We awakened naturally on our final day of the trip, and still were out of the crappy Cannon Beach Sea Ranch Resort RV camping by 640 AM. We only had about 30 miles to Astoria, but we wanted to be able to take our time, not have to rush to meet OrlandoGaylaJett for lunch at noon, and build in a little spare time in case something happened (read: in case Dennis got a flat tire). We also wanted to linger over our morning coffee, wherever we happened to get it. The ride out of Cannon beach is an immediate climb, and it's only 400 feet over 2 miles, but with no warm up it feels higher and longer than it is. But whatever. It's just another hill and we got up and down with no worries. The descent dropped us down into Seaside and the entire descent and then the ride into Seaside was replete with increasingly thick fog. I was having to use my bare hand to wipe the moisture off my glasses every few minutes so I could still see where I was going. The Trans Am takes you on Hwy 101 from Cannon Beach to Seaside, but once in Seaside it goes a few blocks west so you ride on a walking/cycling path between the beachfront houses and the beach; and we saw nothing. There was such thick fog that we could hear an ocean but not see it, and we knew there was a beach with sand there but couldn't tell if it was 100' away or a half-mile away. We made our way back to the 101 to look for McDonalds because we wanted a cheap coffee, and if it must be known, I wanted McDonalds breakfast for one last time on the trip. We found it and though the lobby was closed, it was open for takeout so I went in and grabbed our order while Vanesa videochatted with her parents on WhatsApp outside. After about 30 minutes' break, we hit the road, on the main 101 highway for just one block before heading inland into the quiet outskirts of town and then the forest backroads between Seaside and Astoria. We pretty quickly encountered a bigger and longer hill than we were somehow expecting (again...keep those expectations in check!) and once we crested it we just had a nice backroads pedal, leisurely with no hurry, enjoying the last bits of forest and farmland we'll see by bike on this trip. We were both in a great mood, knowing we'd ACTUALLY DONE THIS and were soon to REALLY FINISH! We reminisced a bit about the last couple months and Vanesa kept repeating that it all feels like a blur and like she hasn't really ridden across the country; I feel the opposite - like I rode every mile, like I suffered and persevered to earn the ability to say I crossed the US by bike. It'll be interesting to see how our thoughts and perceptions are a few days/weeks/months after we've gotten home and gotten reacquainted with our normal lives. The terrain started to changed from deep forest and hills, to farms and flatter hills, to flatland with rivers, to industrial outskirts of Astoria with several bridges needed to cross rivers and tidal lands, and finally into the populated hillside town of Astoria. On the final approach into town, a long straightaway with a wide bike lane and two full lanes for traffic to travel going our direction, not 1/2 mile from town a driver passed Vanesa and I with just a foot or two to spare and honked and yelled obscenities at me. We were both in the bike lane and he had two empty lanes to drive in and he just felt he had to buzz us and tell us to get off the effing road. Why? What are we doing that is perceived to be so wrong in his eyes? I screamed back at him, unable to contain my frustration that his action pierced the beautiful place Vanesa and I were in as we complete this monumental journey, again hating that I did it. But quickly he was gone and we rounded the corner to the big, ornate "Welcome to Astoria" sign where we posed for the obligatory picture (NO, I did not lift the bike up for the picture, for those of you who remember how I tore up my shoulder doing that for the 2010 completion photo and had surgery later that year), and then we slowly rode the final mile to our ultimate destination of the Columbia Maritime Museum. It's the traditional starting and ending place for the Trans Am, depending on which way you plan to traverse the country. There's nothing special about it, other than that it's special in and of itself because that's the end. We jumped up and down, we posed for pictures, we talked to complete strangers who saw us celebrating and wanted to know more about the what and why. And just like that, it was over. Vanesa's first order of business was to ride to the candy shop and buy a big bag of bulk candy that she chose from all the bins in the store. I waited outside with Maui, listening to the great music coming from directly across the street at the open-air Astoria Sunday Market, which was brimming with people walking 'round buying food, drink, art, and crafts. We didn't ride our bikes the 1/3 mile to the Fort George Brewery where we were meeting our friends, we walked. Was it because we needed to give Maui a walk because she'd been in the basket on the bike all morning? Was it because we didn't want the trip to end yet? We chatted about how I'd felt in 2010 about wanting to continue riding out of Astoria for another 2 weeks up into Washington and around the Olympic Peninsula before riding back to Portland, but that I ultimately hadn't and had instead accepted a car ride home from a friend to Portland. Vanesa expressed a small desire to continue, but a greater desire to get home, and I felt exactly the same. I was done with this trip, and happy and ready to go home. We got a champions' greeting from OrlandoGaylaJett with hugs and high fives, and we all sat on a rooftop table in the bright sunshine eating pizza and drinking microbrews (and soda) in celebration of a grand feat completed. We after lunch had to disassemble our bikes partly (removing V's front rack and fender, and my front fender) so they would fit on Orlando's car rack for the journey home and while I was doing that, Orlando mentioned that he'd seen some other touring cyclists out in front of the brewery minutes earlier. I got up and walked into the restaurant and saw the young Wesley and his father Bill, whom we'd met first at Lochsa Lodge in Idaho and then again at Paradise Campground 5 days ago when we were camping with Orlando, as well as the British couple Tyler and Jenny that we'd also met at Lochsa Lodge and then seen briefly at the motel in Riggins, Idaho when I was heading down to the river to clean off after having arrived from a very long ride. I grabbed Vanesa and we all exchanged a few brief stories of the road and plans for our futures before we posed for a photo together taken by Orlando, and then went our separate ways. Two hours later we were at our front door, my mom having arrived a bit earlier and brought all of our houseplants that she's kept alive for us (and made them healthier, let's be honest). We all hugged and greeted each other, and after a 10-minute unloading and loving goodbyes, suddenly Vanesa and I were home alone in OUR home. It's awesome here and we love our home...it's so clean, comfortable, and beautiful. But what do we do now that we're here?