on the road...

When I signed up on this trip, I thought to myself, "wow, it will be so great to see the country from a bike seat!" Let me let you in on a little secret - if you want to know what the country looks like from a bike seat: pull your bike out of the garage, sit on it, and stare at the ground. So far, the pavement all seems pretty standard, but I will patiently wait for the "scenery" to change.

I should start at the beginning. Yesterday morning we went down to the Brown Boat House on some estuary or something (I was told it was salt water, so it suffices for the Atlantic) and we ceremoniously dipped our back wheels into the water. When you see the picture you will probably laugh because we all have these goofy grins on. I can't be certain of what everyone was thinking, but all that was running through my mind was "If I drop this into the water, I probably won't have to bike today..." For whatever reason, I kept a firm enough grip and after a hundred pictures, we huddled up, shared a few words with one another, and set off. Cruising through the city was a lot of fun. We felt like a force to be reckoned with and I was thrilled going 9 MPH. But, as we all know, all good things must come to an end and soon enough we were on what I would call hilly (what the legit cyclists would call a ride with some inclines) ride. I had a bit of a problem with my chain and ended up with grease all over myself, including on/in my nose. At lunch, one of the boys who shaves his legs offered to teach me how to fix my chain while riding. To do this, he had to hold me on my bike like you hold a preschooler learning to ride for the first time. Nothing like feeling like you are five-years-old as you embark upon a journey like this... Fortunately, despite any inconveniences, we rolled into St. Stephen's with plenty of time to lay in the grass, take showers, do laundry and a little bit of hitch-hiking, before they cooked us an amazing potluck dinner. One of my favorite conversations so far transpired between this really sarcastic kid and one of our more serious leaders. When she asked how our ride had been he replied that he was certain that he had been told that the Providence to San Francisco trip was a strictly downhill route and that he hadn't been expecting the hills.

St. Stephen's happened to be a tiny church and most of us opted to sleep in the carpeted sanctuary versus the fellowship hall. As we went to sleep in the aisles, many people commented on how peaceful they though this night's sleep would be, inside of a chapel and all. I just kept thinking to myself "haven't you guys ever slept in church before?"

This morning was much more routine than yesterday and we received our directions and hit the road. For a frame of reference, the boy that I was following ran both the Boston and New York marathons this year. After 12 miles this morning, he told me that this had been the hardest work-out of his life. Awesome. During several of those hills, when I was in my lowest gear, averaging 6 MPH, my friend who shaves his legs would come up behind me and give me a push. It took me a little while to sort that out in my mind, but yes, that means he is cycling with enough force that he can pass me, carrying all of his weight, and push me at the same time, thus carrying half of my weight, while casually telling me a story or giving me advice. So, you can imagine that lunch at mile 25 was a slice of heaven, especially because we received the mail from the first mail drop (so thank you so much to those of you who sent love.)

Tonight we are staying in Middletown, CT (that's right, we are already out of our first state!) and tomorrow we jump up to around 70 miles.

*I just checked the B&B website and after yesterday and today, we still have exactly 3500 miles to go. Each day seems to be merely a drop in the bucket.