We are in the wonderful city of San Francisco... And what a day it has been! 16 hours after we left our respective homes, we reached an incredibly gorgeous hotel which has brought us quite a few laughs. lindsay and i arrived in San Fran on different flights due to weather, but we managed to sleep and not annoy the people around us with our excitement.
On my flight from Boston i had a very interesting talk with a hypnotist who works all over the country and had found his passion in sport hypnotism. He has actually worked with a few of the current Olympic athletes. He has 6 kids and was incredibly positive. He said his work has taught him to be patient and learn from people. He is also very black and white when it comes to getting things done. He said that "hope, wish, and try are childhood fantasies...but in reality you either do or you do not." The trying, wishing, and hoping, are the result of questioning yourself. When we exchanged business cards he told me to call him if i ever needed mental coaching (ummmm where was this guy 9.years ago??) I told him I'll call him when we reach the Rockies, and I'll tell him that i am hoping to get over them so he can tell us to just do it. ;)
So... Lindsay and i arrived separately, and tried to make it to our.hotel to check in.. We were battling the fact that we know nothing about transportation, our questionable sense of direction, our 50 lbs bags carrying our panniers, and distraction from our excitement of seeing each other and actually beginning this journey. We found that the plane ride was rather sobering because we were both trying to look for the flat sections in the mountains that we could ride on.. There aren't any though.
We got lost in our way to the bike shop and the bags were digging into our shoulders. I thought that was the worst off it until we actually put them on our bikes and started riding away (it was wonderful reuniting with our bikes. I could feel my eyes light up). i almost fell and could hardly go up a tiny incline art one of the traffic light s. I can hardly lift my bike. one would think that it would be easier walking with them... Its not. we were riding through the steers of this beautiful city in utter hysterics at some point and were surely sources of comic relief for some city dwellers. Neither Lindsay nor i have experience with bicycle touring and are definitely learning the tricks of cycling in general... Getting used to these new quarks and the new experiences are all part of the adventure. Lindsay and i laugh easily and are able to find the positives in most situations and roll with the punches. I certainly have a wonderful partner in crime.
I honestly wish we had a video camera when we entered this incredible hotel with our fully loaded bikes and overall get-up... The concierge did a double take when they realize d we were headed in (we could hardly fit through the door.l). The inside of the hotel is spectacular... It should be when the restaurant is selling bottles of wine that are nearly $800. It is beautiful. We got the feeling that they don't get a lot of bikers and had a laughing attacks trying to maneuver our bikes and not make a scene. We certainly celebrated our success in meeting our $15,000 fundraisinggoal. Thanks to you all.
Tomorrow we will set forth and begin an adventure of a lifetime.. We will put use the hours of training we invested in preparation for this. Finally. Sombody pinch me. This is about to get real... and I can't wait.
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