Tuesday, June 16, 2009

1: It Begins

Stoker's Log Day One

6/16/09

From Sea Bright, NJ

To Peace Valley in Doylestown, PA

86.8 miles

11.2 avg mph

The first day of our trip began, appropriately enough, at sunrise. I'm not sure how Kyle talked me into waking up that early, but I'll admit that I'm rather glad he did. Accompanied by my mother and her friends who had graciously hosted us in their beautiful house the night before, we arrived on the beach as the sun struggled to appear through the clouds. We dipped the wheel of the bike into the ocean - nicely symbolic but also rather messy - and took a great deal of photos on the beach, on the playground, in the parking lot...(all on Flickr)

Thanks to Emily and Steve for the perfect shirts!

Before leaving, my mother presented us with a "Just Married" flag for the back of our trailer and we made about half a dozen final checks of our equipment.

We also amused ourselves by making up songs. It was a brisk morning to say the least, and I came up with countless verses to "I'm a little windbreak," sung to the tune of "I'm a little teapot." Then we saw a painted mural for "Michelle's Magical Garden," which was clearly meant to show diversity and yet featured all caucasion children. We decided Michelle's Magical Garden was a television show waiting for us to write its theme song. That kept us entertained for quite some time.

Fifty miles into our ride we made a very important stop to visit my frisbee soulmate. The stars had aligned and sent Sheila home from Spain the day before, and we barely needed to alter our route to visit her parents' home. Sheila and I spent several hours catching up on each other's lives while Kyle played and napped with her dogs. We also consumed all of the food Sheila brought from Wegman's and gave her a ride on the bicycle. We wanted to stay much longer but we eventually had to press on.

Sheila's stories about her travels included Morocco, where it is apparently considered shameful for women to be seen heading to the bathroom. My small bladder and I would not be very respectable in Morocco. I actually ran into serious problems today when we had a long stretch without any bathrooms; there were miles of nothing and then one gas station, which was of course without a public bathroom. (Which reminds me, apologies to Wawa customers for my muttered obscenities.) I stopped drinking since I didn't want to make the situation worse, which was of course a horrible idea. I started to get dehydrated and Kyle had to carry us for a few miles while I pedaled woozily. Eventually we found a bathroom and I quickly consumed enough liquid to get back to normal, but I'm really beginning to fear the unpopulated regions of our trip.

Our final destination of Day One was Pleasant Valley, where our friend Fricker lives and works on a lavender farm. We had to take the scenic route around a lake because there was a road closed, but at least the path was shaded and had a nice view.

We also got to see some local wildlife when a deer darted across the road between us and an approaching line of cyclists. Starting at sunrise makes for a long day, however, so we were relieved to finally climb up Fricker's driveway.

He lives in what apparently used to be a chicken coop, but the only sign of its origins is the fact that the ceilings are too low to accommodate the claw foot tub, meaning tall people like Kyle and Fricker have to crouch in order to shower (I could just fit with a knee bend). Fricker and his girlfriend Lyssa provided us with pizza from down the street and the most amazing pumpkin chocolate chip muffins ever. They were pre-dinner snack and dessert and breakfast.

Predictably I suppose, we weren't very exciting houseguests. We enjoyed chatting over dinner but very soon after it was time for us to crash. We may have been on a futon but it was the most comfortable, wonderful rest imaginable.

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