Wednesday - Sunday

Everything is flying by so quickly, I’m having trouble getting everything written down! Wednesday morning I did my blood draw before I went to Annmarie’s parents for breakfast. Jim did the short order cook thing, with eggs over easy, toast, bacon and home fries. He missed his true calling. We also had a great piece of coffee cake which Annmarie had baked. We yakked for two hours and drove home in the pouring rain. It was coming down so hard, it was hard to see where I was going at times. In the evening the Wednesday night crew met at Sandra’s. It was a nice treat. She made her veggie chili and a great salad. PJ added the appetizers and we had another grea5 two hours of conversation. Thursday was a “taking care of business” day and I got some riding in. Friday I met Linda and her mom for breakfast and then in the afternoon Annmarie, Annette and I met at the newly-reopened Avon Inn for an early dinner. I can’t say that I would recommend the place. They’ve certainly refurbished it nicely, but my jambalaya was not exactly what I expected. But I was glad we gave it a try. Apparently the Inn caters a lot of events and the waiter said they have 14 rooms upstairs, so it definitely is an option for travelers. But the best part of the evening was running out to Tom Wahls’s for chocolate almond ice cream. We sat outside at the picnic area and caught up on all the latest news. Saturday morning I worked the front desk at R Community Bikes. We gave away close to 30 bikes again. I got back home and did some studying and reading. Yesterday was a great day. I went out to Cousin Ronnie’s in Ontario had had a picnic with his and Billy’s families. Ron’s grandson Aiden is a real trip. What an imagination, and not at all shy. Of course the food was great. I loved Nicole’s blond brownies.and Ron show me his pictures from their California trip. Marvelous! He’s such a great photographer. I can back into the city for the meeting at Exercise Express about the bike trip which is going to start Wednesday. Finally we’ve got everything arranged so we know what we’re doing. 5 of us will be riding the entire way. 3 will join us on various legs of the tour. The weather for the first and last dayS looks hot and sunny. The middle three days look like rain. We’ve found places to stay everywhere but in Utica. But since 3 people from ROCovery are also riding and will be camping, we may end up staying in a tent one night. We’ve got snacks, water bottles and t-shirts. And the press and TV will be covering the ride. we start from Towpath Park in Buffalo at 7 a.m. on Wednesday. We have to be there at 6 for a press interview. This will be an interesting ride. And hard! But nobody’s bringing maps. Scott says we should download “ride with GPS”. Nuts to him! I called Barnes and Noble and am going to go pick up a book of maps tomorrow. I need real maps in my hand. I,m going to check out the app though, and see if it’s something I can use along with the maps.