THIS IS THE END FOLKS.

The anticipation was building as our odometers clicked through miles and we were nearing town. After a long, slow decent, we came around a corner to...

One would think finally arriving at the end of the road, on a journey of 20 months by bicycle, we would be jumping for joy and ready to throw our bikes out into the ocean and watch them float away. But, I have to be completely honest with you, it's a very mixed bag of emotions. Extremely happy to be lucky enough to combat injuries, sickness, fatigue, exhaustion, extreme weather conditions, and all that fun stuff to make it all the way to the end of the road. But the end of the road was very much like the beginning. We began this journey in June 2016, with no crowds, no cheers, no high-fives, just getting on our bikes and pedaling away heading south on the Dalton Highway from Prudhoe Bay, Alaska and the Arctic Ocean. We had packed bikes into boxes and flown up to this tiny oil field town, where no one knew us and so the start was pretty uneventful. The end of the road was very much the same. Solidifying our belief that it is all about the journey, everything between the beginning and the end, that really matters.

Unlike the Pacific Crest Trail that we tackled in 5 months, hiking for one long summer with a vision of an end in sight, this ride would be our lives for nearly 2 years. I remember riding away from Prudhoe Bay and thinking, "OK, this is our lives now" with an excitement for all the people to meet, places to see, and experiences to be had. And at the end, it's just over. We arrived at our planned final destination, and with a happy heart, a full Rolodex, and a mind packed full of memories. Not the richest person in the world could buy all those experiences. And for that very reason, is why we did it. Life is short, so we gotta' pack it all in. 

Our last week from Punta Arenas was rough, but our excitement was high. We took a day off in Punta Arenas, buying a ticket for the ferry to Porvenir the following morning. We arrived early at the docks, riding along the straight of Magellan north from town to the ferry, looking across at the land mass and island of Tierra del Fuego where we would be heading by boat. The ferry was beyond packed with people, including a bunch of cyclists and I had to stand out on the deck. One unplanned quirk from this ride we picked up, is both Ville and I have become way more claustrophobic around crowds, people, and crowded places. Too much time spent alone on a bike or with each other I guess. I would have thought seeing all these new cyclists (about 20 a day on the Carretera Austral and south to Ushuaia) would be fun to get to share stories and experiences, but all I can think is, "if you have only a short holiday, why in the hell would you spend it on a bike in pouring down rain in Chile and then being blown off the roads in southern Patagonia?" Argentina has been my least favorite country to bike through and I feel bad when cyclists ask us about it. We lie, say nothing at all, or the go-to is just "good luck on your journey."

The ferry ride was short, and when we went below to retrieve our bikes, I realized my underwear I tied to my bag to dry (it was laundry day and they were still wet) had disappeared. Now, the ferry was packed with lots of truckers, families and cyclists. I hope the families are not that hard up that they would be pantie snatchers. The cyclists are desperate people, but hopefully not that desperate, but truckers...well...yuck. My panties are probably hanging from some truckers rear-view mirror right now. And they were ready to retire by the end of the ride, so I'm not that sad, but, really? Geez. I guess they were just meant to be world travelers. Panties on a mission.

Once we docked, the massive heard of cyclists sprung from the ferry gate and pedaled furiously into the winds. We maintained our distance and stuck with our plan of NO PLAN. The first couple hours before lunch was on a dirt road straight into the wind until the road turned east and then we had excellent tailwinds on the hilly road that hugged the coastline of the Straight of Magellen. The weather is clear skies with freezing winds and so we are now wearing all our clothing, including rain gear and gloves, to bike. The landscape is wide open rolling hills of grasslands, and by day's end we were able to find a stand of a few lone trees to stick our tent behind, but still froze in the screaming winds. By early morning we had only 10 miles to the intersection where we turned off the main road to head south 10 miles on another even worse dirt road to go see the King Penguins. We were elated when we realized the herd of penguins were very close to the viewing area and with a bunch of molting babies. We were able to capture some great photos with our big lens and watch them waddle around. Pretty crazy to see bears, moose and now penguins in the same bike ride.

We rode the 10 miles back north up to the main road and at the intersection we continued east on pavement. Due to a massive road construction project, the cars were routed to the dirt and we had the whole road of pavement to ourselves. And with a massive tailwind to boot! It's what cyclists dreams are made of. We laughed, we cried, we hugged. It was beautiful. We stopped just 8 miles from the Argentinean Border and asked to camp at an Estancia (farm). The farmer was incredibly kind and gave us a small cabin with 2 beds, a wood-fired cookstove, and heaps of wood. Ville got that fire ripping, we cooked our pasta dinner on the stove with about 10 cats meowing outside to get fed, and we slept like babies with the temps dropping well below freezing in the night. The farmer carried a giant carcass past us in the morning and when we asked what it was, he replied, "horse." Guess the horse isn't the cowboy's best friend in these parts.

