June 21st Ride Reports

[Geonz]

In the 8 months I was in W. Columbia I had my legs and feet completely devoured by the fleas in my apartment when I moved in, my car stolen a couple weeks later, a gunshot through my bedroom ceiling (the neighbor was cleaning his gun), a strange man in my bedroom at 3 a.m. (I convinced him to leave), and a woman who had found *my* outgoing credit card payment in her mailbox - some four or five miles away from me - with her husband's (and hers) return address on it (I didn't know her *or* her husband, she just appeared at my door with her mother, thinking her hubby might be having an affair with me). Let's not even talk about the too-hot weather or the palmetto bugs :-)
(Ah, but there was George, the angel, who appeared when I arrived with my car in tow behind the rental van, my buddy-with-a-bad-back, and my cars brakes *gone* because somehow I'd left the emergency brake on. George just appeared and hauled box after box after box ("more books?!") , and told me a guy who could fix my brakes... and I was a grad student and hadn't even switched bank accounts yet ... )
Ride-wise, yes, we charged into the headwind and rode to Monticello and the solstice bonfire. Fortunately the winds died down a tad halfway there - it was about 25 miles and it was getting tedious :-) (we also had to walk a mile where the road was totally torn up, which was a nice break). Brings the month to 771... 9 days to do 229 miles...