I've been putting off this blog entry, my last blog entry, for some time. It is an unfortunate day. A day when you realize that all of your planning and excitement of your summer adventure is not only coming to a close, but has officially ended. When I was a kid, the worst day of the year was always Christmas. Not the morning part of Christmas, but the late afternoon part. When all of the wrapping paper had settled, I'd finished eating my sugary cereal that occupied the whole of my stocking (pretty good cheap thinking on my parent's part) and the excitement of Christmas had started to wane it hits you. Christmas is over. I was looking forward to it for so long, counting down the days with that cardboard rectangle with a little piece of chocolate behind each door or the candle that you get to burn a little bit each night, and in the blink of an eye, it has come and gone. All the anticipation and hype is gone, and it is back to waiting. Another 365 days until Christmas.
My waiting, however won't be 365 days. For one part, I don't know the next time I will have an entire summer to blow without any responsibility. Also, the next time around my wife is going to find a way to come with me. And the second part, medical school orientation officially starts in 13 days. People keep on asking me if I am excited for school to start. I don't know. Today I slept in, finished a movie, cleaned up the house and am going for a bike ride. The lazy life? Likely so. I guess my answer to that question is, whether I'm excited or not it's going to happen.
Arrived at DTW yesterday at 6pm. Katy was, of course, waiting. It was great to see her. I cut my trip short by a couple of days, and 700 miles, because I couldn't wait to see her. The drive home from the airport was odd. Kind of like, whoa, we're married. Like hanging out with one of your good friends from elementary school that you've shared so much of your life with, but at the same time they are a stranger.
Katy had a great evening planned. We went to a nearby State Park, had a picnic, went swimming. Then because we were 3 minutes late to DQ, we meandered up Packard on our tandem to the new Frozen Yogurt joint. Katy is somewhat particular about her desserts, but DQ and frozen yogurt make the list. The Peanut Butter flavor was out, so everyone else in line quickly passed through and got one of the other 13 flavors on tap. Not Katy, she didn't exactly insist that the Peanut Butter flavor be replenished, but she did let it be known that it was her favorite flavor, so the lady working there insisted she refill it and Katy get what she wanted. Then we sat at the corner of Liberty and Maynard until about midnight before cruising our way home, always to the shouts of "nice bike". It really is a nice bike, after my wife, my tandem is what I had missed the most.
When we get home Katy has an email to send, so I turn on The Dark Knight. I saw The Dark Knight Rises the other day (opening night, midnight showing, yeah I'm one of those types of people) and that made me all anxious to see the The Dark Knight again to tie up the story line.
This morning is when it really hit me. I wake up early at 6:45am, fix Katy's flat tire, say a prayer and she's off to work . . . and I'm back asleep. I'm on SLC time, and lazy SLC time at that. All week I've been staying up late and watching Breaking Bad (actually rewatching seasons 1-4 because season 5 just started and I want to know the plot inside and out). And by staying up late I mean watching until 2 or 3 or 4 in the morning. So I slept in this morning, to keep with my routine, and didn't wake up until noon. Which isn't that bad when you consider it's only 10am SLC time.
Finished watching The Dark Knight, and then faced with the awful task of cleaning up my stuff. I hate packing, and unpacking. Throughout this unpacking process I had some interesting thoughts. Taking my tent, sleeping bag, pad, stove etc. to the basement I realized I have an entire floor of my house that serves no purpose other than to hold "stuff". I've survived all summer on a bike and 2 panniers and a dry bag (which was later changed for a backpack) and I get home to an entire floor of my house that just has "stuff". If you ask me, one of the problems with the American lifestyle. All our stuff. Then I'm unpacking my clothes. I went the whole summer on 1 pair of shorts, 1 pair of pants and 4 shirts. Now I've got an entire closet-full. More than I can really count. In fact, I can't even remember when I wore half of that stuff. Much different than this summer when I said, Well, I've worn those shorts for 15 days in a row, and that shirt for 4 days and those socks for a week. You think I better do some wash? It is a bit shocking to see all of these "possessions". Then my shoes. All week I've been itching to buy a pair of shoes, Birkenstocks of course, because I've been in the same pair of shoes for over 8 weeks. Each shoe has 3 holes in it, in perfectly symmetrical relation to the other shoe. A manufacturing error if you ask me. Or maybe overuse. But I've got so many shoes here. Sometimes, at times like this I guess, I just think to myself, why on Earth do I have all of this stuff? You've probably heard the saying, He who dies with the most stuff wins. You've probably also heard this one: He who dies with the most stuff still dies. I prefer the latter. Sometimes I would like to toss my possessions and simplify simplify simplify. Guess that's kind of what I did this summer.
