The period leading up to departure on May 30th was filled with items from many directions that needed attention. Fund-raising still wasn’t completed. Equipment still needed to be purchased. Training had to be done. Time needed to be spent with my wife. These are just a few of the aspects of life that required my diligent attention and they are not listed in order of importance.
Even though I’ve done this transcontinental expedition twice already, there was still no lack of fear and doubt seeping in through various cranial crevices. At the airport I did ask Susan as we were saying good-bye, “Why am I DOING this yet again?!” Of course, I know the answer to that: to raise money and awareness for the American Lung Association of Maine, to get fit, to raise awareness about bicycle safety and even more important, to show that people can embark on these huge efforts at any age.
It was fortunate that the flight was an uneventful one; it’s always nice when they’re boring. I think someone wished that I would have a boring flight. Thank you to whomever that was. Another sign of good fortune was that my baggage arrived undamaged and in good time AT the airport. For some of you who have followed my trail other years, you know that baggage arrival has not always been a smooth and painless process.
For the flight, I purchased 2 John
McDonald books to share Maine Maine
One aspect of the flight(s) that was
more than a little surprising was just how economical the airline was being
with the provision of caloric content to passengers. For the 1 ½ hour flight to
Cincinnati Seattle Airport
I suppose one way to keep passengers
from doing disruptive behavior of any sort is to starve them. I made the
mistake of not buying a lunch at the transfer point in Ohio Seattle
I consider myself a somewhat thrifty
Mainer, so I was looking around Seattle
I had to take a shuttle to Anacortes and I wasn’t sure how long of a ride it was. It turned out that it was at least 1 ½ hours with a transfer at Merryville, I think. There was no food on the bus and at the transfer point there were vending machines that wouldn’t accept my dollar bills. The transfer point was right next to a convention center where there were meetings on-going. As I was looking for the vending machines, I saw several open doors with people sitting and listening. There was in each occupied room, a buffet table filled with delicious-looking fruit and pastries and dips and… well, you get the idea. I was tempted to attend one of the meetings for just the 3 minutes I had before the bus continued on its way. I mentioned to the bus driver in a somewhat ironic way that I had been tempted. He thought I was serious and said that the company would get in trouble for that sort of thing.
When driver asked where I was going, I said, “as close as possible to the San Juan Motel in Anacortes.” He responded, “That would be in front of the San Juan Motel.” This was in direct contravention from the stated policy when I called the main number to make the reservation. I had asked if I could be left off at the motel. They said it was illegal for drivers to take us anywhere but to the “official” station. I was glad he contravened and I was glad I asked! When I got off in front of the motel, the driver warned me to watch myself at the motel. He said it wasn’t that safe a place. After speaking with several people to look into the background of this, I found out that the motel used to be rented rooms with alleged drug use and all the problems that that activity carries with it. It now had a new owner who had cleaned up the place. Too bad I couldn’t get in touch with the driver to let him know NOT to scare people “from-away!”
In short order, I went to pick up my bicycle from the local shop. Unfortunately it wasn’t put back together by the expert mechanic who had done it three years ago. It had been done by some young mechanic who apparently knew nothing about recumbents and so, I had to wait an extra hour and a half for him to properly fix various cables, etc.
I was finally able to get something to eat while waiting at a place I never go: Taco Bell. I placed an order for a 7-layer crunch. Then thought for a minute, maybe it would be good to start my national cole slaw study. So I ordered one from a young man. I received the second item straight away and sat down to eat it while waiting for the first. Ten minutes went by and still no order. I went up to the counter and the young woman who had taken my order asked if I had received it. I said no. She went back into the bowels of the kitchen and it became clear that the order had never been processed properly or a tear in the space-time continuum had caused a whole kitchen full of cooks to forget about it.
May 31 My birthday
In the evening I ate at a restaurant
where I mentioned to my server that it was my birthday. She offered me a free
dessert and, more surprisingly, a free dessert wine. It was a fine 55th
birthday, though it was bittersweet not being able to spend it with my wife.
June
1 Burrows Island US
We had arranged to go on a 3-hour
tour. A 3-hour tour. It wasn’t around an island named Gilligan, fortunately. So
we engaged in some fairly heavy-duty carbo-loading with breakfast at Island
Café in preparation for a. Kayaking around
June
2
This morning I finally managed to pack the trailer and in that process I was able to cull 10.5 pounds of stuff to mail home.
After I achieved that I came back to
the room to begin writing this commentary. It seemed like a good idea to get a
few pictures of the downtown area with its old-fashioned wall art. Every corner
had some figure painting or carved that depicted scenes from yesteryear. As I
was walking around town with my bright yellow cycling jacket (with American
Lung Association of Maine written all over it) on, a car pulled up next to me
and wanted to know if I was from Maine. The husband turned out to be from
Gardiner and the wife from here. She said that they moved there because it
reminded him of Maine Maine
After they dropped me off back in town, they suggested I check out the Marine Hardware store. It had an incredibly huge selection of items, 99% of which I had no idea what they were. It seemed like a combination marine supply and antique store. The best sign in the store was, “Get your nuts and bolts WHILE THEY LAST!” I ran into the wife again and she showed my very interesting paintings that I had missed in my first go-around. The artist, Ed Pranger, created unusual scenes with humans interacting with nature in humorous ways. Several of his paintings reminded me of the covers of some of the old-timey LL Bean catalogs.
The evening was the first time all participants were present for an orientation meeting. There several moments where it was impossible to resist comparing approaches from three years ago to this year’s. The comparisons were mostly positive with one seemingly really good surprise: the leader suggested doing group laundry rather than twelve of us vying with tiny loads to use what few machines there would be at a campground. At first glance it seemed off-putting, but upon reflection, I think it could be workable. Another plus is that if it is done in this way, group funds pay for it. This is always a welcome aspect.
Tomorrow is the shake-down ride. We have to report to the leader’s room at 7am for breakfast for a 30-mile ride that begins at 8am. During that ride, we are being asked to stop at some campground and empty our panniers/trailers and set up camp. I prickled at the thought. It is already evident that we’re setting up camp for 93 days so why add one more?!
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