Nancy and I had some quality bonding time on Sass’s porch in
the morning before heading out. I
switched out the leaky tube, patched a few outstanding ones, cleaned off some
dirt, and oiled up some squeaky parts while listening to music in the
sunshine. While changing a flat by the
side of the road is not actually that problematic most of the time, there is a
certain luxury to being able to take the time and be overly meticulous. I even
got to pull out a whack of small pointy things from my tires that had not yet
made their way into a tube but might cause problems at some point. Close to the noon hour, Sass and I loaded
Nancy and my gear into her car and, to the tune of some excellent stories from
my Bar Harbour host, drove back towards Ellsworth.
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| Just grand! |
The ride
eastward was enjoyable but certainly slow going, especially given my leisurely
start time. Lots of snack breaks,
pondering my good fortune of how the previous 24 hours had turned out, and
stops to look at the view meant that I was surprised (yet equally not
surprised) when it got to be late afternoon and I was still quite far from
Machias, home of my friend Maria and my destination for the evening. I was in Four Corners, debating trying to
catch a motorized-vehicle lift in that direction, and decided to give Maria a
call to touch base anyhow. At the mere
mention of having reached my ultra-happy-biking-quota for the day, she offered
to come get me under the pretence of needing to get groceries. I was happy to accept and hung around the
candy and sticker machines in the warm supermarket until I saw her hop out of a
truck.
I
hadn't seen Maria for a couple of years, but we knew each other from my first
years at university where she was just finishing up her degree. It was wonderful to catch up, make some
quiche and blueberry dessert, and just hang out in her house and talk about adventures yet to
come.
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| Maria holding our masterpiece! |
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| Our attempt at food-blog-style photography |
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