Days before departing

Well here it's Monday before my trip starts, March 5 and I'm trying to get my arms around what I'm feeling right now which is a lot, my pulse is kind of racy, actually and I'm not sure exactly what I am feeling. It is excitement and kind of let’s get this show on the road. I have a few things that I want to do today like it over to cycle fit and talk with Greg about what it cost to put my bike in the mail and to pick up the last couple of things like wipes for my face and Aleve. I just discovered about my Dragon naturally speaking that there's a maximum number of words you can put in any entry and I exceeded them and did not realize it. This meant that the last few sentences I spoke did not get recorded. This is a little frustrating but still I think this is a very good tool, I just have to learn how to use it.

Well it's Tuesday morning and I'm getting ready to go over and have coffee with my friend Judy. She's off this week on spring break. 

Eileen came over last night to help me get organized as a preamble to packing up all my gear. Meredith and Eileen were amazing; they had so many good ideas about how to organize all the different items I'll be taking. Eileen has promised to come back over tonight to continue. I feel a lot calmer when she's around because she has such a good eye for organizing and detail.

Yesterday I had a chance to stop by and say my goodbyes to Greg and the guys at cycle fit and to thank them for all their help--they've been wonderful. I have to remember to put the punctuation in when I'm dictating on Dragon speak. Greg said that everyone he has known who has ridden across country has come back physically transformed. I know I'm looking forward to this aspect of the trip. I remember reading a long time ago, what may have been the first inkling of my desire to take a trip like this, that a man was riding across the country and was stopping to eat pie and cake at every corner crossroad and couldn't seem to keep the weight on. This is enticing. I'm actually looking forward to a change in my body that will make me healthier in the long run and I'm hoping that this bike ride will be the beginning of that. I've already seen great changes in my physicality as result of riding the 1700 miles as I prep for this trip. Bill, next door,  was asking me what I was going to do when I got home to continue this. I thought that was a great question. I think what I would like to do is continue to ride every day and taking the opportunity to go on some long trips when they present themselves, maybe even ride across country, again.

I'm back to my coffee at Judy's and we had a great chat about all the different things that are going on in our lives. I think we both agree that anything you can do in your 60s and 70s that requires you to stimulate your brain or your body in a new way is probably beneficial. Now I'm off to get a few of the last-minute supplies that I still need. Hope I've got the complete list and also hope that the GU drinks come in time. I ordered them on Amazon and they said they'd be here by
the seventh. 

Peggy gave me an interesting idea. She's taking a picture of her new granddaughter every day, and writing a little something about what they do. I think it would be fun to take a picture of myself everyday just to see how I physically changed over the course of the trip I think it'll be interesting, maybe not as dramatic as baby Lucy,  but probably worth the effort.