Almost there!

It's down to the wire. Like much of my life I'm diving head first into this ride. Could have done a bit more biking pre-trip. Especially hills and all, but I'm going to be on my bike the next three months. Could be more or maybe less. Hopefully I'll just stay healthy and get healthier along the way.

I'm bugging out about all the little creature comforts that are going to vanish. Consistency being the biggest one. A place I call home and come home to everyday to the same bed. Dry towels,heat and air conditioning as needed. Going to be ruffing it for a while.

Got a surprise visit from two of my oldest friends today. One of them was a total surprise. He was supposed to be in rehab and was thrown out today. All day long he was trying to convince me not to take this trip. He kept telling me, "I'm worried about you bro." I've been worried about him for years. My other buddy picked him up to come hang with me for the last time before the trip. So today was spent reminiscing and just hanging out in the neighborhood. We were talking about Woodstock 94. Anthony claimed he wanted to go back to those days when life was easy. Not a care in the world. All three of us have taken slightly different paths. I want nothing but the best for all us.

It was great to hang with them, but I didn't get anything done. Those two dudes from Cali rolled into NY today as well. Nico and Sean from Santa Rosa, CA. We ended up meeting this evening and hanging all night. They are spending tonight in the big International Hostel up on Amsterdam and a 103rd. Tomorrow night they are going to stay at my place. So that is cool, hopefully the good karma well get kicked back.

Their trip started out in the DC area actually. I thought they had just biked across the US. They took a train across and are biking up the East Coast. Then taking a train back. It was good to show them around and talk a bit about their trip. They are 19 and 22. What a great thing to do at any age, but that's a cool thing to be doing at their age. They said it was sketchy biking through some parts of DC and especially Baltimore. They have more or less race type bikes. They are pulling trailers unlike RVK and I who have all our gear on our bikes. We talked shop a bit. About how many flats Sean had due to his load. Said he had like 12 flats and they've only been riding since May 1st. That would suck!

We ended up eating downstairs from me at the Meatball Shop. Gonna be the last time I eat there for a while. We sat family style with three cool chix from Brooklyn. I told them about the blog, so if they read it here's a shout out to them. Nico and Sean were stoked on that place. Then got them going in the right direction back uptown. Had them take the West Side Hwy back. Since they took Broadway all the way downtown to meet me.

This reminds me of being in school. I would always, always wait to the last minute to prepare for a test or write a paper. Like, the route. Everyone keeps asking me, "how are you going to go." I really have not looked at map for a few weeks. RVK was going to work on mapping out the route to Philly. We plan on riding to Philly by the second day. Think it's about 120 miles. Then I was looking at the www.warmshowers.org site to see if there was anybody in between. Seems like there is. But mostly likely we'll get a hotel Sunday night somewhere just outside of Trenton and then bike the rest of the way to Philly on Monday. People keep asking me if I'm ready for a ride like this. I think so! Just have to get on the bike and find out. I weigh 250 lbs. I'm not a small guy. The two dudes tonight were like, it's probably an advantage. This way I have shit to burn. They are two small frame dudes that need to eat a ton to get energy.

Now I'm tired and going to bed. Have some shopping, packing and biking to do tomorrow. Still need to get my bike all geared up and go for a ride. I was planning on doing that today and it didn't happen. Not to concerned about it though. I feel confident this ride is part of my destiny.

~LHR