Day 99, November 8th 2007 (Moultrie,GA)

I was up in the morning and I had been able to sleep in for a little while. It was about 8 when I woke up and Amy had taken off for work at the high school, but Billy was still at home. He let me know where everything was for breakfast in the morning and I was set back with all of the options. It seemed like anything that I wanted to eat was a possibilities for the morning and I couldn't wait to fill up on a few calories. Although it may not seem like much, cereal was great to eat. I had plenty of options, but cereal was probably my favorite choice at this point. It was always difficult to drink milk on the road and so anything with milk in it was nearly impossible to eat over the course of my trip. Bill told me that he was going to be back from his office around noon to pick me up and then he was going to drive me around Moultrie. It sounded great and I was looking forward to the tour. I was able to get a hold of my mom in the morning and she was able to tell me some great news. My step-dad, Jim, had racked up quite a few frequent flyer miles and so I was going to be able to get a flight back from Georgia for free. Good things continued to roll on and it was a blessing to see everything fall in place how it did. I couldn't have been happier with how the trip had ended and now I was going to be able to stay in Moultrie for about a week before my plane took off to go back to Ames,IA. Instead of having to deal with any cold weather on my trip, I was going to be able to enjoy the warm weather for a little while before I went home. When Billy came to pick me up and show me Moultrie, I had just finished relaxing for the morning. It was unusual to not jump back on the bike and I knew I was going to be able to get used to it. We drove through the city and it was a beautiful town. About 20,000 people lived in the town and anything and everything was in the area. Billy was an attorney and he had his own office in Moultrie that I was anxious to see. We went to Billy's office where I was able to meet his two secretaries, and then we went out to eat. There was a little Barbecue place along restaurant lane and it was supposed to be a worth while stop while in town. It was definitely worth stopping at. Family owned and operated, most everything was made from scratch. There were a few different flavors of barbecue sauce and each one was amazing. The medium sauce was probably the best, but each one made the pork superb. After filling up we went to the one other place that I was going to spend most of my time while in the area. The YMCA. I had dreams while on the road about swimming and would have done just about anything to get in a pool. I was told that I could come in at any point as a guest and use anything in the building. The lifting weights sounded pretty good, but as soon as I was able to see the pool it was a great tease. We left the YMCA and went back to the house where I was dropped off and where Bill went back to work. I was inside the house for only a couple of minutes before I had gathered everything up that I needed to swim and I was out the door. I couldn't wait any longer. The thought that the pool was so close, I needed to be in it. It was weird being back on my bike without all of the extra luggage and it was difficult to balance. I had trouble riding standing up because I didn't have the extra weight on the rear, but I was flying. I made it the three miles to the pool and I was ready. The pool wasn't going to be open for another hour, so I kept myself busy by lifting weights. I did all sorts of different things to keep myself busy until the time arrived. I went to the pool and getting in was refreshing. I had no idea that this was going to be such an incredible thing to jump into at the end of my trip, but it was. I swam for awhile and got my fix in. I was going to be able to come back any day for the next week and I couldn't have been happier with where I was at this point in time. When I was out of the pool I went up the stairs to the men's locker room and found one other tool that made me feel more at peace. A giant hot tub was in the locker room and it was everything my body had been asking for. I soaked for a good while before I decided that I should probably start to head back to the house. I didn't want to be late for my first dinner at the house. It was a little before dark when I arrived and Bill was in the process of making a great meal. His daughter and my cousin, Kara, had made it over to the house for the evening and it had been about 8 years since I had last seen her. So now that she was 16 years old, she had grown up a lot. Probably about twice as tall as I last remembered her. Amy arrived home from work not long after and the food seemed to fall in front of our faces. Some great grilled chicken with cheesy potatoes, fresh broccoli, and some good rolls. It was an excellent meal and tasted great after the work-out I had put in for the day. It was a blessing to spend the rest of the evening in good conversation with family and to enjoy each other's presence with where we were.

Daily mileage: 6.4 miles
Total mileage: 6,131.1 miles