Home... looking back

Home again, and a culture shock - as expected. It's time to start my new job, and it's time to move to my new condo. A side effect of moving to a new area is a chance to learn some new biking routes close to home, and to take some more "mystery rides". I'll use that to keep me busy and biking until I plan my next adventure.
When I checked in for my flight I was told that there was a chance that the bike wouldn't be on the same plane with me. I was taking a small commuter flight from Crescent City to San Francisco, and the flight was full. The airline staff told me that if the bike case didn't fit that they would send it on a later flight, deliver it to my house, and waive the $75 excess baggage fee. I was almost sorry that the bike and I did end up traveling together since it would have been nice to beat the bike fee - but I was happy to see the bike when I arrived at Logan Airport in Boston!

As I read back over my journal, I see a couple of themes to this trip - hills, rain, and fog - and beautiful scenery. There was definitely a lot of rain and fog, but I'd do the trip again in an instant. I've done my share of riding in the rain before this trip. In fact, last year I did a lot of my training rides in the rain. That was a first for me - it used to be that if it was raining that I wouldn't start out. But when I was getting ready for my Rocky Mountain tour I quickly realized that if I didn't train in the rain I wouldn't get any riding in at all - the sign of a very wet spring! This time my training rides were dry, but my tour was wet.

I also spent more nights in hotels than I'd planned, but again, I don't second guess my decisions on any of those nights. In an ideal world, I would have preferred more nights camping.