Entry #50 day 41

So here it  is my ticket home, I rented this from Enterprise for a one way rental to be dropped off at the Manchester Airport.

Hey and take notice Amtrak all my gear that you didn’t think would fit in a baggage car, look at that it all fits in a Nissan Rogue, if you would like you can hire me as a consultant I can show you how to load a train.

So I took off from Miami International around 10:30 AM and drove all the way to Maryland where I stopped at the  Chesapeake House Service Plaza at around 2 AM, did about 1100 miles on Sunday, I just wanted to get past Washington so I wouldn’t have to deal with the traffic on Monday morning. I did fuel up at South Of the Border, no road trip to or from Florida is complete without stopping at this cool place.

I wanted to keep Driving but I didn’t have an EZ pass in the car and I was running low on cash. So I decided to stop for the night and
take a nap. Hey look at this Amtrak my baggage car also doubles as a sleeper car, sure it was about 45 degrees out and my sleeping bag was wet but that didn’t stop me from sleeping.

I got up early enough to freshen up in the bathroom Ala trucker style, I grabbed a coffee and a cheese cake bread, also caught a little piece of the sunrise, not to shabby.

This cracked me up parking for 65000 cars, buses and trucks and this lady parks her SUV about 10 inches away from my door, I knew it was a lady because she caught me taking this picture, oh well.

I traveled the remaining 600 ish miles without incident, dropped the SUV off at Manchester Airport, told the car rental attendant that they might need an extra air freshener in the car because it was my home for the past 2 days. I reassembled my bike and pedaled home .

I did stop at Goodales Bike Shop on the way home to Thank Nick for the work he did rebuilding the Rincon, If you ever need your bike worked on this guy does great work and he is very pleasant to deal with.

Wow the palm trees down South don’t look this nice.

Finally Home again , Home again.

This was my final odometer reading 7609, I started the trip with 5377 for a grand total of 2232 miles.

Also on this ride I went from 205 pounds down to 177 pounds, its not an easy diet, my home cooked meals helped me lose weight too.

I have freakish tan lines which I can not show, my butt went through hell for which I don’t think it will ever forgive me.

When I began the ride my range of motion when I looked over my left shoulder was limited but because of the fear of being hit by I car I can now swivel my head around like an owl. I cant help but think of the old adage Use it or lose it, I also think of the saying “Do we stop riding bikes because we got old or did we get old because we stopped riding bikes”, you can replace bike riding with any other physical activity.

I realized that not all road treasure is worth stopping for, I found this gem on the road into Key West, it looks like it fell off a guy named “Dirty Mike” I tried it on but it just didn’t quite fit right, plus I was afraid I might run into Dirty Mike and he might See me wearing his bracelet.

I learned that a construction site is a welcome sight just like a rest area on the highway.

I also collected a few Porta potti names that I thought were kind of funny.

Good Knight John Boy

Got 2 Go

Elvis (thank you very much)

TNT. I don’t want anything explosive when it comes to a porta Potti

Dumpster which I thought might be confusing.

Floaters???????

Royal Flush

I came up with my own idea for a porta potti business “ Game of Portable Thrones”

3 models to choose from   The  Lannister complete with gold lion fixtures.

                                          The stark a good honest reliable pottie.

                                           And the Flea Bottom ...Not recomended.

I apologize to the people that don’t watch Game of Thrones this paragraph probably didn’t mean anything to you.

I was amazed at the kindness and generosity of strangers, I was reminded that there is no such thing as a stranger only friends that we have not yet met.

I also learned that as much as I will miss the guys that I used to work with, especially my old crew,

I know that there is definitely Life After Retirement and I am looking forward to enjoying it.

I want to dedicate this ride to my Dad. When I was about 9 years old my Dad brought me to Lavoie’s Market, he bought  2 Cream sodas for me and 2 beers for himself, we then rode our bikes along the Merrimack river all the way up to the Budweiser plant in Merrimack, on the way back after I had drank both of my sodas my dad let me drink some of his beer, that was the coolest adventure for a young boy. That adventure had made me realize the thrill of challenging yourself and the thrill of seeing sights that you have never seen, that feeling has never left me and for that I thank you Dad.