Wednesday, September 8, 2010

9/8 Memorable bicycle moments not in any order-- written by Halifax (the bike)

Pemaquid lighthouse, Maine. We rode along this Maine coast.Maryland Scenic RoadLast ride of the trip was Avenue of the Giants in Northern California, riding amongst the hugest trees on the planet.  What a way to end the trip.Scenic Road somewhere.Another State, another scenic road

We rode past Pres. Bush's Kennebunkport Maine compound.  There were alot of people at his house..  The main house sticks right out into the ocean.

What was Barbara thinking when she downloaded 54 pages of cross country bike directions??  She once bought a book of bicycle directions across the middle of America and the trip ended at Lake Anna which is actually where Phyllis lives.  But could she find that book for this trip?  Of course not.  What did she do with it?  Who knows? (She found it on a bookshelf when she got back) But rather than buy another book, there it was---FREE---right there on google maps. cross country bicycling maps. She couldn't even tell where one state ended and another started, or where any of the roads were on a real map, but it was FREE. You can see for yourself.  Google maps has a bicycling option. What does it matter actually, because, let's face it, now that the trip is over it is so obvious that, when it came to me, Barbara had genuine delusions of grandeur.Her dream has always been to bicycle across the country with me.. But this is the trip that cured that delusion.  She actually met a group of bicyclists who were nearing the end of their month long trip.  They were three days from their final destination. The trip cost them $10,000 each.  When Barbara confided that she couldn't IMAGINE biking that far in a month, one of the ladies told her that there is a two month option. Can you IMAGINE??  TWO MONTHS of sitting on a bicycle seat for 10 hours a day, head down and doing nothing for two month but pedaling your bike for TWO MONTHS!! And then pay $20,000 for that kind of misery. Well, I would love to make that trip, but Barbara has finally erased it off of her Bucket List. What WAS she thinking? This trip was much more to her liking.  We got to ride in most of the states we were in, but we never rode very far.  Barbara did confide in me that our moments together were her favorite moments of the entire trip.  We probably only road about 100 miles or so but they were definitely our favorite moments. That's alot different from the 3500 miles Barbara had always THOUGHT she wanted to ride.  It was hard enough to DRIVE for 10 hours a day.  That's when the reality (un reality) of bicycling across the country really kicked in. She was so happy to walk out of that restaurant and see me sitting quietly on my rack, knowing that she had the option of just letting me sit there. Another reason our moments together were our favorite times was that it gave us quiet time away from the Direction's Goddess, Beatrice. New Mexico, about 90 degrees outWe biked around DeerValley and found the lake front cabin that Barbara had lived at Deer Valley in the 60's.  Lots of gnats she doesn't recall being there when she worked there.Phyllis and Chuck live about a half mile from Lake Anna,VG so we biked there when the evenings cooled down
Vermont.Franconia Park.  A rather challenging and fun trail in N. H.Montreal, Canada bike trailTrail in MI Barbara always wanted to ride on.  We were worried that it might be unsafe for such a fancy bike as I,  but it was perfect and very fun.  This trail goes on for many miles along a large lake, maybe Lake Superior.  I'm not sure.  These kinds of  moments made me so grateful to Barbara and Sandra for bringing me along.   I was subjected to alot of rain and bad weather and we were always worried I could be stolen so they took me in the hotel room every night. They had bought a cover for me, but it was extremely impractical.We rode in sleet on route 93 between Jasper and Banff.  It was the most beautiful bike ride we have ever taken.  I couldn't believe we were riding in the midst of such magnificent scenery. We tried to take in the scenery while riding. We also biked on the way to the columbia Ice Field, JasperVermillion Lakes, Banff.  Sandra painted while Barbara and I rode.  Barbara fell trying to get on me with her camera.  She and I survived but she broke one of her camera lensesThey left me behind and canoed on Lake Lousie.  Not many other canoers out there.  They said it was very peaceful and beautiful.
Barbara told us that she had taken her Mom to Lake Louise and Banff and  her Mom and she canoed on this same lake when her mother was probably about Barbara's present age.  bicycling along the beautiful Oregon coast. Kayaking in Bar Harbor, Maine.  We prefer canoing because you don't get wet when you canoe, but canoe's weren't offered in Bar Harbor, so we kayaked.New Hampshire bridges. We bicycled to and through three bridges in one town.  Very cool, but the weather was hot.

So thank you Barbara and Sandra for bringing me along.  And thank you Sandra for always helping Barbara get me on and off the rack and into hotels etc. etc. And thank you for finally naming me in Montreal, Barbara.

Your ever grateful traveling companion, Halifax.
PS.  I didn't think much of the Direction's Goddess (GPS) either. (Sorry, Beatrice) 

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