November 1
Now that we’re into November, I can spill the beans about all the random work in the garage and with the quad I’ve been doing. In January of 2010, we were invited to get in early on a Tandem Tour that was based off a motorized sailing yacht that included riding in Spain, Gibraltar, Morocco, and Portugal . We discussed with the people at Santana who were offering the tour about whether it was a romantic getaway, or if it would be ok to bring the girls. Jan, the tour organizer, actually talked us into bringing them. So even though it was going to be in November, we decided that we would figure out how to do it. Jada went submitted forms for leave time, and we got it all set up.
Fast forward to this year. We’ve been training all summer for this. I think we haven’t ridden quite as much as I would have liked, but I think we’re in decent shape. I talked to someone while I was on Cycle Oregon who had done this same tour last year when it was in the pilot phase. He assured me that we would be fine, and that there would be others riding a slower pace than our paltry 12mph average. We bought 2 big tandem hard shell airplane cases to pack the quad in. I spent the summer learning more about how to maintain the bike than I ever have before. This past weekend, I spent 2 days taking the bike apart to pack up in the cases. It breaks down to the tandem portion in one case as intended, and the second case has the 2 extra sections, seats, handlebars, and cranks. Then I piled in the panniers, helmets, camelbacks and shoes plus extra packing things. Once in Barcelona, I’ll have to get the thing put together in a single day. However, my weekend time was pretty choppy with all the errands that had to be done, so I think I can do it as long as everything arrives and in one piece. My biggest fear is that the cases don’t show on the other end, and we don’t get to ride. On the plus side, we still get to sail on a yacht in the Mediterranean Sea. So, we’re packing most of our clothes in our carry-ons, and packing our suitcases with cycling clothes. We’ll check 4 bags, 2 of which are overweight. According to the pay scale on Continental’s web site, that’ll be around $400 per bag as long as they don’t suspect a bike’s in them. Then they’ll kick a bunch more on there for some reason.
Anyway, I only worked half day today so I could finish a bunch of errands. I took the girls to Ellen’s violin lesson. Ellen does a good job setting an example for all the younger kids in that class. She pays attention and works hard at her form and songs. I was very proud of the way she conducted herself in the class. Sadly, they still haven’t started with bows yet. Jada had a staff meeting and visited her mom. I feel like we’re not packed enough, but I always feel that way. Jada and I’ll be up late tonight, but hopefully we can get the girls to bed at a decent hour since we’ll need to be at the airport around 5am for check in tomorrow morning. Hopefully they’ll sleep on the plane.
I’ll be splicing in a separate journal entry for this trip in this section. You can click here to see how it all turns out.
November 24: Happy Thanksgiving!
I’ve been spending most of my month catching up on the vacation journal, so I’ll see if I can catch up until now. The morning came quickly after we got back into town. We all got up and went to school and work. No chances to start out slowly now since we were behind a day from where we were. Jada had to start dealing with her mom’s passing now that she was back in town. We all managed to make it through our days, but I know personally, I was dragging from about after lunch to the end of the day. Ellen had her violin lessons, and she was finally able to use her bow which made her happy. Jada picked up a little bit of groceries to make it through the week. Luckily we had just enough for breakfast Tuesday morning, and Jada brought lunch to the girls from New Seasons after her grocery shopping. I had a massage in the evening after work, but traffic made me miss 30 minutes of it. Adam worked on my forearms which were still really tight from lugging the bags through the airport and off baggage carrousels and holding the bike up in Europe. I still fell asleep for a little bit on the table. The rest of the week, we put the kids to bed early, and then Jada and I struggled to stay away past 7pm…so we were in bed by 8pm. The girls got back into their routine pretty quickly though. Ellen got all of her assignments done by Friday even though her teacher had told her it was ok if she turned it in on Monday. It took us few days to finish our laundry from the trip.
On Saturday, you’d think we’d be able to sleep in, but that was just not the case. I couldn’t sleep past 3am for some reason. It makes no sense since even in Europe that’s noon. Jada took Ellen to some make up time for her tutoring, and Phoebe had been invited to participate in a practice chess tournament for girls out in Hillsboro with the chess club, so I drove her out there to drop her off. Phoebe ended up winning 2 out of her 4 games, so that was pretty good. Last year, so played to a lot of draws. We were lucky to have someone willing to pick her up afterwards allowing me to come back home. So, I started putting the bike back together. I filled a bucket with some car wash soap and warm water and washed each piece as I unpacked it, and I laid it out on towels in the drive way. Thankfully, the weather was cooperating with some dry, but cloudy weather. Then I went through and put the bike back together by myself. It didn’t really take all that long. I had learned some tricks doing it the last couple times. I still didn’t have chains, and I ended up throwing out all the pedals because the springs were corroded worse than they had looked in Lisbon. I’ll take advantage of Black Friday sales at Performance and pick up a new bunch. In the afternoon, we went to REI to look for new ski boots for me since my 12 year old Nordica’s got really uncomfortable last season, but they didn’t have my size because I fell in between sizes. We took some of the girls’ old things over to our friend Laurie’s house and hung out there for a little while visiting before stopping by the newest New Seasons location near our house for dinner.
