Back to Day 2

8 AM…….

So a few things I forgot last night – probably because I was way too excited about the sandwich we dragged here from the Four Corners restaurant in Quinebaug.

We started today re-accessing our load, and we are thinking of sending some stuff home. Like why have 4 bike shirts and only 3 pairs of shorts? And if it’s cold we will wear our rain jackets, we don’t need long sleeved shirts. We are planning to do laundry today in Windsor Locks, and we’re really excited about it.

Going up one of the plethora of hills yesterday – I just love the word plethora – Dana fell off his bike. He mumbled “fell off my bike” into the headset, so I got off my bike out of true concern for him. Then he almost hit me because he had managed to get back up and still catch up to me on the freakin’ hill. Man do I suck at hill climbing! But now his rear derailleur is messed up. He will try to get it fixed in Poughkeepsie.

And check out this picture! We rode all this way just to get to Westford! We actually pass this area on I-84 coming back from NYC. Once when the kids were little I said “Hey guys, check out the sign. We’re home!” And they got all excited. Heh heh.

Yup, I’m such a bad parent.

Speaking of which, Bill called yesterday. He actually called when we were still on the bikes, which totally confused both of us, and I couldn’t handle the extra pressure – pressing buttons on my head, figuring out who the f– I was talking to, slogging up the 500th hill of the day, avoiding cars racing by me, etc. So he called back later. Bless his heart, he actually asked how we were doing, and it took a good 5 minutes before he started talking about his problems.

But more interesting than his problems… Saturday night while were sitting at the bar in the Kyoto restaurant in Whitinsville, we got to talking to another couple, and of course we started talking about our kids, and I showed them pictures, and then we passed Bill’s picture to 2 younger women at the bar, and one of them actually recognized Bill from work! It’s such a small world. So last night Bill commented on it, because somehow the girl had contacted him to say that she met his parents in a bar.

I’m pretty sure that’s more proof of my bad parenting, but I thought it was cool anyway.

3 PM…..

Today was an easy, short day. A few hills, but nothing killer like yesterday (and I’m afraid tomorrow). We are in Windsor Locks, CT, near Bradley Airport. It’s a real hotel room with a few real restaurants right here!!!!!  And we only rode about 30 miles today. We really wanted to ride the extra 10 to Granby, but there is only one B&B there, and they didn’t answer their phone. I don’t want to be at mile 40 and have nowhere to sleep. So we can consider today sort of a rest day. I definitely see beer in my immediate future, Dana sees steak.

We rode about 8 miles this morning then stopped in Stafford Springs, where we mailed some extra stuff home. We met a lady in the post office who runs a B&B in town, so we talked about bike touring and kid raising, then we had breakfast.  Dana got a heurvos rancheros wrap, which I believe satisfied his omelet craving. I had a bagel with bananas, honey and peanut butter, which just sounds like something a cyclist should eat.

The rest of the day was absolutely wonderful. Rolling hills through scenic farmland. Here is a picture of Ellington, which just gives you an idea of how wonderful this area is.

We sat under a tree drinking cherry glacier Gatorade, it’s awsome  stuff, I really recommend it.

When we got to Windsor we found a laundromat next door to a supermarket. Here is Dana eating mac&cheese in front of the Nifty Laundromat. It just doesn’t get any niftier than this, does it?

Katie called today to ask how to find Perdue chicken in Market Basket. I still had trouble answering the phone on my helmet, but at least I wasn’t stressed and exhausted when I accidentally hung up on her. We will practice answering our phones this evening.  Before beer.

On to Day 4