July 2 - Biking though: Massachusetes, Connecticut AND Rhode Island!

Today's simple delights include a brief encounter with a pleasant older woman who was outside watering her lawn. I was riding my single bike just a few feet behind tandem riders Al and Shaine (Will had raced ahead miles earlier) when I noticed the two had stopped by the roadside....again. It seems we had just taken a break a few miles back so I was momentarily puzzled by their stopping so soon. I noticed Shaine excitedly pointing up to the "Welcome to Connecticut" sign. Naturally, being the ham she is, she wanted a picture taken of her with the sign. As I got my camera ready, I noticed a woman several yards back tending her yard. The stone marker next to the "Welcome" sign seemed to border her lawn. "Excuse me," I called, "do you live in Connecticut?" "No," she replied with a smile, "I live in Massachusettes, but the neighbors across the street live in Connecticut!" I think I got a good photograph, afterall, but it will be hard to look at the picture and not spin trivial thoughts like, "what's it like to live right across the street from people in your neighborhood and not have your kids in the same school community? what about politics? taxes? garbage collection system? how about the zipcodes? area codes?" And the most amazing thing - 200 yards later, we buzzed back into Massachusetts! Seems Al had done this on purpose, so we could say we'd biked in Connecticut. We also spent about 15 minutes in Rhode Island in the morning!

Miles: Al (on Tandem and single) and Will: 56; Cheryl (on Tandem and single): 52; Ann (on Tandem): 22; Shaine (on Tandem): 18 Total miles: 98. Cheryl Bikrutz

**Next Day's Journal**

-Cheryl Bikrutz