Anyways, I'm here at home, it's 4:15pm, Katy is at work and I'm sitting on the couch. After unpacking I did my daily clean up of all the left out dishes and tidying up. Now I just have to reassemble that bike and adjust the derailleurs on my tandem. At 7pm Katy and I are going for a ride. It should be fun, she has a century coming up and has been doing a lot of training.
Well, my trip has come to a close. Done, finished, over, complete. I enjoyed every bit of it and am sad it's over. In the last 70 days I've been gone I've slept in 47 different places. It's nice to be on the move, and it's also nice to stay put. Just got an email from a WS cyclist, he's hoping to be able to stay over tomorrow night. Guess it's time to start repaying all of the kindnesses I've received along the way. This past week was also great, a rest stop at my home in SLC before reaching Ann Arbor. Obviously, I spent as much time as possible in the mountains, hiking from Little to Big and Big to Millcreek and a hike up to Lake Blanche with Elizabeth and Charlie on my shoulders. You never realize how great the mountains are until they are gone. It was also great being with my family, I feel a bit like the outcast who hasn't been home much lately. I love my family, and it's hard knowing they get to hang out with each other every day while I'm over here in MI. To those of you have been reading any of this, I hope you enjoyed reading as much as I've enjoyed writing.
I've been thinking of some lyrics to end this journey I've had. Music is, I think, the best way to convey feelings and emotions. So, I guess I will end with, The End, The Beatles, Abbey Road. "And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make."
My waiting, however won't be 365 days. For one part, I don't know the next time I will have an entire summer to blow without any responsibility. Also, the next time around my wife is going to find a way to come with me. And the second part, medical school orientation officially starts in 13 days. People keep on asking me if I am excited for school to start. I don't know. Today I slept in, finished a movie, cleaned up the house and am going for a bike ride. The lazy life? Likely so. I guess my answer to that question is, whether I'm excited or not it's going to happen.
Arrived at DTW yesterday at 6pm. Katy was, of course, waiting. It was great to see her. I cut my trip short by a couple of days, and 700 miles, because I couldn't wait to see her. The drive home from the airport was odd. Kind of like, whoa, we're married. Like hanging out with one of your good friends from elementary school that you've shared so much of your life with, but at the same time they are a stranger.
Katy had a great evening planned. We went to a nearby State Park, had a picnic, went swimming. Then because we were 3 minutes late to DQ, we meandered up Packard on our tandem to the new Frozen Yogurt joint. Katy is somewhat particular about her desserts, but DQ and frozen yogurt make the list. The Peanut Butter flavor was out, so everyone else in line quickly passed through and got one of the other 13 flavors on tap. Not Katy, she didn't exactly insist that the Peanut Butter flavor be replenished, but she did let it be known that it was her favorite flavor, so the lady working there insisted she refill it and Katy get what she wanted. Then we sat at the corner of Liberty and Maynard until about midnight before cruising our way home, always to the shouts of "nice bike". It really is a nice bike, after my wife, my tandem is what I had missed the most.
When we get home Katy has an email to send, so I turn on The Dark Knight. I saw The Dark Knight Rises the other day (opening night, midnight showing, yeah I'm one of those types of people) and that made me all anxious to see the The Dark Knight again to tie up the story line.
