Riding the Squiggly

Well . . . this is the story of us getting miserable lost, having 2 hard core flats, and a humongous home coming celebration.

We started this morning in Scarborough, ME. The Winslow family put us up and sent us off with packed lunches as well as several very detailed and simple to follow maps . . . until, we accidentelly missed a turn, and . . . being the proud men that we are, we decided that rather than turn around, we would find a new way to get to New Hampshire!

20 miles later, we ended up about 3 miles South. ha ha. Slightly frustrated, we pedaled on and finally arrived in Madbury, NH several hours and miles more than we had originally inteded. Let's just say that our final route ended up being much more of a circular, squiggly line than the straight shot it was originally meant to be. Another frustrating factor was that every third squiggle, Tom would get another flat. Tom's tire's are like metal detectors for nail. ppppsssssssss . . . "uh, hold up, hold up. My tire. My tire."

Despite all of this ridiculousness, we ended the day with a spectacular home coming. Ellen, whose son Sean has neuroblastoma, called ahead to her sister Kate who lives in Madbury, NH, and she rounded up her entire neighborhood to welcome us. They made a huge sign "Rally Across America: Welcome to Madbury," and they got a reporter to come from the local paper.

Together, they proved to us once again that flat tires and wrong turns make little difference - all that really matters is arriving! Speaking of which we have over 100 miles to cover tomorrow - make sure to come back and check on us :)

~ Austin