The Utter Folly Tour (or Faith and Peter on the Run)

Another day on alt 17

Posted by Peter:

We started the day with a fabulous breakfast in Jean and Don's kitchen (does that mean we're family now? That would be just fine.)  Got on the road at 8:50. Did 31.4 miles to yet another wonderful B&B.  This one had peanut butter pound cake with chocolate icing waiting for us! It's close enough to town that we can walk to several restaurants for dinner. Some of today's ride's highlights:

• All of the ride was on "Alt 17".  It was ugly again. No shoulders at all are fine when there's no traffic, like yesterday.  Today, the BIG trucks were back: the heavy construction Tonka trucks and the log haulers.  One of them buzzed us so close that I could smell the fresh cut wood as it sped by.  A number of them really had me seeing my life flash by.
• I finally got fed up and started riding 2-3 feet into the road and forcing them to wait until they could go into the oncoming traffic lane to get by us.  That earned me a few honks.  I just smiled and waved. And smiled and waved.
• At one point, however, a pick up truck went around us and the passenger yelled at me "Get out of the road, idiot!".  I had smiled and waved enough. I shouted an explitive loud enough to make all the Baptist churches within ten miles tremble on their foundations.  Surprisingly (and thankfully) they just kept on truckin'.
• At 11AM (about three hours after breakfast), I felt so light headed and dizzy that I had a hard time keeping the bike upright.  We stopped and, at Faith's prompting, I tested my blood glucose.  It was 71, far too low.  I ate an energy bar and felt better in a few minutes.  Something to watch.
• We took a bio-break at a convenience store about 12 miles into the ride.  As we pulled in, two guys in a truck getting gas said that they had passed us in Walterboro and that we were really making good time! (If only they knew what kind of miles a real cyclist could churn out). We chatted about where we were headed and where we had started.  Then the two women who were working in the store came out and we talked with them for about 15 minutes about our trip and their lives (that's how it usually goes).  We were joined by another customer who was also interested in our trip and in sharing his bicycling experiences while in the army in Italy.  Nice people, all of them. Meeting people like this has definitely been one of the best parts of our trip. Makes me pleased that we're not rushing.
• A portion of our ride (maybe 1/4) was in a fine mist (not quite a light rain, in my opinion, Faith differs with me, what else is new).  Not a big deal, and it kept the temps down. Made for a comfortable ride. However, as I write this in the comfort of our B&B, it's raining pretty hard, call us lucky again.

So, that's today's story. We've got email to attend to, tomorrow's route to detail, a good dinner to have.  Another successful day on the road!

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

First, let me say that South Carolina is my favorite state so far.

Before I get to the lists that coincide with the title of this blog entry, I offer you this list - things that have caught my attention:

1. One item that I have been meaning to comment on is how I notice interesting things now and then that are embedded in tar or concrete.  These things obviously got there at the time the tar or concrete was layed/poured and no one thought it important to remediate these flaws (or accoutrements, depends on your perspective).  The one that was the most interesting so far was a frog in the concrete on one of the bridges heading up to Fernandina Beach.  As in this case, I have often missed great photo opportunities because I don't want to get off my bike and get back on it.  I am working on stopping more often when I see something I really think is worth a photograph.  This photo shot will still be there when Peter and I retrace our trip in a car to fill in the gaps for the book we are writing.  Anyway, there it was as I was looking down to hide my face from the bright sun, the perfect image of a frog in the concrete where the frog had been embedded in the concrete at the time the bridge was built and later disintegrated leaving this perfect two inch long cavity in the concrete in the shape of a small frog with perfect detail of all four of the legs and feet, I still regret not stopping for this one.
2. Hand-made Memorial Crosses.  There have been so many of them along the various roadways which saddens me and alarms me.  Any death due to a car accident is a death that, I truly believe, could have been prevented.  I wonder who the cross is for when I see one.  Sometimes, they are plain, sometimes covered with flowers or articles of clothing.  Sometimes, they have notes attached, or reflecters attached, or a sign that says Drive Safely.  Beyond the loss of someone's son or daughter, someone's friend, or mother or sister or cousin or teacher, is the constant reminder that too many drivers are careless.  This is particularly unnerving when you have a few days like we had today, more about that in the lists to follow.  I do worry that if someone driving a car or a truck is careless enough to kill themselves or others also in a car or a truck, imagine what they could do if they hit a cyclist.  At our next stop, a Bed and Breakfast in Summerville, we learn that two cyclists were killed on one of the possible routes we can follow into Charleston, Route 52(?).  I am sad for all the families impacted by careless, angry, and irresponsible drivers.
3. Dead snakes.  I am amazed at how many dead snakes we have seen on the roadside, and dead armadillos, and dead very large birds, hawks even.  How does this happen, how does a hawk get nailed and end up dead on the side of the road?  Unfortunately, there are plenty of people who use their cars as weapons against the natural world, be it flora or fauna.  There I go again, back to drivers and what they are doing or do not do behind the wheel.  I know this trip will change who I am as a driver for the rest of my life, though I have always tried to miss animals and have cried terribly when I hit something in the road.  I am a new person behind the wheel when I get in a car again in a few months, which includes giving pedestrians and cyclists a wide berth.
4. The Peter Vicinanza downhill practices and procedures.  LOL.  One big difference in how Peter and I ride is that when I get to the top of a hill or a bridge, I catch my breath and then nail it down the other side, I try to see if I can get 20 mph on my cycle computer, which is no easy task with the headwinds we have been having for most of this trip and the drag from all the bags I am carrying on by bike, but I have hit it once or twice.  I will surrender to a coast near the bottom of the hill and into the level roadways ahead.  Peter, on the other hand, uses that time to coast and rest and typically falls a bit behind me.  Consider that we have both just pressed through to get up the hill or bridge or slow and steady incline carrying ourselves and all our gear, and sometimes that means grinding out the feet for what seems like, well, not eternity, but an awfully long time.  So, today I adopted the PHV downhill model.  Not 100%, but close enough, and we made the 32 miles in 4 hours, including two breaks, which is what I would have expected, and I had more energy later in the ride.  Sounds like a plan to me.

Okay, now for the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.

The good:

