifax for a couple days longer and staying with a friend I made in school in Vancouver. I'm actually flying back to Kelowna tomorrow morning, and the whole thing will be over. This week that I've spent here has definitely been the hottest weather I've experienced all summer.

This is most likely my last blog entry, and I don't really know how to end it. Although maybe there will be one more; it doesn't seem to have hit me yet that I just biked across Canada. I definitely met some amazing people along the way, some of which I'll be in touch with for a while. I really didn't have any bad experiences along the way. Maybe I just lucked out in that aspect, but I like to think it's because we really do live in a beautiful place. Surprisingly there weren't any moments when I questioned whether or not I would succeed, or regret starting the trip. Every moment was worth it. For everyone I've met that's said something like,"I'd like to do something like that one day," please please do.

I'm not sure if everyone has my email address. I know its more difficult to respond to blog sites, so if you have any questions, comments etc, please write me-
rmoxham@hotmail.com

Peace and Love,
Rachel

"Accept your greatness"