"Day Zero" is a day for arriving at the departure site, getting paperwork in order, watching a safety video, receiving tent assignments, checking in bikes, and delivering last-minute pledges. This will also be the last night to sleep in a real bed!
e-mail me during the Ride! or Sign my Guestbook
Marilyn and I are on the shuttle bus headed out of Bear Mountain back to our hote in Paramus for the night. We are the only two people on the bus. Our driver, Frank, is from Maine, and doesn't really know his way around these parts (neither do we -- I had to call friends last night at 11 to have them tell me how to get here!), so it was an adventure.When I was oredering a video they will produce of this event, I met a woman in line, Elizabeth, who will be the new head librarian at Phillips Academy in Andover in the fall. This is her 2nd Pallotta event. You can tell these things because everyone is wearing buttons with numbers on them. When I went to fetch "1" buttons for Marilyn and myself, there was a fellow getting a "25" button! He told me, "I know what I'm getting into, unlike you!" I'm not quite sure how to take that!
We're in line to watch the Safety Video -- a requirement of all participants. The sun is out (we're under a canopy), and it's a beautiful day -- quite contrary to the forecast earlier in the week for thundershowers. Of course I have been chatting up people -- everyone is very friendly! There doesn't does seem to be enough signal strength in this mountainous location to send my updates from here, but I'll keep trying. Once we get out onto the route, things should improve.
My bike is checked in! Everyone I passed was smiling & said "Hi!" Now off to drop off the car.
We are finally settled in to our hotel in Paramus, NJ, where we will be for tonight and tomorrow night. A room like any other hotel room, really. I have to keep reminding myself that the six months of training and fund-raising are finally over: all that remains is a bike ride. That makes the trek ahead feel so much more possible, but had you asked me in December, I don't know that I would have been able to say that I would be ready, but then, I don't know that I really thought I'd reach -- never mind smash! -- my original fund-raising goalof $5000 either. I am looking forward to meeting lots of new people on the Ride, and I hope to tell everyone about it here. But as for now, I need to get some sleep.