1. We had a sinful home-cooked breakfast at the stunning Bed and Breakfast where we stayed last night in Walterboro.  We have had the most outrageous meals in the past month personally prepared for us by enthusiastic innkeepers who are drop dead phenominal cooks, who love what we are doing, love having us as guests at their inns, and this is a good reason to get a late start on those mornings we stay at a B&B like this morning.  We feel honored and taken care of by our various innkeepers and it sets us up for a wonderful day.
2. We arrive at our destination before the rains set in.  Well, we actually road a bit in a light rain regardless of what Peter says.  It started as a mist, then turned to a light rain, and then back to a mist, then to nothing towards the end of our ride, then to rain once we were here.  This kept the temperatures down and the skies overcast.  That makes for an easier day of riding then a sunny day.  I'll gladly take a light rain.
3. We were allowed to bring our bikes into our room, photos will be provided when we finally have a dial up connection which is one thing we don't have at B&Bs, but we will suffer that for all we do get at B&Bs.  At this one, The Magnolia Inn in Summerville, SC, the innkeeper, Becky, encourages us to take the one downstairs room which is really lovely, and to bring our bikes into the room just when I thought we were going to have to unload the bikes and reload them for a second day in a row.  YES!  Though I would not have minded really to be in such a lovely place as this.
4. The innkeeper, Becky, suggests eating at The Mustard Seed.  We grab a guest umbrella, walk up and down two blocks of the town in the rain which is quite lovely, and then head to the restaurant which turns out to be as fine as any top NYC restaurant at a quarter of the price.  The food was amazing.  Peter and I both ate things we have never eaten before, which has happend to us quite a bit on this trip.  I wish we were restaurant guide writers for all the wonderful meals we have had.  To make things even more amazing, the restaurant halved our bill when they found out what we were doing.  We could not believe it, and still cannot believe it.  What an absolute honor to be treated so special.  Everywhere we turn today, we have been made to feel like we are true elders, as in a village where elders are treated with high regard (except for while we were actually on the road today, more on that later).  Our hearts are full to bursting (it is easy to negate the angry drivers today with everything else we have been gifted with today).  We understand The Mustard Seed has restaurants in Charleston and Mount Pleasant as well.  This place is a food lovers heaven and we suggest you try them out when you are in the area.  We have had a grand time taking the long route to Charleston.
5. We met a lot of charming folks today, as happens so often on this trip.  The one guy at the convenience store who was in Italy for a while and told us about a few bicycle adventures in Italy (and I have been collecting some interesting cycling stories while on the road for the book) handed me a foreign coin during our conversation which I have added to my medicine bag collection.  He was so charming.  I don't actually have my medicine bag collection with me, it is at home, but I brought a few things and have been adding stuff as we make our way north.  People continue to  make this trip ugly at times, and amazingly phenominally extraordinarily wonderful most of the time.
6. As if the innkeeper, Becky, had not already done enough for us, she greeted us with homemade chocalate chip cookies for our room when we returned from dinner.  Another kindness on top of so many.  Before I left for this trip, all of you that are reading this and know me, well, you already know me, but if we have never met, you would not know that I am quicker to distrust people and dislike people than to trust them and to like them.  It isn't that I don't have good reason, I have had a lot of training for this mind set.  But, I also know on an intellectual level that life shows up the way it shows up for us as much from our perspective on things as from the concrete reality, if reality could be said to be concrete even.  Do you see a glass as half empty or as half full?  Me, I am a half empty kind of person.  I was determined on this trip not have expectations of people, and I have been overwhelmed with people's generosity, kindness, care, enthusiasm, well wishes, support, cheerleading, concern, prayers, and though I find it sad that some people, once behind the wheel of a car or truck, turn militaristic, I have been easily swayed these last few weeks to the "glass half full" perspective, or even to the perspective that whatever is the glass is enough and as such, it is actually full.
7. As if today has not already been pretty terrific (in spite of the nasty drivers), our host in Mount Pleasant for our home stay tomorrow night has offered to pick us up on the Charleston side of the bridge that we cannot go over on our bikes which means we are headed to Charleston tomorrow.  Our host has also offered to pick us up before Charleston if the rain is a problem tomorrow. it has been raining here all afternoon and evening.  Peter and I want to try to ride into Charles, but either way the day will be shorter than we expected on the bike tomorrow.  Way cool.  Like I have said a few times now, we don't have to suffer to do this trip.

Now the the BAD

1. Cingular, I hate Cingular service, hate it, hate it, hate it, hate it. I finally said to Peter last night I want to drop this and move to Verizon now, while still on the road.  We will try to load a new connection manager first, I do hope it helps.  The biggest issue in our trip to date is really technology.  It is very much a love / hate relationship. 
2. Headwinds.  I hate them, hate them, hate them.  Peter and I are not exactly cyclist poster children, we carry a lot of body weight, and carry a lot of weight and bags on our bikes, and the headwinds find a lot of surface space to create resistance, lol.  Well, actually I am not laughing out loud, can I persuade these winds to change their orientation, what is wrong with being a tailwind. Could you guys just try it out for a while, maybe you will like it.

And for the ugly -----

1. Nasty, malicious, disrespectful, angry drivers.  'nuf said.

All in all, we had a grand day.  Tomorrow's ride is short, 25 miles into Charleston unless the predicted heavy rains push us inside where we wait for a ride to Mount Pleasant where will stay for the next two nights.  We begin again on Friday morning working our way north to Durham.

See you on the road.....

These are the best of times, these are the worst of times

Okay, let's start with the worst, since the good far outweighs the bad today, and most days fortunately, and it is always good to leave people on a good note.

