Bloggygagger

Apparently, I have been dubbed the group’s Bloggygagger (blog lollygagger) since this is my first post.  Today was the 7^th day of riding on our cross-country trip, and while it hasn’t gone to plan, overall, it has been fantastic.   I’ve been meaning to add something to this blog for the past week– actually, I’ve sat down to work on it just about every day, but by the time we get to the evening campsite, get set up and get dinner, I am so exhausted and don’t have the energy.  That, or we lack wi-fi.  I figured I should probably start working on it in the mornings as I am generally up before the others (but we’ll see how long that lasts as we start getting up and out earlier as we start increasing our miles).

 

This trip has been on my bucket list for as long as I can remember, but I never wanted to be away from Megan and the boys for as long as it takes to do.  To be able to do it with them is wonderful, and to be doing it together with the Caniglia’s is just gravy on top.  We started on Tuesday, June 1 in Bar Harbor, Maine,  with the ceremonial tire dip in the Atlantic and set out on a relatively short day to start off with.  In the last week, we have crossed the state of Maine, and we’ll finish off New Hampshire tomorrow.  When we pull into camp, I just want to cool down and relax a bit….the boys, on the other hand, take the opportunity to put on their swim trunks and head straight to the water, whether it be a pool or a lake/river.  Seems like they never run out of energy. 

 

 

The other day started fun – we were leaving the campsite and getting back onto a major road, and the first thing we needed to do was to get across.  This is not as easy as it sounds when you have 8 bikes in your group and are a bit stretched out.  A guy pulled up next to us in a black pickup, rolled down his window, and asked if we were needing to cross the road.  When we said yes, he responded, “Well, I can help with that.”  Turns out he was law enforcement in an unmarked vehicle, and the next thing we know, he flips on his sirens and lights, and completely stops traffic long enough for us to safely get across.  Most people we encounter have been very kind and quite impressed with the boys taking on this adventure.  

 

I won’t lie, the rides have been getting progressively more difficult – either that or I’m still needing to get into touring shape.  Rarely have I done so much riding day after day, and it’s catching up to my legs.  Yesterday, we crossed our first mountain pass in the White Mountains.  It really puts your ego in check when you’re riding up a hill and your bike computer goes into Auto-Pause since it thinks you are stopped.  That, and there have been a couple of hills where I couldn’t outrun the mosquitos, which they have in quantity in Maine.  The boys (both Gildays and Caniglias) have continued to impress.  They all keep chugging along, and we’ve yet to have any serious complaints. 

 

That’s about all I’m going to write for now so I can get this posted (finally).   I will be trying to blog more often as the days start to blend together for us.