We rode out once the sun warmed things up a bit and the stamping out of Chile went well (we stocked up on Sahne-Nuss chocolate bars with all our remaining monies) and stamped, for the very last time, into Argentina. Right after the Argentinean Border, we stopped at a ACA Gas Station/Cafe to get some lunch (a pile of fried meat) and rode out. Here is where we finally reached the Atlantic Ocean! What a trip to be riding south with the ocean now on our left. From the time we landed in Porvenir, the landscape had been wide open space with hardly a tree in sight and extreme winds. Lucky for us the winds were still fairly at our back, as the road was now heading south. We stopped at another Estancia, Sara, and a drunk guy told us to camp in the yard near an office building. We met another Spaniard, traveling the world by bike, and slept late to wait for the sun to warm things up. Since we are very early still for our flight, slowing down hasn't happened, but beginning and ending the days early has been an attainable option. Unfortunately for us, the winds had shifted to being straight from the west and we now were weaving all over the road, fighting to keep pedaling in a straight line, as we pushed a long day into Rio Grande.

Rio Grande is a decent sized industrial town, nothing to write home about, but had a fairly inexpensive (for Argentina) hostel we got for a night since the lack of showering was weighing on our marriage. We ate cheaply from the grocery stores (as we have taken to doing for the last few months through Chile and Argentina because it's so damn expensive), and headed out with the skies looking ominously dark. We had a good few hours of decent riding with a smattering of trees beginning to appear hear and there and then the heavens opened up and man did it pour. The traffic all day was horrendous. Don't remember the last time we both were so infuriated by drivers that we screamed at them while flipping them the bird. Watching an oncoming car pass someone already driving at excessive speeds, in the pouring rain while risking everyone's lives, no shoulder, and heading right for you is absolutely nerve wracking. If it doesn't make a nun swear I'd be shocked. Damn Argentinean drivers!

We pedaled furiously into Tolhuin, famous for their excellent bakery, La Union. The owner is well known around these parts for his charity work, as well as being a damn fine baker, and hosts lots of cyclists. We arrived drenched, stripped off all our wet clothes and pretty much had not much else left to put on. Good thing we are almost done! We have taken to Duct Taping, zip-tying and tossing without replacement things that break so we are coasting into the end on fumes folks. Anyone wants to help us out, I could really use some new panties. Just kidding. We slept on bunk beds in a room in the back of the shop, and as per usual, an Argentinean cyclist showed up at about 10pm. Super nice guy, just on a slightly different schedule than us, and then woke us up puking into a mop bucket in the middle of the night. Sleep, who needs it? We asked if he was alright and he acted like that was just his normal every evening routine so, maybe he's just bulimic. We rode out in the morning with a plan to head only 35 miles to Lake Escondido where, word on the street, is there are abandoned cabins cyclists could stay in. 

We arrived at the lake, stopped in at a cafe on the side of the road for cake, met a super nice family from Canada/Lebanon/USA/Brazil. They shared wine and food with us and we hope to see them in the world again. Thanks guys! We headed down a dirt road to nearly the end of the road and found three little painted vacant cabins on the shore of the lake. It was awesome! The little pink one had a bed, table, and even a working toilet (with a bucket of water to flush) and someone had obviously painted and kept it up really well. The next day we spent relaxing by the shore in the drizzling rain, reading, took an icy bath in the lake, cooked, and enjoyed processing through the end of the journey since the next day we would arrive at the end. Ushuaia. In the afternoon, a giant blue bus pulled up, a heard of kids piled out and then a bunch more cars and people showed up too. We played a game very similar to Boche Ball, but with wooden discs, with the kids and parents and in chatting with them realized they are the reason this place stayed so beautiful. They live in Ushuaia, and come there often to pick up trash, clean, and enjoy the place. So all you cyclists out there, please pack out your trash, and keep this place special for those coming after you!

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That night we hardly slept. Not because the Argentineans were up all night partying til past 3am, but because we were so nervous and excited for the next day. We woke up really early, ate our typical oatmeal, and headed out into the crisp clear beautiful day. I believe it to be no accident that on the day we were to finish this journey, there was not a cloud in the sky and the sun was shining on us. We had a long slow climb over the pass and then spectacular views in the mountains which were very unexpected after so much grassland. The anticipation was building as our odometers clicked through miles and we were nearing town. After a long, slow decent, we came around a corner to towering "USHUAIA" pillars on either side of the road. My eyes just instantly began tearing up. I can't believe we actually made it. All those days of rain, sun, wind, climbs, pain, sweat, camping, laughing, growning, pushing, swearing, everything, all of it, all coming back to me at this moment. Ville rode up behind me and we hugged. He snapped a quick photo of me and we had about 4 more miles to the center of town where the "End of the World" sign was. 

