Just got back from my first effort to assess my health. So far, seems solid! I took a 15 mile ride out to the suburbs with my dad, mostly unloaded (although at the last minute I put my five-pound penny jar in the handlebar bag because unloaded was too weird). I’m pretty sure I have more energy after riding than I did before, perhaps due to the fact that sleeping all day is not the recommended road to a high-energy lifestyle, and my tonsils remain quiescent.
Now with that good ride under my belt, I will get down to the rather more icky business of buying a ticket to Cincinnati, which will likely involve flying out from Providence or Manchester, since the privilege of flying out of Logan doubles the cost of the ticket, which is maybe not acceptable given that I’ll already be spending more shipping my bicycle as shipping my body. O the injustice!
Flight search update: while looking for the most reasonable deals on carrying my bike, I spent some time puzzling over US Airways’ policy on “special items.” My favorites:
Monday 5/18: Day 1 of biking. Slight sore throat, slight pain difficulty eating sandwich at lunch. Troubling, but that sandwich was very dry because neither of us can stand mayonnaise. Great ride anyway.
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Friday 5/22: Day 5 of biking, to Albany. Despite lots of Tylenol, fever necessitates naps on the side of the highway, start to get taste of blood after swallowing solid food. Failure to complete incredibly delicious burrito is a real trouble sign. Browbeat into going to urgent care.
Saturday 5/23: Day off in Albany–16 hours of sleep! Mono diagnosis at Urgent Care. Irritated that the problem will not be fixed with antibiotics, but kind of happy to have a diagnosis, and a chance to see friends at home.
Sunday 5/24: Idling in Albany–16 hours of sleep! Mom & Dad drive home. Eating solid food again, although bread still gets the hairy eyeball.
Monday 5/25: Idling in Boston–16 hours of sleep. I can eat anything I want again! Stale bread for breakfast just to give my tonsils the middle finger. But then ice cream all day because who needs an excuse to eat ice cream out of the carton.
Tuesday 5/26: Idling in Boston–can’t do more than 8 hours of sleep. Feeling even better than yesterday, but never felt more stir crazy in my life–cannot stop twitching. Plan is to wait until Thursday before leaving the house.
Wednesday 5/27: 12 hours tonight! Cannot wait to leave the house in the morning. Go down to the square to feel productive, move limbs, eat giant M&M cookie, mail Rhiannon bicycle maps. Write lots of email.
(projected) Thursday 5/28: stationary bike, so I do not atrophy and become weak
(projected) Friday 5/29: go to Broadway Bike & use this time to become a competent roadside bike mechanic.
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(projected) Saturday 6/6: Dad’s birthday fiesta.
[edit after talking to Rhiannon] (loosely projected) Sunday 6/7: meet Rhiannon in CINCINNATI! Not St. Louis! Even though, as Rhiannon notes, “Meet me in Cincinnati” is not a musical like “Meet Me in St. Louis.” But from what I’ve heard of the latter, I’d rather avoid anyone singing it. Reader, you decide:
“Meet me in St. Louis, Louis,
Meet me at the fair,
Don’t tell me the lights are shining
any place but there;
We will dance the Hoochee Koochee,
I will be your tootsie wootsie,
If you will meet in St. Louis, Louis,
Meet me at the fair.”
This trip is starting to feel more and more real – in the last four days we have been to two bike shops, two outdoor stores, three optometrists, one hardware store, and three ice cream shops. We have bought (almost) everything we need to start our trip, and we have officially planned the first TEN DAYS of our route (from Boston to Buffalo via NIAGARA FALLS), complete with couch surfing and camping plans.
This is our most exciting purchase, which was made with the assistance of two adorable slash really awkward EMS employees who may or may not have given us an unauthorized $25 discount on an $80 product for no reason as far as we could see. Hopefully this trend of free stuff will continue.
We are so excited to make dinner with it tomorrow in Katie’s backyard. We might even sleep in the tent. We also had to buy an accompanying massive tin of white gas to fuel it, which for some reason made us both oddly giddy (not the fumes even).
In other news, due to Katie’s inability to navigate the streets of her hometown (3+ hours spent driving in circles and counting…), we have determined that Rhiannon will navigate the trip (this is also because of her totally SWEET handlebar bag with a clear plastic cover perfect for holding maps). Today also saw that first rush of mechanical glee, as we attached a rearview mirror and an odometer to Rhiannon’s bike, which involved the use of SEVERAL tools.
Tomorrow we will saddle up both bikes for the first time and hopefully attempt to wobble down Katie’s street at 2 mph.
Boston to Seattle or Bust 