June 23rd: Dijon to Paris
It was a quiet day filled with anticipation. We woke up tired from our night of celebration, the last one with only the competitors - our now very close friends. The drive was short in distance, with only one passage control on the outskirts of the city, but it felt the longest of any drive so far. The traffic was tough but the navigation was easy and we found our way into the city to a holding area in Bois de Vincennes. With the very last moments we had with only our group, we congratulated each other and hugged and celebrated what we had accomplished, to make it this far. Although we smiled and shared in this, it felt like tomorrow we would continue to drive - that the journey wasn't over. In groups of 5 the police escorted us through the busy Parisian streets to the arch entrance of the Garde républicaine, a beautiful square filled with our families and friends. My mom met us there and we introduced her to some of the friends we made over the 36 days of our journey. We celebrated and laughed and delighted in meeting the support crew of our fellow competitors and slowly the feeling began to sink in of what we had accomplished. The journey was over and we had achieved what we set out to do. We made it. A wave of relief and exhaustion ran over me. Somehow the adrenaline I was running on ran out at the perfect moment and I fell asleep in the shuttle bus to the hotel. After a nap and a shower we went to the Award Dinner and celebrated.
We finished 36th overall, 18th in category and 9th in class. Not so bad considering it was our first. We were happy with the results, grateful we even made it to Paris and tired from the day and the journey. We said many farewells and made plans to visit places or invites to stay with us and said goodnight. It is very sad to leave these people. The difficulty of this motor-sport challenge is the reason you create such lasting friendships. It's hard and you can only survive it by sharing that. We met so many amazing people, to mention all of our friends would just be repeating the entry list. To everyone we met I'd like to say thank you, for all your camaraderie and support. To everyone that's been following along, donating to our cause and sending us warm messages, from the bottom of our hearts, thank you so much. We couldn't have done it without you. You are the reason we did this. Right now it's hard to imagine ever driving again, let alone across two continents, but once the rose colour begins to cover this journey and reminisce on all the fun we had, maybe we'll consider it again. Until the next time, goodbye and thanks for reading along.
