First we had to find bike boxes, which we easily scored at Bobcat Bicycles. Dragging them back to the motel was another story. But we giggled as we tried to hold onto our 56 by 31 inch boxes, spinning in the wind and attempting to walk straight.
Back at the motel we separated out what we wanted to keep (clothes, toiletries, journals) and what we wanted to send back (tent, cook set, bike shorts). Then we loaded our bikes up with one pannier each, and even invented a way of attaching the boxes to the bikes, which involved bungees and balancing the boxes on a pedal, prohibiting any backwards motion.
We geared up for the 15 block walk to the nearest UPS store. I would never think to look for any other shipping providers because my uncle works for UPS and our family is loyal to brown. But after one block of trying to keep my bike in a straight line, I looked up and a FedEx store was staring me in the face. I easily caved. We stopped and packaged them up right there. Sorry uncle Frank! I'm weak!
In 15 minutes we'll walk to the Salinas Amtrak station and hop on the Coastal Starlight which will stick mostly to the coast so we get to see the scenery we are missing by not riding our bikes. We'll say goodbye to Steinbeck country. He's from Salinas so there's a museum and statutes around town. I picked up Cannery Row now that Lyon is finished, and was reading it in the window of a coffee shop yesterday. A man walked by with his dog and slowed, tapping the glass to get my attention. He pointed to his shirt and I saw that it had a quote by John Steinbeck on it, "I guess there can never be enough books." I smiled and gave him a thumbs up, he returned the gesture and kept walking.
On to L.A. Hina, here we come.
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Wow, guys. A milestone! Congrats. I think, however, that sending the bike shorts home was a mistake - they could have been high fashion for the rest of your trip!
ReplyDeleteEnjoy the train ride, and have fun in LA. See you in Austin next week!
xo
PS - Cannery Row is one of my absolute favorite books. I bet it's even better in CA.
Janis and Bobby made it to Salinas but barely...so glad Alice didn't "let him slip away..." and thrilled for you both that you had such a great trip!
ReplyDelete"Freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose,
Nothing, that's all that Bobby left me, yeah,
But feeling good was easy, Lord, when he sang the blues,
Hey, feeling good was good enough for me, hmm hmm,
Good enough for me and my Bobby McGee."
couldn't resist!
Have a blast in LA. I bet the train ride was wonderful. You could eat, read, talk, blog almost anything WHILE MOVING! and really take in the views.
I second Cannery Row. What a good one. East of Eden too! Anyway, congrats and I'm so jealous of Sarah. I hope I'll be down soon (ACL 2011 at the latest maybe?) But have run coving many miles quickly and enjoy LA!
ReplyDeletesuch a vivid and entertaining entry...great shot of the box transport, and dismembering children! YIKES!...it's tough enough to separate from them. We miss you both!
ReplyDeletealready vaguely planning a trip. I looked at a Texas map for the first time with an eye to driving distances from city to city as opposed to simply a curious-about-this-HUGE-state eye.
Train travel is the greenest way to go! I hope you and Lyon enjoyed your Amtrak journey, and that you post lots of photos from that leg of the trip. Also, please pass along my warmest regards to the strikingly-beautiful Miss Hina!
ReplyDeleteOh and by the way... Amtrak also provides daily service from New York to TORONTO via Albany and Niagara Falls. Just wanted you to be aware...
ReplyDeleteI'll admit it...I'm hooked! I keep going back to Coasting, hoping for news and views of you two. I know your adventures continue, hope you are having a wonderful and relaxing and fun time in LA. Hello to Hina. XO to you both, V.
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