We pedaled up to the sign, this small wooden sign, and again the tears started flowing. We both climbed off our bikes and started hugging each other. We were laughing, hugging, and crying and it felt pretty damn good. And no one was there. No crowds. No applause. No high-fives. Just us. As we had started this ride so long ago in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, we were now finishing it, just the two of us. With only the two of us knowing what we had been through. We stopped a woman passing by with her kid to snap a pic, and she never said a word, just passed us back the camera and walked away. Surreal. We walked to the waterfront, cracked a small bottle of Champagne we had carried with us to celebrate. Ate crappy sandwich lunch, and found a cafe with spotty WiFi to call our families to tell them. There was lots of tears of joy to go around. We climbed back on our bikes and pushed on down the road. Ushuaia is the town at the end of the world, but the road does not end there. And because these two lunatics started this ride at the most northern point of the Americas with a road, then by golly we were going to finish this ride at the end of the road. 

The road turned to dusty gravel, the tourist buses and vans were insane, but we pushed the 13 miles into the Tierra Del Fuego National Park (of course it costs $20US EACH to get into. Argentina sticking it to us to the bitter end) and enjoyed the last climb as the gravel wound past beautiful lakes and rivers and then, well, it ended. And it ended at a sign "Bahia Lapataia" and "Here ends Route 3" "Alaska 17,848 kilometers" (They are WAY off) and a couple American and German tourists were there and said, "Congratulations! You made it!" I got my high-five and they asked us where we started. "Alaska" "What?" Ya, it's kind of a long story. Some were professional photographers and we got some great pics. We walked our bikes out to the end of the pier and looked out to sea. What a ride!

While we stood there processing all these emotions, a Chinese woman was frantically trying to get something she had dropped between the planks of the pier. Her son told us she had dropped her glasses and couldn't see without them. I pulled out some string and Ville pulled out the Duct Tape and a carabiner. Ville taped the carabiner to the end of the string, said "MacGyver" to a chuckling audience and was able to fish out the glasses from below. They were on their way to an Antarctic Cruise the next day and she was thrilled to get her glasses back. Leave it to the touring cyclists who carry everything to come to the rescue! We walked down to the shore, and pulling small stones from our pocket that we had plucked from the Arctic Ocean 20 months ago, found a pair to go with them from the Beagle Channel or South Atlantic Ocean. End to end.

We rode a mile or so back and camped in the woods. Our last time setting up our home. We cooked celebratory pasta in our pot and enjoyed this last moment in this life. After this, life would look a lot different. The next morning, our last dang oatmeal breakfast, and we rode back to town in the rain. We were so dang excited to check into a hotel, out of the rain, take hot showers and cracked a bottle of Champagne in bed! And that is where we are, right as I type. Ville went to get some bike boxes in town to start packing our bikes and we have already begun the dump of trashed clothing. Guess we will be naked on the plane to Buenos Aires tomorrow because pretty much everything is sitting in the garbage.

We will be sightseeing and relaxing in Buenos Aires for about a week and then on Feb. 28th, you ready for this, drumroll please. Drumroll.........We are getting on a cruise ship for an entire month heading back to Los Angeles!! That's right! It took us 20 months to bike here and a month to sail back. We decided on a boat because a plane was WAY too fast, we need the time to slowly come back to real life. A massive thank you to Grandpa and Grandma B (watching out for us from above) for the funds to be able to do it. It's our 10 year anniversary together in March and we needed something out of the ordinary (because biking together for 2 years is just the norm). Can you believe what we have packed into 10 years? Am so grateful that I have someone I love in my life that I am able to share this crazy life with. An equal who is as nuts as I am. It is a very special thing to find. I know because I get asked all the time, "How do you spend so much time together? Don't they drive you crazy? I could never do that with my spouse." And I think, I wouldn't want to know this life without him. So thanks Ville, to being such a stupendous partner in crime. For backpacking, hiking, biking and seeing the world together. What's next babe? ;)

Well kids, thanks again for the journey. Thanks for following, reading, donating, helping, giving, cheering, praying, and everything in between. We are incredibly grateful for all of you and without you, we wouldn't have made it a mile. When we return to Bend, we will be signing up to do a lot of speaking presentations. We want to give back by inspiring others to get the travel bug. We will also have a party for all our friends, family, and followers so ALL of you better be there! We are writing a book. Please be patient, it's absolutely in the works, but it WILL BE DONE. We both plan to keep writing the blog. This was not our first rodeo and it definitely will not be the last (those of you that know us know this very much to be true!)  And well, that's it for the ride. End of a chapter. So turn the page. Because there is always more...and until next time, keep on, keepin' on!!!