After 52 days and more than 7,000 miles, we have reached the Pacific Ocean!

Fort Stevens State Park in Oregon

Another writer has described this journey more poetically than we ever could:

O beautiful for spacious skies

Watching the clouds from our hammock (Vermont)

For amber waves of grain

Crossing South Dakota

For purple mountain majesties

Sunrise in the Tetons (Wyoming)

Above the fruited plain

Apples in Vermont

America America

A patriotic paddleboat: Queen of the West on the Columbia River (Oregon/Washington)

God shed His grace on thee

Hammondsport New York

And crown thy good with brotherhood

From sea

Atlantic Ocean from Elizabeth Light near Portland Maine

To shining sea.

Pacific Ocean near Ecola Park (west of Portland Oregon)

America the Beautiful comes from a poem written by Katharine Lee Bates from Falmouth, Massachusetts (near the underarm of Cape Cod). She was inspired by the spectacular sites she observed during her journey to Colorado in the late 1800s. Atop Pike’s Peak is a large plaque of these beloved words, which were set to music by Samuel A. Ward.

We passed this smaller version of the plaque on the “Shining Sea” bike trail from Falmouth to Woodshole, on Cape Cod. The moving words have been an inspiration for us on this journey.

From Sea to Shining Sea…