A new sneaker for Mack

When we parked last night I discovered that Mack had a blown front sneaker (flat tire) and decided that I would get to it after my first cup. 

It was our second day on the road and Wayne Hancock’s “Thunderstorms and Neon Signs” was playing on the satellite radio. A good omen, I thought.

By morning Mack had a new sneaker and we were ready to roll again. The tire change was uneventful; there was no obvious sign of what was wrong. Here's hoping it is just the valve stem.

One lesson I surely learned was that Roz doesn’t do too well on country mountain roads. Switchbacks galore, narrow lanes, and steep upgrades and downgrades made for a harrowing 30 or so miles, especially the last five on a steep downgrade. Wow, did her brakes get hot and smell like they were on fire. She probably would have been fine by herself, but with Mack in tow, that's an additional few thousand pounds of push down the hill. And he doesn’t do any of the braking. How ungrateful he is.

We made it without incident, but I bet my blood pressure spiked a bit. I have made a resolution: NO MORE COUNTRY MOUNTAIN ROADS. Only highways and interstates through mountains. It's a hard resolution to keep for me because I do so love country mountain roads.

Another bit I need to remember: Check ALL cabinet doors and latches. The entire pantry and refrigerator contents ended up on the floor in one particularly tight turn. Fortunately the liquid container lids stayed on.

Today was the first of many rendezvous with CycleFish members. I was graciously invited to dinner at Levere and Steven's place and they served the absolute best pot roast I have eaten in a very long time. MMMmmmm, and pumpkin pie and homemade shortbread for dessert. Levere, you can COOK! Steven, you are a lucky guy! (Levere, I know he knows!) I was in culinary heaven. They sent me off with a care package and I didn’t argue. The shortbread will go great with coffee tomorrow morning and the roast will be tomorrow's dinner.

It was great to see them both and chat about all things bike and house construction. Steven, I still want to hear that train whistle on a bike. Wouldn’t that get the cage driver's attention!?

This well-kept Maryland state park features gorgeous mountain scenery and spacious sites. The restrooms and showers are impeccably clean and have plenty of hot water. Once we arrived, Riley took me for a walk and showed me all the sites that interested him. I lost track of how many times he stopped to sniff and I had to urge him to move on. So many new smells and only one nose.

On our second day here I saw some bear sign. Not much but they are around. Sometime in the middle of the night I woke up from a funny but not so good dream. You see, there was this bear family at the door knocking and holding Riley’s food bowl. One was pointing to it as if to say, “Hey! We want more.” I forgetfully left it set on the ground outside the door. You can imagine how relieved I was to wake and realize it was just a dream. I immediately got up and brought Riley’s bowl inside. It is so weird how this thing (sometimes called a brain) I have in my head works. I had to fall asleep to remember that when in bear country leave no food out. Jen Sweeney I was remembering your bear story from Bushkill Falls.