Day 37 -Tallin to Vilnius Bike Trip Summary - We are Home

“Your bike is a discovery; your bike is freedom. It doesn’t matter where you are when you’re on the saddle; you’re taken away."

                                                                        ~ Doug Donaldson

Zurich to Brussels bike trip summary

Miles ridden: 624.56

Elevation gain: 11,625

# of Countries: 4 - Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland (no biking there)

# of flat tires: 0

# of times the chain fell off: 4 times it broke 

# of bicycle light malfunctions: 3 the radar turned itself off. 

# of diabetes monitoring device malfunctions: 0, yay!

# of items lost, broken, or left behind: 8 - My bike helmet visor broke, and a pannier clip broke when I failed to catch the bike as it was falling over the morning before leaving Pärnu, Estonia. The brakes were slowly losing their grip. I intentionally left my worn-out bike shoes in Vilnius. 

# of dogs that came running after us: 0. 

# of people asking us about the tandem, taking our picture, thumbs up, yelling out positive comments: hundreds

Blessings to be thankful for on this trip:

• Ron & Tina, and Tom that helped get our bags moving out of Dulles.
• Cooler weather so that we had enough water to ride 50+ miles in the woodlands of the Baltics.
• Frequent bus stops along the highways in the Baltics.
• Meeting and talking to so many kind people.
• Injury free trip except for some minor scrapes when the pedals hit Tony's leg.
• The drivers in the Baltics that got way over for us.
• Finding a bike shop in Riga and a bike mechanic that had the parts for our bike and could repair it.
• Dr. Wolters for guidance on getting an insulin prescription, and the doctor in Riga that saw us right away and gave Tony an insulin prescription.
• The people that prayed for us before & during our ride.
• The thousands of smiles, waves, high-fives, thumbs ups, positive comments from all the great people along the way.
• Wade, Linda, A.J. & Roxy for Luna sitting.
• Cara, Nick, Luke, Todd, Scott & Jane for house & garden sitting.
• Cara & Nick for transporting us to the airport.
• Bud & Theresa for joining us on the WCT and sharing our journey.
• The faithful readers of this blog that give Tony the incentive to keep doing his half even when he really just wants to go to bed.