The Week of Potato Chips Part II

Before I have to start organizing for a trip to Boston, leaving later today, I thought I'd try to jot down some more notes and memories, before they become even more of a blur. In any case, I'll probably get days and events confused as it is.

But back to Day I

Being slow, Jerry and I got into camp a good bit later than others. The good part about that is being able to see the Tent Grid take shape. It's always fun coming into camp on that first day and seeing the Tent City, along with the myriad other service tents-- medicine, massage, chiro, Camp Store, Media, Pos Peds. It really is a moving city. The Roadies who get that built are nothing short of Iron Men and Women. Cheryl, who I met when I spoke at a fundraiser for her and her husband Lee, was on my Gear Truck, Truck F. They hung a blow-up monkey on the truck and gave us monkey bracelets. The monkey was cute and it really did make finding the gear truck easier. Several roadies on our truck were female. More power to them, and I mean that in both the literal and figurative sense!

Our bags weighed just under 50 pounds, but I heard from other roadies that there were people who went over the 70 pound limit. I had a hard enough time with our bags; I can't imagine hoisting those 70-plus pound bags onto the truck. I think weight limits and perhaps even sanctions for overweight bags needs to be considered.

Anyway, we got back to camp, showered and had dinner. I sign up for vegetarian, and I'm generally glad I do. There isn't that much red meat during the week, but for those few occasions it's a safer bet. Plus, the vegetarian food on the ride is really good. Even dreaded lunch, which is day after day of sandwiches, is a little better. This year at lunch vegetarian options included hummus, rice and bean wrap and tabouli and feta wrap. They only served the mozzarella and basil sandwich once, and yes, the dreaded peanut butter on walnut bread was back. I love peanut butter, but I really do NOT like that sandwich.

Bedtime on the first night, and generally every night was about 8:30. It was a bit odd going to sleep before it was totally dark, but not all that difficult, especially since we were getting up at around 4:45. Since we were riding slowly, we wanted to hit the route by 6:30, and on most days we made our schedule.

After we set up our tent the next step was setting up the Maryland flag. The flag served a couple of purposes. First-- it draws the Marylanders to us, and on occasion, I even get to talk Bawlmer. But the most important reason is the ease in which it allowed us to find our tent. After dinner-- there was our flag flying above our tent, and even better, there it was after those 3 am port-a-potty trips. Our neighbors loved it as well.

Day Two

Day Two is the longest day on the ride, so we were up bright and early and ready to tackle the more than 100 miles. In reality, Day Two isn't anywhere near the most difficult day. A lot of it is flat, rolling through fields of strawberries that smell heavenly.

We rode well and felt really great until... we had a flat. And not just any flat. The gravel on the side of the road-- we tended to ride way to the right so others could pass--- really ate up our tire, so it wasn't just the tube that needed replacing. We tried to put a "boot" in the tire, but to no avail. We did have a spare, but it was back at camp. So, for our very first time, and at about 60 miles, we had to get sagged back to camp.

We tried to look at it philosophically. We didn't give out; our bike did. The most interesting and difficult part of it all was how the roadies were going to get the trike back to camp. Ultimately, they loaded it on the large truck on TOP of the other bikes that were padded with blankets. It took a crew of them to hoist the behemoth up there. Again, we were so grateful to those roadies for taking care of us.

Back at camp, Jerry put a new tire on the bike and figured out a way to hook a spare tire onto the trike-- I know I alternate between calling the machine a bike and a trike. It really is a trike, but my fingers almost automatically type bike. Old habits die hard. Forgive me. We looked a little like Grapes of Wrath with the tired on the back of our trike, but fortunately, we didn't need it until Day 6, but that's another story, which I promise I'll tell later.