I woke up at 3:15, reluctant to leave my cozy bed but anxious to get to the airport and dispel fears of someone rear-ending me and squishing my bike or the airport somehow sending me home or something. Geoff, my airport ride angel, was ready to go when I got to his house just after 4:00--what a friend. Getting up in the wee pre-dawn hours to help get my journey started smoothly. At the airport, I awkwardly wrestled my boxes through a swirling mass of early-adolescent hormones en-route to D.C., unfortunately on my flight (40! 8th graders), but it was early, so some of them just sleepily attended their iPods.

Flight to Baltimore was uneventful--I sprawled out for a nap and waited for Cristey's plane to arrive, apprehensively watching my boxed bike sit upsidedown and sideways on top of a pile of luggage on the tarmac. Well, at least is WAS on top.

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Crazyguy Susan picked us up on our arrival to Norfolk, and I squished into the middle of the supposedly three man cab of her little red pickup (I think maybe it was built for three little green men or something). When we got to their house, we unloaded the bikes into the kitchen. Susan and Cristey made sandwiches, but I was anxious to see my bike and started in on assembling it, then thought maybe I was being unsociable and took my hostess-provided Pepsi (!) to the table.

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Susan went back to work, leaving me and Cristey to assemble the bikes. Mine was fine and just needed a slight cable adjustment. Cristey's was a bit more problematic, mainly because she'd never assembled it and because of bad directions for her never-mounted front rack. Joe came in from work and had her bike set in no time, though.

Then he left us to load up and test ride. My back panniers, for some reason, were stubborn, and I had a problematic rack bolt, but nothing that a little loctite and ingenuity couldn't fix. Cristey's panniers, however, just wouldn't work right without some duct taped modifications. She had never mounted the front bags, so that took a while to get sorted out. Joe mounted some customized safety triangles, Joe and Cristey went to the bike shop in search of some things she needed, I met neighbors Jim and Pearl and the injured crows Pearl is rehabilitating (yes, crows...), pizza was ordered, and by this time, I was so tired that I could barely eat. For those of you who know me, you know that's not usually a problem. We got more advice and stories from the Bousquets, whom Cristey has nominated for sainthood, before crashing hard for the night. I savored the use of TWO pillows one last time and happily lost consciousness.

Time 13:44, avg 6.9