The Trip Home - WIth the family in Maine/Boston

For those looking for the posts about my ride cross country, the last post was "Day 69."  What begins today is the documentations of our trip home.  You are welcome to follow along though it likely won't be too exciting.  Like watching Winkler home movies!

What a surprise seeing the family at the finish line.  What’s even better is that we all get to be together until Monday.  The weather was awful but that didn’t dampen our spirits and the celebration was on.  We decided to hit some local pubs (shocker) including Lone Pine, Austin (a game of “never have I ever” that got a little personal) and Rising Tide (ate a bunch of pizza here) breweries and Bastons for a nightcap and some fancy cocktails.  The combination of having the family together in an area of the country we had never been before coupled with the relief of being done with the ride made for a terrific night.  We spent the evening in Wells, ME near the beach at Lindsay’s mother’s boyfriends beach house (got that?).  There was an RV Park real close which is where we stayed.  Boy did I sleep well.  The engine in the RV is not running well but the mattress continues to deliver,

The following day was Portland ME appreciation day.  We started off with lunch at Luke’s on the
waterfront. Of course, we had to have lobster, crab and shrimp rolls.  They were out of this world!  We visited a few more breweries (including Shipyard) and the kids wanted oyster shooters at Eventide.  How anyone can eat oysters is beyond me.  They make me gag.  We finished off the evening with Paula (Lindsay’s mom) and Brian at the beach house.  

Saturday was Boston MA appreciation day.  Before we left for the city, I decided to test out my heart with some run/walk exercise careful to not let things get out of hand.  I also tried some pushups and sit ups.  Wow. A different type of exercise than the last 70 days.  After exercising exclusively on a bike for 69 days my body is saying WTF?  This is definitely going to be an adjustment.  We originally had Red Sox tickets for Sunday but with Tropical Storm Henri on the way we decided to move it up to Saturday and that was a great choice other than the Sox go blown out by the last place Rangers 10-1.  Before the game we walked the wharf and had a drink at Bell in Hand (the oldest bar in the US!).  Brian was nice enough to allow us to stay in his driveway with the RV.  Didn’t do much for his property values but we certainly appreciated it.  

With Henri hitting Boston on Sunday there wasn’t much we could do.  We had a big late breakfast at the house then visited Harvard and did a little candlestick bowling.  Skinny pins and little balls.  It was really fun!  We grabbed some clam chowder, salad and bread and called it a night.  We had a wonderful time with the family in Portland and Boston.  Many thanks for such a wonderful surprise!

Since Nike is off next week, Kenzie surprised Cheryl and I and said she will join us for a few days on the trip back.  What a fun surprise.  It is off to New York and Washington DC for the next few days.  Heading South before we head West to get home.