1. There was only one bathroom to be found during our entire ride today - that was at 8 miles, so for the remaining 33 miles, no bathroom.  Peter suggested I just get over it and go in the woods, of which there were plenty, but there was also plenty of mosquitos, plenty and plenty.
2. I really have to do something about the saddle on my bike or the clothes I am wearing, or the height of my seat, or something, because I am in way too much pain late in the rides and on a long ride like today, it goes beyond tolerable.  So at 36 miles today, I am in so much pain, I need a bathroom, and I figure we have 6 miles to go (it turned out to be just under 5), and I could not go any further.  I finally just stopped the bike, stood astride the bike, leaned on the handlebar bag and had a good cry for about 5 minutes.  It probably would have been longer, but a wonderfully concerned local couple in a pick up truck stopped to see if I was okay.  After we chatted for a minute and I thanked them, I pulled myself together, and Peter and I cycled on to the B and B in Walterboro.
3. We are in a second floor room in a gorgeous Bed and Breakfast, that part belongs on the good things list, but we had to unload our bikes which we have not had to do in some time.  We have been very lucky in taking our bikes into our rooms for the past week, including our second floor room in Savannah where Peter and I carried the loaded bikes up to the second floor one bike at a time and then took them into our spacious room.  So today, we had to unpack all our bags and lock our bikes up outside, we certainly got spoiled quickly.
4. And of course, there is always Cingular and what we have to put up with to post anything to the internet (we have been doing more dial-up of late when we have a local phone number and a jack in our room - which costs us up to $21 a month for unlimited minutes versus Cingular for $75 a month for unlimited wireless minutes, and dial-up is always faster than Cingular - but tonight it is Cingular, as painful as it is.  We actually pay $5 a month for Earthlink and then after 20 free hours we pay $1 an hour up to $21 a month max.  We get better service on dial-up for a third of what we pay for Cingular wireless.  But, we put up with it for now, Cingular that is.

Now for the good things, and there are plenty, which is way cool, of course ---

1. Don't take my comment earlier about getting spoiled to far, we are by no means having a walk in the park, though we are having lots of wonderful events which include meeting terrific people like the elderly couple in a pick up truck who turned around in the road to pull up beside me and ask me if I was okay and then turned around to back the way they were going, south.
2. Then there is the B&B where we have this unbelievably stunning room for $75 which includes breakfast.  We found this place on the internet last night and again, like so many times so far on this trip, we stumbled onto a little paradise.  Don and Jean, the innkeepers, are so caring and charming, we are flattered to no end.  When Peter asked where we could find a place to eat in town, Jean invited us to have dinner with her and Don and we accepted.  The meal was scrumptous, and we had a lovely time chatting. We feel so welcome here, and cannot recommend this place enough if you ever pass through Walterboro, SC and are looking for a place to stay.
3. The East Coast Greenway route calls for hitting the town of Yemasee and then heading due East towards Charleston.  However, there are no hotels for miles.  In fact, it would have been 70 miles from Ridgeland to the next hotel and Peter and I cannot do that distance yet in a single day, well, not without lots and lots and lots of breaks.....  So, we headed north to Walterboro, and will head Northeast tomorrow to Summerville, and another lovely B&B that Don and Jean recommended, and then to Mount Pleasant the next day and back on the ECG route.  We are doing this to find places to stay and the benefit today, despite all my whining about my backside, and no bathrooms, was one of the loveliest rides we have had to date.  Route 17 Alt going from Ridgeland to Walterboro is just a beautiful ride with miles of swamp (as long as your moving so the mosquitos don't get you, the swamps are very cool), miles of wildlife refuge, miles of forests, just miles and miles, and we passed through or by a number of farms.  With the cool weather, overcast skies, and lovely landscape, the ride was great (if only I could have a bathroom whenever I needed one, and figure out how to ride so ti would be less traumatic to my body, then it would be like a vacation!)
4. Up to Yemasee, we actually found the right roads when we were supposed to find them, followed the route the way we were supposed to, did not get lost, and had no surprises.  That works for me.
5. It did not rain on us, a few sprinkles here and there early in the day, but otherwise, we missed all the rain, or rather the rain missed us.

