Endings can sometimes be difficult but what I’ve learned is that experiences like The Big Ride live on. A transformation of sorts, moving from on state to another. The Big Ride feels like that for me. The mileage is behind me but it lives on within me and within many of you who rode vicariously through me. That’s one of the gifts from living the dream – it’s never really over!
The final day arrived earlier this week, Monday August 10, 2015, when I rode from Rochester, New York to Ottawa, Ontario where home is for me.
Here’s a short video of me expressing how I was feeling that morning, followed by another of the ride through the scenic green farmlands of northern New York State. I couldn’t have chosen a more beautiful day for the ride home. The sky was blue and a gentle breeze danced across the fields and played with the clouds high in the sky.
And of course a few photos for your viewing pleasure.
Pulling out on my last day of The Big Ride – homeward bound
I know how to get around! 🙂Picking up my new cowgirl boots in Odgensburg,NY before crossing the Canadian border and heading home to OttawaThe Odgensburg Bridge – I love the sound of the grated steel bridge under my tires – looking down when you’re stopped is a little freaky 🙂My final mileage on The Big Ride including the 3000 kilometers in the rental car in northern British Columbia totaled 28,000 Kilometers and my butt isn’t even get soreAt home with Emma who was happy to see me return
In Closing, here are a few final words that I would like to share with you.
Thank you for riding along and most of all for supporting me on The Big Ride. It wouldn’t have been the same without you. I hope you enjoyed the journey. If you have a “big dream” that you haven’t been able to get off the ground, contact me – I can help you make it happen! After all, that’s why we’re on this journey called life – to live it to its fullest!
Bonnie St Julien provides personal and leadership development coaching and mentoring, to support individuals who aspire to make a positive and meaningful difference in who they are, in what they do, and how they do it.
Bonnie is an accredited certified Coach and Professional Behaviours (DISC) and Driving Forces (Motivators) Analyst, with over 25 years of public sector management experience, including as an Executive Director. In addition to her professional experience, Bonnie has overcome a number of personal challenges, providing her the determination and strength needed to get though whatever life hands her. Bonnie is also an avid motorcycle enthusiast who loves to ride and embraces life fully!
Calling on Bonnie's extensive professional and life experience, individuals who work with her are transformed through the coaching process by gaining self-awareness and by taking incremental, concrete action steps to achieve their desired goals, creating meaningful and sustainable results in their lives, their work, their organizations, and their world!
If you are looking to bring meaningful change to your leadership style, Bonnie is the coach for you!
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4 thoughts on “The Big Ride – Homeward Bound (New York State)”
Glad you are safely home. Sorry you are back in the normal world (gardening, shopping, dealing with stuff). I hope you include us in your next big dream because this one was absolutely the best. You are definitely a force to be reckoned with and an inspiration to anyone who has been hesitant to do the thing they would most love to do. Happy trails.
Thank YOU, Bonnie, for including us in your journey! I loved keeping up with you on the road. It was very inspiring – you may have planted a seed! I’m glad you made it home, safe and sound and most of all – happy! I would love to get together sometime for lunch or supper and hear all about your experience. Thanks again!
Amazing, from beginning to end, although, as you say, you will relive this experience many times over, so it’s not exactly the end. How very generous of you to allow all of us to share in this with you, and to give us a place where we can revisit the places you’ve been when we, too, are shivering around the fireplace. You are courageous and you embrace life for the gift it is. And then you ride off on its wings! I wonder where you’ll go next? One thing I know…I want go with you, right here!
Glad you are safely home. Sorry you are back in the normal world (gardening, shopping, dealing with stuff). I hope you include us in your next big dream because this one was absolutely the best. You are definitely a force to be reckoned with and an inspiration to anyone who has been hesitant to do the thing they would most love to do. Happy trails.
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Thank YOU, Bonnie, for including us in your journey! I loved keeping up with you on the road. It was very inspiring – you may have planted a seed! I’m glad you made it home, safe and sound and most of all – happy! I would love to get together sometime for lunch or supper and hear all about your experience. Thanks again!
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Congrats on your Epic Ride ! …..Its on my/our Bike-It list !
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Amazing, from beginning to end, although, as you say, you will relive this experience many times over, so it’s not exactly the end. How very generous of you to allow all of us to share in this with you, and to give us a place where we can revisit the places you’ve been when we, too, are shivering around the fireplace. You are courageous and you embrace life for the gift it is. And then you ride off on its wings! I wonder where you’ll go next? One thing I know…I want go with you, right here!
LikeLiked by 1 person