Day 3!

Updated: Sep 25, 2023

Wednesday Jan 11, 2023

A scheduled stop in Painesville Ohio to see my sis, her family and my mom! No rides planned for today, it's more of a spend-time-with-family and tweak things both in the jeep and tent that need attending too.

So a shorter post today - why? Not because I heard some jabberings about me being long winded - nope not at all! I just like to write about what I did...a lot : )

But wait, does long winded mean I can hold my breath really long? And did you know the White Winged Scoter Duck can dive under water and hold it's breath for 58 seconds?! Hmmm maybe we'll start the duck fact of the day in the blog. Whoa maybe we all can learn sumthin' while wasting precious time reading about a duck riding a bike around the country! And this is free?! God I love America!

If you are ever in Painesville Ohio (Yeah I know who would name a town a Pain?) there is a neat lil' place down the road that's a coffee shop by day and bar at night called 1922. Delicious coffee and a steak-n-egg sandwich that was just killer! Mom and I went there in the morning to catch up and share a nosh.

Anybody else really like the word 'nosh'? I love that word. No idea why. But I'm trying to bring it back. Wait...did it ever leave? I think it did cuz when I use it most people look at me funny and tilt their head to one side. You know - the look when your little puppy that just heard you say "wanna treat!?" for the first time tilts his head all cute-n-stuff? That look but even more puzzled.

I spent a couple of hours just to be with her alone, one on one...good stuff. On the way back to my sister's house there was a guy was selling bread out of a little shed along the side of the road and we stopped in. Super cool, great owner and the banana bread was outta this world.

The rest of the day I totally chilled and worked on this blog stuff - trying to get the hang of things on here. Enjoying the process actually. Then we all had some local pizza for dinner which was actually really good!

Maybe they should call the town Pizzaville?

Might attract more people looking for a nosh anyway... : )

At this point of the trip I have no actual destination for tomorrow! All in total I'll be stopping in Marietta Georgia, Fort Worth Texas, Colorado Springs (yes...that would be Colorado : ) a stop in Moab Utah and maybe another one in Utah so my 'old' boss can buy me lunch. Then a couple of stops in California. Everything in between I'm kind of winging it. See where the wind blows me. And small ducks can get blown off course pretty easily lemme tell ya!

So my sis heard from a friend that Sevierville TN is supposed to be nice and there is a National Park or state park near there to check out. So...I think that's the wind!

It's like eight hours away so I'll split that up some. Going to stop at an REI store for a blowup mattress and some other supplies. Why the mattress you say!!? Well not for the tent actually...because the mattress in their is nearly three inches thick and pretty comfy! But I heard there's supposed to be thirty-five mph winds down near Kentucky tomorrow where I'll be stopping and I don't think I wanna be in a tent, on top of my roof when that happens! I saw the Wizard of Oz as a kid and seeing that house fly all around doesn't look like something I need to do. There's no place like home. There's no place like having your ass on the ground either! Plus man those monkeys really scared the bejesus out of me in that movie...anyone else!? What was that all about anyway?

So I'm going to snuggle up inside my jeep between two beautiful ladies! Yes the Salsa mountain bike and the Parlee road bike. What the heck were you thinking!!?

Sleeping down inside the jeep will be a good test as an emergency bailout if I ever need it down the road too.

Inside

Well today was mostly spent inside! The house that is. Not like in deep meditation-inside-kinda thing. Nice to have a down day and rest up, plan a bit and chat with family. So many times we can get caught up in just running from task to task. So important to schedule nothing. Yup! Time to just chill. Seems like a necessary balance to the busy side of life doesn't it? A recharge.

I also think it's important because we get some time to listen to ourselves and see what's next in our lives or how we got off track somewhere ya know? It's amazing if we take some time to quiet the mind how clear some things can become. Time to check in and be sure we are still charting the course we wish on a super cool trip across the country or in our lives!

Outside

Ummmm mostly inside today. But coffee and breakfast with mom was great and driving around a bit. O wait! I had ordered that charging cable for the solar charger back on Day One and it came to my sis's house today! Charlie (her son) and I plugged it in outside and I don't know why but I find it so cool to plug my laptop into this thing laying on the grass and see it charge up...from the sun! Technology is amazing. I feel like a little kid with a new toy. Guess I kinda am!

Upside

Chill time.

downside

No biking.

Miss it already and I notice the weather for tomorrow looks like torrential downpours. Definitely a good day to travel then - but I am itching to get "on the saddle" again!

Every which way but east!

Well mostly stayed at my sis's house but I think I went east from there to the coffee shop...: ) Don't tell anyone!!

Ha!

Tomorrow we head south to taste some warmer weather.

Hopefully.