That sums up the day. 

See you on the road....

How long can our luck hold?

Posted by Peter:

We stayed an extra day in Key Largo to let my bruises heal. That day, a horrendous two hour long wind and rain storm came through (see photos for day 11).  Some days later we were crossing back to the mainland from Cocoa Beach.  A rain squall passed through one island ahead of us.  It rained last night.  This morning the humidity was close to 100%. I was so certain that it would rain during our ride that I packed our papers and computer in plastic bags (our other gear and clothing is already in plastic).  Faith thinks that we caught a few drops, I believe that the humidity hit 100% and the water just fell out of the air a couple of times.  In short, it rained where we had been, it rained where we were going before we got there, but it didn't rain on us!  The weather for the rest of the week is forcast to be the same as today and we have two more days of riding to get to Charleston.  Can our luck hold?

The almost-rain kept the temps down and the sun away.  We sweated a little more than usual, but we knocked off another 41 miles.  It was difficult for Faith and when she suffers, I feel totally helpless.  Tomorrow we'll redistribute some of the weight of our bags and see if that helps.

We're staying at a beautiful 1843 bed and breakfast.  The owner prepared a lovely snack of cheese and fruit to "hold us over" until dinner... the dinner they have invited us to share with them.  How lucky can we be?

Follow the Greenway?

When we were in Jacksonville, we met Charlie Fetzer, the owner of a cycle shop we visited, and a cyclist who is following us up the coast from the Welcome Center in Georgia beginning on the 1st of June, with his 9 and 16 year olds sons, carrying everything themselves, and heading to Maine. 

Today, we heard from a cyclist in Cocoa, Roger, who helped us out as we passed through Cocoa on our way north.  He ran into another couple who are riding north and following the East Coast Greenway.  They said they also have a web site and knew of ours, but it appears it will take a little research to track them down.  So, now there are three groups of people heading north using the East Coast Greenway. 

Charlie emails us regularly to keep us posted on his plans and check in on how we are doing and we look forward to keeping in touch with him and his sons on the road once he begins his travels.  We expect he and his sons will make better time than we are making and we hope to intersect with them along the way.  We don't know much about the other couple headed north by way of the East Coast Greenway and hope to find out.  We suspect they will outrun us.  They are experienced long distance cyclists, that much we do know, and doing lots of miles each day, or so we have heard.  If they started in Key West as we did, if they are carrying all their own goods (no support van), and if they are going as far as New Brunswick, Canada, they will be the first to do what we are trying to do, but when we planned this trip, we were not doing it to set any record, we were doing it to reclaim our lives.  We hope we meet them along the way as well.

It is great to hear of so many folks showing an interest in the East Coast Greenway.  Bravo!

See you on the road......

And also...

Posted by Peter:

All of what Faith said, plus... We started our day with a water taxi ride across the river in Savannah (to avoid having to ride/walk over a very high, very long highway bridge).  The captain immediately engaged us in conversation about our trip and our bikes. Why wouldn't he?  After all, we're both Italian ex-Manhattanites who used to keep our boats not far from each other in Connecticut?  Yes indeed, it is a small world. Plus.. the boat ride was free because we were staying at a hotel in the River Street area. Way cool.

As Faith said, we just rode all the way on US 17 today.  No shoulder for most of the ride, but not much traffic either.  We tried our new, more agressive approach to sharing the road today.  No more riding in the gutter for us, no, no.  We are "vehicles" and are entitled to part of the road, yes the road where the big boys play.  It worked well. Most cars just gave us a wide berth and didn't try to share a single lane with us.  Only one or two honked, and we just smiled and waved.  Actually Faith gave them a Victory symbol (or a peace sign).  I suggested that it was a little too Peter Fonda for me and look what it got him!

Plus we got to meet those wonderful and charming women at the hotel in Ridgeland.  I can't wait to get to Delaware!

