Ughh. Greetings from Maine. The bighairscientist had quite a travel adventure yesterday/today. It was supposed to be an easy flight into Portland, ME via Atlanta, GA. The remnants of Hurricane Fay flattened any hope of that. Long story longer, I missed my connecting flight by 15 minutes, but they (Delta) hooked me up with a sweet, three-leg journey the next day (ATL to DCA to LGA to PWM) departing at 10a, arriving at 5p. There was no option of hotel reimbursement in Atlanta because the delay was due to weather, which basically meant that I would have to stay in the airport overnight. So as I was weighing my option(s) in the ticketing line, I noticed a 9:15p flight to Boston... It was 9:04p. I ditched the ticketing line and ran to the gate hoping that I could get on the Boston flight. As I was RUNNING there, I could hear the last boarding call. Even though this flight was the most unanticipated part of my journey, it was probably the smoothest. I arrived Boston at 12:03a, 26Aug08.
After arriving Boston, I made a few phone calls back West to my lady who was working the keyboard trying to find me some alternative travel arrangements. The warm and fuzzy feeling of finally arriving wore off quickly when I discovered that the last bus to Portland was at 11:25p, and the last train to Portland was at 11:20p. I'm thinking, 'Well, I'll get my bags and see if I can stay at my sister's place down by the Fens.' Of course, my checked bags were on a different flight... to Portland. At this point, I was ready to go Greg Focker on a ticket agent. ("By the way, your airline, you suck at checking bags. ...I'm finished with the checking-of-the-bags conversation.") Actually, I wasn't going to freak out, I just wanted a voucher or some type of credit for the big mess up. Not gonna happen folks. First the ticket counter was empty, gone for the night. Second, they only give you vouchers if there's a mechanical issue; they can't control the weather. After a few phone calls while walking between the empty ticket counter and empty baggage claim, they finally caved and gave me my voucher.
So there I am in Boston. I could get a cab to my sister's place, next day take the T (or cab) to South Station and hop the bus to Portland, or I could bite it and get a rental car. The rental car option prevailed, and I arrived Portland at 3:55a, 26Aug08. I found a local IPA in the fridge (gone at 3:57a) and hit the sack.
What the heck does this have to do with biking? Well, one of the last things I did in Cali was visit a friend who I've wanted to see for months. I've been saving this one in the back pocket for a while. Like I wrote in an earlier entry, I try to keep things light, and this is something that I have only recently come to terms with. Back in June, around the last day of classes at UCSC, a friend of mine went down in a bike accident while riding home on the campus bike path. I know a lot of people who have had bike accidents or who have been hit by cars. Shattered wrists, broken collarbones, trashed knees... You may never get back to 100%, but you get back on that bike. My friend, Ian Mackay, suffered a C2 spinal cord injury and is paralyzed from the neck down. http://caringbridge.org/visit/ianmackay
Every time I put on my helmet and throw a leg over the bike, I think of Ian. I don't think of what happened, I think of his positivity. It goes beyond that though. Whenever I feel like I might be under it, when flights get screwy and bags get lost, I think of a friend who despite being in a horrific accident still smiles and treats everyone like his best friend.
Ride safely and happy trails.
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