7 May 2007:From Frenzied to Friendly
Mt. Pleasant to Cadillac: 64.8 mi; 36 degrees to school, 60s for ride
Talk about a surreal way to start a big day...
With a morning talk scheduled for 8:25, I arranged a wake-up call for 6:40 on the remote chance I would oversleep. Instead, I tossed and turned all night, waking up and immediately falling back asleep many times.
When I finally opened my eyes to check the time, my watch said 7:35. Panicked, I leapt from the bed, threw on my clothes, answered the hour-late wakeup call, and rushed downstairs. I stuffed a few muffins and an apple from the continental breakfast in a bag and biked three miles in near-freezing temps to the school.
My watch showed 8:15 when I got there - my agreed time to arrive. The school was locked and dark, so I had to call their number to get someone to let me in. The person who arranged my talk didn't arrive for another 30 minutes. When she got there, Holly remarked that I had arrived rather early. After all, it was only 7:45!
I have NO idea why my watch was off by an hour. I had set it ahead two hours when I flew in. I'm sure it was right when I left the airport, and the following morning waiting for the museum to open. I could swear I'd turned on the 10:00 news at 10:20 the night before. So am I resetting my watch in my sleep? (That'd be a trick - I have a hard enough time setting it when I'm awake.)
The talk went well (but for a DVD glitch) at the school. The ride to Cadillac excelled -- for the third day running, my biking speed increased, even with the late hills slowing me down. With the exception of one narrow, dusty stretch, the roads were a biker's paradise.
As I get further from the big cities in the south, I'm finding the Michiganders to be a very friendly lot. In Clare, Chuck and Mary asked me all about my trip as I stopped for a protein break, and were extremely grateful when I gave them a book (they reciprocated by giving me Cliff bars and Larabars). A half hour later, in Farwell, three different people stopped to ask about my trip or tell me about the road ahead.
In Cadillac, the Essenmacher family were incredible hosts. I chatted with Vickie and Andrea (who had just graduated from med school) until Doug came home. We then met another Friend of the Library (Rosemary, who first arranged my talk) for dinner as they treated me to Mexican food. After my library talk, they gave me a tour of the scenic town.
The library talk went well, even when we couldn't get the DVD to play. I regaled 22 people with memories of the road, and sold xsix books to boot That ranks as one of my best talks ever!
Talk about a surreal way to start a big day...
With a morning talk scheduled for 8:25, I arranged a wake-up call for 6:40 on the remote chance I would oversleep. Instead, I tossed and turned all night, waking up and immediately falling back asleep many times.
When I finally opened my eyes to check the time, my watch said 7:35. Panicked, I leapt from the bed, threw on my clothes, answered the hour-late wakeup call, and rushed downstairs. I stuffed a few muffins and an apple from the continental breakfast in a bag and biked three miles in near-freezing temps to the school.
My watch showed 8:15 when I got there - my agreed time to arrive. The school was locked and dark, so I had to call their number to get someone to let me in. The person who arranged my talk didn't arrive for another 30 minutes. When she got there, Holly remarked that I had arrived rather early. After all, it was only 7:45!
I have NO idea why my watch was off by an hour. I had set it ahead two hours when I flew in. I'm sure it was right when I left the airport, and the following morning waiting for the museum to open. I could swear I'd turned on the 10:00 news at 10:20 the night before. So am I resetting my watch in my sleep? (That'd be a trick - I have a hard enough time setting it when I'm awake.)
The talk went well (but for a DVD glitch) at the school. The ride to Cadillac excelled -- for the third day running, my biking speed increased, even with the late hills slowing me down. With the exception of one narrow, dusty stretch, the roads were a biker's paradise.
As I get further from the big cities in the south, I'm finding the Michiganders to be a very friendly lot. In Clare, Chuck and Mary asked me all about my trip as I stopped for a protein break, and were extremely grateful when I gave them a book (they reciprocated by giving me Cliff bars and Larabars). A half hour later, in Farwell, three different people stopped to ask about my trip or tell me about the road ahead.
In Cadillac, the Essenmacher family were incredible hosts. I chatted with Vickie and Andrea (who had just graduated from med school) until Doug came home. We then met another Friend of the Library (Rosemary, who first arranged my talk) for dinner as they treated me to Mexican food. After my library talk, they gave me a tour of the scenic town.
The library talk went well, even when we couldn't get the DVD to play. I regaled 22 people with memories of the road, and sold xsix books to boot That ranks as one of my best talks ever!
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