"Y'all must be good people....

to have good luck following you."  What a wonderful compliment from someone we met only moments earlier.  We rode from Savannah to Ridgeland, SC today, beautiful scenery, an overcast day, the only down sides were the b%$#$^&^ headwinds and no bathroom opportunity except one.  Thankfully, there was one.

We stopped at 15 miles at a "truck plaza" (so that is what they are called).  We had a bite to eat and a bathroom break and we got a good tip on a short cut to Ridgeland with assurance it would be an easy ride and low traffic, and we took it, and it was both.  What would have been 37 miles ended up being 31.5 (we will gladly take those 5.5 miles, thank you).  We reached the Comfort Inn in Ridgeland a little before 12 and while Peter was checking in, an extended family that was heading home to Delaware from a family reunion was checking out.  Some of the family members were outside where I was hanging with the bikes and Adraine Frink asked me where I was headed.  We struck up a conversation and other members of her family joined in.  When Peter came out, he and I were talking to 7 or 8 of the ladies and having a high old time talking about the trip and where were headed, how long we have been on the road, and in the end, we had invites to stay with them when we are headed up their way, which is Dover, Delaware and Wilmington, Delaware.  How absolutely awesome is that?  Everyone was so enthusiastic and charming, way cool.  We got a bunch of hugs and well wishes, and addresses for when we hit their area on our way north.  That is what it is all about, meeting people and becoming instant community.  Well, there is more to this trip, as you all know by now, but this is an important part of it, having people enter our lives that we would never have met, making instant friends, having our lives impacted positively and getting support from so many great people who want to see us make it. 

We are running into breakdowns trying to get our laundry done, but we are working through them.  I am off to move the first load from the washer to the dryer.

See you on the road.....

Family

I have spent my life creating the family I never had.  I have been obsessive about parenting my children, about being part of their life, and protecting my world, my world being that of me and my children, and now my grandchildren, and even now I continue to be over involved in the lives of my children though they are all adults.  I knew this before I came on this trip, I was already working on trying to back away and give my adult children more space.  I knew that being away from them for three months would be a good thing for all of us.  I have often been overcontrolling as a parent, and have dedicated much of my life to my family often to the exclusion of others including both of my husbands.  I have done this because my own childhood was difficult, because my world as a child was often filled with violence and abuse, and my need to control my world as an adult is not uncommon for someone with my background.  There are some interesting things that happen in a family, one being that the same children in the same household have different experiences.  My sister's childhood is not mine.  Mine was not my brother's.  My brother and I both hated our childhoods and hated our father.  My brother chose not to have children because he was so afraid he would be like our father, and that may be the most significant factor in my brother chosing to take his life at the age of 43.  He was single, living alone, and single white men living alone make up the highest percentage of people who commit suicide. He openly discussed his past with me and his struggles, but that did not save his life.  I have done the same, spending the bulk of my adult life from my mid-twenties to about 40 in psychotherapy but I had children and I know that my need to give them what I never had is what kept me going when there seemed no other good reason to stay alive.  Now they are adults, and I need to move on.  This is part of the reason I am here, part of the reason I am spending three months on the road and trying to find my own center, this is why I am spending this time staking a claim for myself, and in doing so, learning there is more in the world for me than just my immediate family.  I love them more then anything, and I can let in a larger world.  I knew this also before I left for this trip, but I had to do something to drive this message home.  I set myself up for this intentionlly, to have an experience that would allow me to live in the world in a big way, to help me appreciate all the magnificent people and relationships in my life to a greater degree, and I am very fortunate, I have a world of extraordinary friends, I knew this too before I left, but I have had to work at it, I have had to struggle against my  knee-jerk reaction to not trust anyone I do not know, and over the years, these efforts have paid off.  But there is a freedom in my life that is attainable, that I am grasping for on this journey, and that I feel closer to with each interaction with new people and with old friends and with my family.  Good, good, good, good, good......

See you on the road.....

