On February 28th - the last real day of February, at 2:30 PM Jason, Sam and Paul crossed the South Dakota border! The winds were high and they covered the last 20 miles in just a few hours. It was almost too much wind, as the buggies reached speeds of up to 35.8 mph. And a quick reminder - those buggies have no brakes. Both Jason and Sam spent much of the time on the very edge of control, or more accurately, they were trying to minimize how out of control they were.
"We really were not trying to go that fast", promises Jason, "we were quite happy only going 16 mph, but sometimes the wind had different ideas. Being that kitebuggying was new to all of us, we were in no shape to argue."
The team crossed the border in a big muddy field, and spent a few minutes in celebration by using the kites to boost them up to 10 feet high and over 40 feet in distance.
The athletes then noticed that the truck had a flat tire, and almost considered just continuing on down the road. "I don't think that we are quite ready for society", quipped Sam.
As the trio drove back towards Fargo, there were long moments of melancholy that come with the completion or attainment of any big dream.
"What do we do now?" asked Jason. "We've spent the last nineteen days trying to eat enough, and worrying about freezing to death or blowing away."
"Yeah," agreed Sam, "We spent the last three weeks worrying about not dying, and now as we go back into society, we have to worry about not living."
There was a moment of silence as we realized how true that was.