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Day 2, 65 miles, Monday August 18, 2008
Worcester, MA to Windsor Locks, CT (my odometer - 67.3 miles, 12.2 mph, 5h 29min 23 sec)
Up at 5:20; continental breakfast at hotel - scrambled eggs, waffle, 2 muffins, orange juice; 7:15 load luggage, 7:45 on the road, weather forecast was for a great day - sunny and mid 70's.
I was unable to connect to the internet last night so couldn't send my journal and pics to Ed. This morning I found out that it would have worked if I had gone down to the lobby. The schedule today was for a late departure (7:45) due to a shorter 65 miles. This opened up a 25 minute time for me to send my stuff to Ed, so I did. But, it took about 35 minutes before I could complete it and get "on the road." The 3 other cyclists I have been riding with were nice enough to wait for me so I wouldn't have to ride alone.
We rode about 6 miles through Worcester city streets before coming upon 'Dead Horse Hill.' I took out my camera to take a pic of the historic sign and my camera wouldn't turn on. I changed the batteries - didn't work. Checked the camera card and was surprised to find that it wasn't in the camera. In my haste back at the hotel, I had forgotten to remove it from the computer card reader and put it in the camera and my computer was in our luggage van somewhere out on the road. Other cyclists took pics and told me they would share later. However, I was very upset at myself. We then continued on, doing about 4,500 feet of climbing by the end of the day. There were many sections of the road that had large cracks and deep, wide pot holes, along with quite heavy traffic at times.
I called Julia (Ed's wife) and confirmed a previous connection plan. She would bring their kids, Hilary and Calvin to meet me along my route. They live in Stafford Springs and our route passed through Stafford, just a few miles away. It all worked out fine and they even made a sign (see pic below). They were so cute!
We didn't arrive at the hotel till about 3:15 PM. When we arrived, 3 members of the CT Alzheimer's Association were there with a sign to great me, Ed was there and a reporter from NBC TV channel 30, too! The reporter took some film and interviewed me. He told me that the interview would be aired tonight sometime between 5 and 6:30. I hope it did. [Editor's note - it did! See below!] I won't find out until tomorrow morning when Ed and Christy Kovel (CT Alz. Sr. Director of Public Policy & Communications) return to be present when I will be interviewed by telephone with WCCC 106.9-FM at 8am. This will be a live radio interview.
I also had a telephone interview with the Damon Scott show on 96.5 WTIC-FM after the Channel 30 interview. That was recorded and was supposed to air sometime tonight. This has been a very busy beginning of my 9 day ride to Washington DC!
After dinner I spent about an hour with 2 other cyclists - Connie Puddy and John Lewandowski were successful in transferring some of Connie's pics to my computer. The pics for today on my website were taken by Connie and Christy. Everyone had their own stuff to do but still took time to help me. Many thanks to everybody for that!
Route Rap was at 5:30 and then off to dinner at a Pizza Restaurant. I had a Lasagna dinner, garden salad and 2 large Pepsi. The food was excellent.
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