Great Atlantic Seaboard Bicycyle Tour: The Week Before 9/1-9/6

One week until GASBBT. The training schedule includes many things, but no riding. We still have s few chores to do to get Dad settled. There are friends to see, last minute additions to packing, and of course life always happens. This week it happened in the form of an 8mm kidney stone that let itself be known to our son, Steve. Ouch! Hopefully, the blasting he will endure will pulverize the thing into nice soft sand particles. I also winterized the boat, which we coupled with a fun day with our friends, the Ulmens that included a hike to the Pulaski Historical site and a fabulous meal on the deck at the yacht club. Lake training is essential. Friendship training is important, too. We had a wonderful evening with the Cramers who have just returned to Spokane after seventeen years in San Diego. It's great having them back. Today (Thurs.) I helped Judy bake her birthday cake. I triple sifted and I worked the whipper-thing. Tomorrow, our sweet little Judy turns sixty nine fricken' years old. Birthday morning meant a walk to the Rockwood Bakery for a pastry. Then we got in 13 tandem miles. My neck felt good. The breaking news is that UPS lost Ed's bike. It won't make it to Pat's bike shop until Wed. My hope is that all the stuff will still be in the bike box. It is possible in a sinister world that someone rifled through the box as it made its way down the backstreets of UPS land. No worries yet. In fact, it means an extra day roaming Arcadia National Park. Tonight we have Miss Judy's party. Two angel food cakes-one with six candles, the other with nine. And don't forget, dinner for thirteen. Sixty-nine is a good year. Last night's party proved to be great fun as well as a great indulgence. Nearly every guest had two pieces of cake caused by the impromptu appearance of Judy's second cake. This morning we're enjoying a last (for awhile) game of cribbage, a bacon, tomato, cheddar omelette, and general bunny behavior. Gasbbt flight tomorrow at 5 A.m. And we're off. Got goosed bt the screener, and the thrills begin

Ed Pulaski saved the lives of thirty nine men when he led them into this mine shaft during the great fire of 1910.