Farson, WY (Proposal)
Total Distance: 84.63 milesRide Time:8 hours 11 min !!!!
Avg. Speed: 9.96 mph !!!
Max Speed: 36 mph
Bike: Today was one of the worst and best days of my life, as you can see by the stats. It started like any other normal day, we left, and about 5 miles out we got some coffee. Lauren got an upsetting call at the gas station letting her know her first horse ever was dying, so she was in pretty sad shape from the beginning. We left and headed up the South Pass. It's scary and hard, we climbed about 3,000 feet. It was amazingly beautiful, but hard and long, about 40 of the 80 miles. Check the pictures on the left to see some views, gallery 3. We pushed and made it to the top with out too much pain. What came next was the hard part. The next 80 miles was plains and with it came wind. The worst wind I've ever felt, it was hard just to stand in it. It came from the right and front of us, causing us to hit a max of only 9 mph on flat ground. During a rest break at one point my helmet actually slid across the pavement. If I were to guess I'd say it was about 15-20 mph winds probably more. There were points when we all had to lean to the right to stop our selves from blowing over. I have never ever, ever, had to push my self so hard and get so little accomplished. It was physically, and most of all mentally challenging to the worst extreme. We crawled along and realized it was going to be a much longer day then an 80 or even 120 mile day should be. Lauren at one point in a fit of desperate frustration said, "I feel like it would just be easier to turn around and ride back to Providence!!" It's something that I will never be able to describe and no one will ever understand.
Finally, we came to the continental divide. The line that geographically divides the country in half. If water is poured on it, it's said that half goes to the Atlantic ocean and half to the Pacific. It was just on it's own in the middle of no where with beautiful mountain views in the background. We took pictures and most of the group decided to trudge on. For some reason I felt like I wanted to stay longer. Lauren, Sara and I did just that. I also realized this was the perfect time to let Sara DeCotis know I wanted to be with her for the rest of my life. I sat down on the side of the road facing the mountains, Sara sat down next to me, Lauren followed. I asked Sara to take off her glove so we could hold hands. Then I asked Lauren to take a picture of Sara and I. She was reluctant to stand to take the picture but I finally convinced her to. I leaned over and whispered in Sara's ear, "Will you marry me?" as I slipped the ring on her finger. Her jaw dropped immediately and she asked if I was joking. I said no, and she said yes! The rest of the day was just as hard, but Sara and I were in much better moods and it made the last 30 miles that much easier. It was an amazingly hard and an amazingly wonderful day. I can't wait to take the next step in life with Sara and be able to share all that comes down the road of life.
I have been planning this out for awhile, her parents knew as well as mine. Both were happy and excited about the proposal. I had the ring custom made by a guy in Bethel Maine. He actually goes out into the mountains of Maine and mines his own stones. He then cuts, polishes, and mounts them. During our last family ski trip to Bethel I went to the shop and picked out a beautiful aqua marine, her birthstone. We both had mentioned we thought it was silly to spend a massive amount of money on a ring. I picked a band that was very durable and can be worn all the time with out her having to worry about the stone falling out.
Please check gallery 3 for the pictures from the proposal. The link is on the left.
Ride on!
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posted by Todd Johnson @ 5:28 PM
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