Mystic, CT

Day 1

We started our trip today at 11:40, which was an hour and forty minutes later than planned.  That's not too bad because it is less than a seven percent deviation from the planned departure time (assuming a 24 hour departure window, obviously).  For some reason, Di wasn't comforted by this information and seemed even less interested when I told her I could recalculate the deviation using only those hours with available sunlight.  Oh well, some people just don't want to be comforted.

          Here is Di just before departure:

We rode about 9 miles to Sophie's and we each got an ice coffee and shared a gluten free cookie.  I was considerate and kindly let Di eat most of the cookie.

          Di chilling at Sophies:

It was getting hot so we stayed at Sophie's for over an hour.  We shared some cheddar cheese that we had brought and I ate a spinach pie I got from my Mom.  We left Sophie's and started traveling on less familiar roads, but we weren't worried because Di had purchased a Garmin GPS.  It is really fancy and expensive, but we've learned from past experience that we excel at getting lost, so we figured it was worth it.  The only problem is we don't know how to use it.  This became apparent while we were riding and behind me I heard Di yelling, "You stupid thing!  You are wasting my time!  I'm getting sick of this!"  Naturally, I apologized, but Di said she was actually yelling at the Garmin GPS.   She decided to shut it off and try to figure it out when we took a break in Westerly.

     Here is Di in a peaceful setting:

We took a short break at Meadow Brook Pond.

          Here is Di at the pond looking happy she isn't dealing with the Garmin: 

We arrived in Westerly around 4pm.  It was still hot so we thought it best to go into an ice cream shop to cool off.  Di ordered a Dell's lemonade and I ordered a hot fudge sundae with one scoop of extreme chocolate and one scoop of graham coffee supreme.  The extreme chocolate was made with rich chocolate and brownie chunks and chocolate swirl.  It was pretty extreme.  It made Di regret she only ordered a Dell's.

          Here is me eating an extreme hot fudge sundae:

Di spent some time trying to figure out the Garmin, which I had taken to calling the Varmint.  Despite her efforts and some truly expressive language, she was still having trouble with it.

          Here is Di hard at work trying to figure out the Varmint:

We gave up on the Varmint and rode the last 10 miles into Mystic.  We arrived a little after 5pm and got our room at the Whaler's Inn.  We relaxed for a little while then went to Mystic Pizza for dinner.  I ordered a pizza and Di ordered a salad.

          Here is my great looking pizza:

          This is what Di got, something called a wedge salad:

I could tell Di regretted her choice (again), so I offered her some of my pizza, which she readily accepted.  She then offered me some of her wedge thing, but I told her I was saving room for some gluten free cake for dessert.

On the way back to the inn we stopped to sit along the dock and watched the sun set on this great day.

          Here is a picture of us (and Di's 80's hair):          

Di here...

While waiting for Steve to finish up his very long, descriptive entry, I was diligently learning how to use my new Garmin.  After quite a bit of trial and error, I now believe we are ready for a second day with using it. At least I hope so.  Something I've learned is that Steve really doesn't care for studying Google maps, paper directions or Garmin's, but I'm sure most of you already know this!

Here is Steve stretching out his back at Meadow Brook Pond.   One might ask why?  Well, I carefully and successfully offloaded one of my bags after 9 miles of riding. Perhaps it was the slow morning start, but Steve generously offered to carry my tool bag (about 10 lbs) and I eagerly accepted.  As it turned out there were two consequences of this; first Steve was climbing the hills a bit slower, and second he was rolling down the hills a bit faster because of the weight.  It didn't take me very long before I realized that this was definitely something I could easily live with!  Truly I am appreciative and showed him so by treating him to reflexology tonight.  Perhaps he'll want to make the same trade tomorrow.

So I leave you with this ...

Immediately after reading the first blog entry Steve posted last night, I snapped this picture as proof of my preparedness!  I felt it was necessary to post it to set the record straight!

Today was just spectacular - beautiful weather and an easy ride to Mystic.  We clocked in 38.3 miles, one of our shorter days planned.  We rolled into Old Mystic at about 5:06p.