TWO CONCLUSIONS

January 22, 2024

G-2's Conclusion

Hello everybody G-2 here. I'd like to thank you for reading about the bike tour Doris and I took. I'm not much of a writer. That's why I had my human alter-ego write about the tour for me. Then I found out he's not much of a writer either. By the first day I could see he's mostly a buffoonish gasbag. At least he can manipulate a big keyboard with his fingers better than I can with my tires. He also has the ability to write compound sentences complete with commas. I don't.

We had great fun on our tour. Fun is what bike touring is all about. That's one of many things we learned. Another thing Doris and I learned is that love was our destiny. Love prevails. Love is blind. Love will keep us together. Love hurts. Radar love. Love love love - love is all you need. I could go on.

We were so fortunate to be able to travel in all four corners of Hastings- World. We spent a motel night in the southern sector. We camped in the far west. We camped in North Hastings. We honeymooned in the Midtown area. We explored the east side on our last day. The wrong side of the tracks. Windy.

It was our pleasure to taste the different food cultures. Tacos in the south. Spaghetti in the north. Crunchy Cheetos in the west. Puffy Cheetos in the east. The people were friendliest in the south. They were more reserved in the north. The accents were different too. What a wonderful world we live in.

The most important thing we learned is that we don't need Greg anymore. We're free! We've got each other. We've scored good jobs in the TV cartoon industry. We are saving up to move out of Greg's bookshelf. I won't have to accompany him on his stupid bike tours anymore. Those days are all over. He'll have to find a new companion. He probably will.

Greg's Conclusion

It was my pleasure to write about Doris and G-2's adventure, using a multitude of compound sentences, hundreds of commas, and unbounded wordiness. Thank you, G-2, for acknowledging my greatest skills. And, yes, I can type like crazy with these nimble fingers.

It all started with Mr. Sanders' class called "Typing 101" in my sophomore year of high school. We were taught to type stuff on manual typewriters without looking at the keyboard. We were measured by our "Words Per Minute" with subtractions for mistakes. More than any of my other classes, it prepared me for typing my own papers in college. I could not believe how many of my college friends paid other people to type up their compositions.

Nowadays, when computers correct our mistakes for us, I still consider that typing class to be more relevant to my life than any math, science, or history class. High school wrestling is a close second. Literature is right up there too.

************

Anyway, thanks for looking at this journal. It was a failure in that I didn't get out there in the wind, cold and snow for an overnight tour in the month of January. In my defense, at the very least it did include some of my wintertime bike rides. Let's agree to call it a "winter chronicle" instead of a "winter tour."

It's time to close out this journal. See you again in a few months.

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Bob DistelbergWell, I'm very happy for G-2 and Doris. I hope they have a long and wonderful life together. I'm betting we'll see them in the future though.
And by the way, I'm in total agreement on that high school typing class. I can still hear Mrs. Valentine chanting "A, S, D, F, semi, L, K, J", teaching us those home keys. It's a skill I've used my entire adult life.
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9 months ago

Gregory GarceauTo Bob DistelbergAmen to that, Bob. It was hard work to learn typing back then. Kids these days have it too easy.
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9 months ago

Bob DistelbergTo Gregory GarceauThen again, I'm pretty terrible typing with just my thumbs like the youngsters do.
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9 months ago

Bill ShaneyfeltI agree typoing is a really grape skill! With my slack of corodination, my sophomore typinig grade just barley scarped by with a C-. However, I actually probably douse it more than any otther skill I learned through the end of hihg schooll... My coordination has not gotten any badder, but it is what it is.

