The end.

With every beginning comes an end. And when the stuff in-between is really challenging, the end is highly anticipated. For the past 103 days, we have been living on our bikes, heart and minds set on this moment: the ride into St. John's. The finish line. Mission: accomplished.

But as we peddled into the most eastern (and oldest!) city in North America this afternoon, there were no fireworks or cheers to mark our arrival. It seemed like just another day of riding, bodies sore and tired. Although we've been anticipating this day for the past three and a half months, when it comes down to it, it's just another moment in time, no different from the rest. What's different is the afterward. Because this is it. We can't go any further, even if we wanted to. Our days as gypsies travelling only with the bare essentials has come to a close. And though we're ready to get going with our lives, there's no doubt we'll miss this one.

It has been a fantastic adventure. Even Newfoundland came around, spoiling us with sun for the past week. The people here continue to be warm and talkative, each mesmerized by how far we've come. We had a stranger pull over on the highway to tell us that he'd read our blog the night before, having received news updates for Corner Brook. Then in Gander, a newspaper editor tracked us down at the mall and interviewed us in the parking lot. We almost feel famous, and all we've done is peddled.

We have come far. It's fun to look at a globe and trace our journey across a substantial portion of it. Traversed mountain ranges, plains, provincial and national parks, the Canadian shield, badlands and wetlands. In the process, we have gotten intimate with our weaknesses, tested our limits, and come to know eachother in detail. We have learned how little one needs to live -approximately four bags full - and how unnecessary are 95% of the things we own at home. We have marvelled at the fantastic machines that got us this far. And we have seen Canada, a huge, wild land, sparsely populated and early on in its life as a nation. Our favourite places have been Victoria, Alsask, the Northern Superior shores, Kenora, Quebec City, Sherbrooke and Charlottetown.

We've travelled 8000+ kilometres, and because of it, a number of students in Kenya will be receiving an education this year. Thankyou to everyone who has helped make this possible. If you have yet to donate, there is no better time than now!

Throughout our journey, we've had a number of people host and/or support us along the way. THANKYOU to the following people for making our trip that much more enjoyable:

Holly and Graham in Victoria, Nat in Vancouver, Dave and Dawn in Keremeos, Linda in Kelowna, Shabheer and Christine in Canmore, Todd and Yvonne in Okotoks, Brian in Saskatoon, Lynn and Jean in Dauphin, S.J. in Winnipeg, Joel in Kenora, Pam in Thunder Bay, Charlotte in the Sault, the Kramers, the Liddle's in Muskoka, Nadav in Ottawa, Ali's subletters in Montreal, Claude in Granby, Moe in Sherbrooke, Martine and Andre in Quebec City, Cecilia and Clancy in Fredericton, Jeanne in Charlottetown, Bob at the Brackley drive-in, Debbie in Codroy Valley, the couple who drove us to Corner Brook, Bill and Candice in Gander, Jackie in St. John's, our parents, Marg and Mark (a special thankyou for all the gear), Jason Shim and Paul Okrutny (for website help), and SEED Canada (notably Nitasha, Anu and Eileen).

After this trip, it seems like anything is possible, so long as you've got heart. Cheers to that.