A few days in Massachusetts

Toni, Ryan, Kyle and I flew to Boston on Thursday, arriving at Logan Airport about 4:30 in the afternoon. My brother, Bill, drove us out to my niece Karen’s house in a suburb of Boston (Natick), where we brought in Thai and Korean food from Dah Mee and briefly caught up with her family before we continued to Northfield in Western Mass.

We spent Friday at my brother’s house, where Ryan and Kyle learned to drive a riding lawn mower and got a quick view of several of the colleges in Amherst. I got my literary fix as we passed Robert Frost Hall at Amherst College and, a few minutes later, Emily Dickinson’s house. As my brother drove me around the area in his Miata, I was focused as much on how steep (or not) the hills would be to climb while on a bicycle as I was on driving in a convertible with the top down on a sunny, warm day. Though I haven’t been able to ride since I packed my bike up last Sunday to ship out here, riding has remained on my mind! We ate well of the local fare: pancakes with fresh, wild blueberries for breakfast, sweet Maine lobster and fresh corn for dinner.

Saturday, my brother drove me up to the start of the ride in Portsmouth, while Toni and the boys headed into Boston for some sightseeing before they catch a train to New York on Sunday. Traffic crawled most of the way to Portsmouth, and I arrived just in time to check in, get my bike put together and head off to orientation. I had hoped to ride the few miles up to Maine, but so far have only been able to take a spin around the hotel parking lot to make sure the bike is in working order.

There are 18 of us on the ride, the vast majority of whom are going all the way to Florida. Most are from the east coast, though a few are from the Midwest and Texas; none has come as far as I have. From conversations around dinner and the orientation, it sounds as though we have a very experienced group of long-distance riders. Several have ridden with ABB on previous tours, and those who haven’t sound as though they’ve been riding long distances for a good number of years.