At only a week from completing my 78th lap around the sun, I have reluctantly concluded it is unlikely to improve. (You would probably be amazed at how many times I had to stop and backspace out and re-type a word, sometimes more than once in this post.) What takes a normal person 15 seconds to type takes me maybe 15 minutes if I fix mistakes.
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9 months ago

Karen PoretTo Bill ShaneyfeltIt’s alright, Bill! Your skills in identification of plants, animals, etc is invaluable to those of us who are fortunate to learn of your insights.:)
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9 months ago

Suzanne GibsonI wouldn't believe a thing G-2 says. He's going to come knocking at your door, just wait.
As for typing, I taught myself in order to type my x- husband's doctoral thesis while I sat home with a baby. I might not have been out there building a career but being able to type has been invaluable.
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9 months ago

Nancy GrahamOverdue congratulations to the newlyeds, and I refuse to believe G2 when he says no more tours with Greg. I will believe that only when I see it.
Typing - ah yes the days in typing class. I never really got very good at it, but never have had to use it for any career I chose. It has come in use for the computer and iPod though, and I love the self check for spelling ;’-).
Thank you for the chronicle of their tour and I will now look forward to one you do on your own (with maybe that G2 hitching a ride).
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9 months ago

Gregory GarceauTo Nancy GrahamYeah, the idea of not having G-2 harassing me on my next bike tour seems almost too good to be true.
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9 months ago

Gregory GarceauTo Suzanne GibsonThat is a great story of self-taught typing education. Thank you for sharing it, Suzanne.
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9 months ago

Gregory GarceauTo Bill ShaneyfeltI hate to be the one to point out all of your misspellings and grammatical errors, but I felt it had to be done. An appreciation for the humor in your message also had to be done. Thank you.
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9 months ago

Bill ShaneyfeltTo Gregory Garceau:-)
Just tp be up front, not all the typos were intentiional... These were not. But some, yeah, tryin' ta be funny. Thanks for the good times!

As for using typing in my career, in 37 years and 6 days, of civil service, I either had a nice computer to back space out errors or a secretary to do the typing. It came in handy byt was (that but was unintentionally done) not essential. As for history and my Zoology major and Chemistry and Physics, well, they were also marginally helpful. U (I) often told folks "I'm really a Zoologist. I just do this for a liviing." (error not intended) Meanwhile pulling a collapsible fishing rod rigged with a lizard noose from my jacket pocket as I stalked a lizard on a pallet of ammo. As an interesting side note, I knew 5 other "Safety Zoologists" who were not able to find employment in our chosen field of education.

Thanks again for the deaily entertainment (again not intednded typo). Grrrr!
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9 months ago

Rich HarrellGreit Gernoule

Az yu kan see I dondt to well wath trping ag ill - mecer hive unt neker will..
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9 months ago

Karen PoretTo This is not for myself..( duh) I am trying to contact Gregory as I have a comic strip photo he would probably like to see! It appears writing a reply on Cycle Blaze is the only “ contact”. CGOAB allows you the option to post a photo. Thank you for any assistance.
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8 months ago

Gregory GarceauTo Karen PoretHi Karen, you can email the comic strip picture to me.
clickorama@embarqmail.com

-Greg
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8 months ago

Emily SharpHi G-2,
Maybe someday you'll want to tour again with Greg when Doris is off doing her own solo thing every so often.
I hope your thoughts about love continue and carry you through all the mundane times of marriage and kids and careers and all that stuff that you most people sign up for when they get married. We've seen at least a few solo cyclists catch the love bug and give up really impressive, adventurous lives for mundane, domestic lives where your only riding excitement is riding bike paths with little children to school. And then, by the time the nest is empty, you end up too old and unfit to do the daring things you once did. I hope the compromises are worth it for you. And may the road only call softly when you can't get out there due to all the ties of career, kids, wife, etc. All the best to you and Doris, may there be a few more tours before you succumb to the mundane.
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8 months ago

Gregory GarceauHi Emily, and thanks for your cautionary advice about how the mandane stuff can effect love and marriage. The good news is that Doris and I will never stop cycling. We literally never get off our bikes. Another thing we've got going for us is that cartoon characters never age or get out of shape. And the only way we can have children is if our illustrator draws one for us, which isn't likely considering the lazy bum of a cartoonist we've got.

Sincerely, G-2
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8 months ago

Gregory GarceauTo Emily SharpHi Emily, G-2 here. I responded to your message, but I forgot to hit the "reply to" button. So you'll have to go to the journal to read it. Sorry about that.
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8 months ago