On Sunday, the day started out nice and sunny, but cold. I went out and raked first thing in the morning after our breakfast. I figured, since I waited so long, maybe that’d be the only time I’d have to. Boy was I wrong. By the end of the day, the lawn was covered again. We attempted to clean off the back deck, but due to frost it was difficult to get anything up. Jada finally got her massage scheduled for that morning (originally she had one scheduled for Monday, but since we didn’t make it back in time she missed it). Phoebe and I had guitar lesson in the afternoon, and Jada took Ellen to the mall to find some clothes since she’s growing out of everything again. In the evening, I had another massage scheduled for my usual time. I fell asleep there again.
Starting Monday I was oncall for work so I had quite a few sleepless nights early in the week.
On Thursday we just had a quiet day. We let the girls watch the Empire Strikes Back. They had a hard time following it. Jada cooked us a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner while I finally finished typing in our vacation journal.
November 25
Friday morning, we avoided the black Friday sales, but we didn’t sleep in any later than normal. Jada cleaned the deck off, and we got the table and chairs covered this morning. I did go to Performance Bike shop to take advantage of their 20% off sale to replace the chains and pedals for the quad. It was a nice morning. I kinda wished I wasn’t oncall so I could go for ride. It was a lazy day for me. I played guitar and worked on getting pictures sorted most of the day. Jada took the girls to meet up with Ellen’s godmother and her oldest son at My Masterpiece Art Studio to get their art on for a couple hours. In the afternoon, the girls stayed in their rooms doing whatever it was that they do. Phoebe was working on making Christmas presents and listening to the radio. She found a radio station that plays nothing but Christmas songs, and she came out singing her new favorite song, Wham!’s “Last Christmas.” We went out to dinner at the Fresh Grill where we got to chat with Jerry, the owner, again. From there we went to the Zoo for Zoo Lights. It was pretty crowded by the time we got there, so parking was scarce. We did finally find a place on the other side of the MAX station. The lights were bright as always. There weren’t a lot of new ones, but they moved some things around and added some long vertical light strands that made it look like it was snowing on some trees. We got home a little before 7pm.
November 28
The weekend was spent doing other things. Saturday morning I have no recollection of what happened. Jada says I went looking for new ski boots while she went grocery shopping. That’s right, I was the only one at the Sports Authority at 9am, so I had one of the floor managers helping me try on boots. I tried on several different pair before deciding on one that I liked which was by the same brand as the ones I have now just a different model. They also have a left over Black Friday special on half off skis that I had ridden all spring as rentals that I quite liked. So I splurged and bought myself an early Christmas present. I met up with Jada next door at New Seasons. Then we went over to Maryville Nursing Home to see some staff and residents, and the girls played piano. After lunch, Phoebe and I were supposed to have guitar lessons, but our teacher had to reschedule. Jada had taken Ellen out shopping for some materials to make Christmas presents. So I took her skis to REI to get setup, but sadly, her bindings weren’t on their list anymore, so they can’t guarantee how well they’ll do. When we got back, Phoebe asked if she could rake the lawn, and who am I to say no. She did a good job, and I paid her for her hard work.
Jada had a massage appointment Sunday morning, and I had rescheduled my guitar lesson to 10am, so I took the girls with me for that. We were having the new friends we had met on our trip over for dinner, so I made pizza all afternoon. They came over at 5pm, and we had a lovely time visiting.
November 30
I finally rode my bike to work for the first time since we got back from our trip. The bike felt strange as it always does after I’ve been riding the tandem or quad. My legs didn’t appreciate the time off. It was chilly out in the morning, and in the evening, it was chilly and rainy.
Wednesday morning, we went to school to test kids on the passport program. Both of the girls got all their levels done. I picked up Jada’s skis that REI wouldn’t guarantee because the bindings are so old. But they’re setup just in case. I guess we’ll be looking for a new pair this year.
And that brings us to the end of another month filled with joy and sadness. We had a fun trip overseas, and Jada lost her mom after a long battle with emphysema. In the end, Jeannie was not alone. She had the wonderful caregivers at Maryville Nursing home sitting with her throughout her final days and hours along with the good people from Providence Hospice. They knew her well from her 2 years at the nursing home. She passed peacefully and without the drama that all too often surrounded her life. She will be missed. The girls have special Gramma for writing their feelings in to help them through this difficult time. Please feel free to make a donation to Providence Hospice care or Maryville Nursing Home in memory of Jeannie Freeman. The work they do is tremendous for both those in their care and for their patients and families. We still plan to visit on occasion to chat with the residents, staff, and Sisters who have become friends over the past 2 years. It is just a nice place.
One more month to go in 2011.
Journal entry: November 11, 2011