This morning is when it really hit me. I wake up early at 6:45am, fix Katy's flat tire, say a prayer and she's off to work . . . and I'm back asleep. I'm on SLC time, and lazy SLC time at that. All week I've been staying up late and watching Breaking Bad (actually rewatching seasons 1-4 because season 5 just started and I want to know the plot inside and out). And by staying up late I mean watching until 2 or 3 or 4 in the morning. So I slept in this morning, to keep with my routine, and didn't wake up until noon. Which isn't that bad when you consider it's only 10am SLC time.
Finished watching The Dark Knight, and then faced with the awful task of cleaning up my stuff. I hate packing, and unpacking. Throughout this unpacking process I had some interesting thoughts. Taking my tent, sleeping bag, pad, stove etc. to the basement I realized I have an entire floor of my house that serves no purpose other than to hold "stuff". I've survived all summer on a bike and 2 panniers and a dry bag (which was later changed for a backpack) and I get home to an entire floor of my house that just has "stuff". If you ask me, one of the problems with the American lifestyle. All our stuff. Then I'm unpacking my clothes. I went the whole summer on 1 pair of shorts, 1 pair of pants and 4 shirts. Now I've got an entire closet-full. More than I can really count. In fact, I can't even remember when I wore half of that stuff. Much different than this summer when I said, Well, I've worn those shorts for 15 days in a row, and that shirt for 4 days and those socks for a week. You think I better do some wash? It is a bit shocking to see all of these "possessions". Then my shoes. All week I've been itching to buy a pair of shoes, Birkenstocks of course, because I've been in the same pair of shoes for over 8 weeks. Each shoe has 3 holes in it, in perfectly symmetrical relation to the other shoe. A manufacturing error if you ask me. Or maybe overuse. But I've got so many shoes here. Sometimes, at times like this I guess, I just think to myself, why on Earth do I have all of this stuff? You've probably heard the saying, He who dies with the most stuff wins. You've probably also heard this one: He who dies with the most stuff still dies. I prefer the latter. Sometimes I would like to toss my possessions and simplify simplify simplify. Guess that's kind of what I did this summer.
Anyways, I'm here at home, it's 4:15pm, Katy is at work and I'm sitting on the couch. After unpacking I did my daily clean up of all the left out dishes and tidying up. Now I just have to reassemble that bike and adjust the derailleurs on my tandem. At 7pm Katy and I are going for a ride. It should be fun, she has a century coming up and has been doing a lot of training.
Well, my trip has come to a close. Done, finished, over, complete. I enjoyed every bit of it and am sad it's over. In the last 70 days I've been gone I've slept in 47 different places. It's nice to be on the move, and it's also nice to stay put. Just got an email from a WS cyclist, he's hoping to be able to stay over tomorrow night. Guess it's time to start repaying all of the kindnesses I've received along the way. This past week was also great, a rest stop at my home in SLC before reaching Ann Arbor. Obviously, I spent as much time as possible in the mountains, hiking from Little to Big and Big to Millcreek and a hike up to Lake Blanche with Elizabeth and Charlie on my shoulders. You never realize how great the mountains are until they are gone. It was also great being with my family, I feel a bit like the outcast who hasn't been home much lately. I love my family, and it's hard knowing they get to hang out with each other every day while I'm over here in MI. To those of you have been reading any of this, I hope you enjoyed reading as much as I've enjoyed writing.
I've been thinking of some lyrics to end this journey I've had. Music is, I think, the best way to convey feelings and emotions. So, I guess I will end with, The End, The Beatles, Abbey Road. "And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make."
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| Charlie and I up Millcreek. |
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| I'm home. Love this girl. |
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| I like Diet Coke. |
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| It is now evident that I, and my stuff, have returned home. |
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| Yum. |
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| Doesn't Devil's Castle hold a special place in everyone's heart? |
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