Playing Tourist

I love these free breakfasts at the places we're staying!  The other day I tried some of Faith's biscuits and gravy (a true Southern delicacy).  Have to have my own now.  I'm hooked. Can okra and grits be far behind? YES!  Well, that's what I think now, but I've been told that fried okra can be good.  We'll see just how Southern I can become.

Dawn (Faith's sister) and her girlfriend Cheryl drove up from Jacksonville to spend the day with us.  We walked up to the City Market, a two block stretch closed to traffic and lined with galleries and restaurants.  We looked, we bought, we ate.  Then we walked back past our hotel and down to River Street.  More walking, eating, drinking, no buying.  Bought myself a frozen margarita and walked up the street while drinking it. Damn, I'm getting more Southern by the minute.  My first walkin' drink.

Then back to our air conditioned room to hang out and chat until it was time for them to head back home.

A most enjoyable day.

Lessons

1. Two friends wrote us and suggested we ride a little more to the left rather than hugging the right edge of the road so drivers are sure to see us, so drivers don't assume they can rush by us because we are hugging the right side of the road and instead they will have to slow down,  and because we legally have the same rights to the road as the drivers and many drivers don't realize that or don't remember that and it isn't our problem if they are unaware, we don't have to be intimidated.  Of course, we are looking forward to less threatening situations than our last day's ride yesterday coming into Savannah.
2. Two friends wrote (one is a repeat from item one above) and suggested that we wave to drivers who are rude and beep at us or buzz us, that we throw them a kiss, that we send blessings their way.  After all, most psychologists will agree we are not the real reason the angry driver is angry, they are already angry and we just happen to be available so they can direct their anger somwhere. So we will try this one intending that the universe provide these angry souls with whatever it is they are lacking that makes them so miserable and spiteful and we will try the one above (item 1) as well when we get back on the road.
3. It is hard to enjoy anything when you are exhausted.  Our tour of Savannah yesterday did not interest me in the least.   I ended up sleeping twelve hours last night.  Obviously, I needed it.  Our short time around town today was better, but I opted for more leisure time today than out and about time.  I read a magazine, watched a little t.v., napped.
4. Even in a big hotel in a big city, getting laundry cleaned is proving to be a challenge.  We are hoping my sister, who is visiting with us for the day tomorrow, will drive us to a laundrymat where we can drop the clothes off and pick them up later in the day.  I am wearing the same clothes two days now, that means everything I have on.  And I will wear them again tomorrow.  And there is little hope of doing laundry at any of the hotels we are staying at from Sunday through Wednesday when we finally arrive at a home stay in South Carolina.  Clean clothes continue to be like opening up the perfect gift, the thing I have always wanted and someone knew enough to get it for me, lol.
5. It appears I may have this fine tuned by the time I hit Canada, the whole idea of what is the exact right stuff to be carrying in my bags that is.  I could use one or two more pairs of pants, and one more everyday bra (versus a sports bra).  I have to decide, and quickly, if I am going to have my daughter send me some things from home, or I am just going to buy them on the road.  Either way, it means more stuff to carry.  I have been offloading stuff periodically, but no where near as much as I would like to, and I need to add a few things, so I am not making a lot of progress here on reducing how much I am carrying by any real measure.
6. When you're exhausted, it doesn't matter how much web work, or bill paying, or reading you have to do, well, not exactly HAVE TO DO, but want to do.  Either way, have to do, want to do, none of it gets done when you just need to sleep. 

I would like to remind everyone who is reading our blog and our web site that we encourage you to donate a few dollars, if you can, to The East Coast Greenway.  You can do so by going to our web site, www.utterfolly.com, and click on Help Us Get to Canada.  There will be an opportunity to donate right online, and one hundred percent of your donation goes to the East Coast Greenway.  If you would rather send a check, you can do that as well.  If 100 of our closest friends could send $20 each to The East Coast Greenway, we would be delighted, and they would be delighted.  If you can give a few dollars, then do so, if you can give more, than please do so.  We so appreciate each dollar you donate to the East Coast Greenway. 

See you on the road......