The end, for now

Right. So she came back. She now says (literally just now) "So the whole biking thing feels like it was kind of a dream." Well, it wasn't. Totally real. Proof: her legs are aching to bike. They don't know what's going on-- why aren't they pedaling?





All told, she rode 1,893 miles. Not too shabby, eh? She was tempted to mosey around Chicago for a while yesterday afternoon to make it an even 1,900, but resisted. Seriously, 1,893 miles is more than the distance across Mongolia the long way (west to east) or across the Sahara or Australia the short way (north to south) or from Juneau to the middle of Hudson Bay; or from San Salvador, El Salvador to Martinique; or from Los Angeles to New Orleans; or from Beijing to Kathmandu; or from Peoria to the Pacific; or from Paris to Moscow. As the crow flies, obviously, as I just used a bit of paper and a wall map (but I did take the Mercator Projection into careful consideration). At any rate, far.





One thing Priscilla said she learned was that she's very proud of being independant, but that you can't really live that way-- that you need to depend on God and that he's going to make you dependant on people, and even if he can drop things from the sky if he wants, usually he uses people. And here are some of the ones he used this time, in order of appearance where convenient:




Ben: bicycle purchaser
Emily: Mrs. bicycle purchaser
Sarah: the helpful sidekick
James: the good buddy
Steven: Mr. helpful sidekick
Mr. Alvarez: hardware hero
Amy: chauffeur #1 & t-shirt designer extraordinaire
Joe: Mr. t-shirt designer extraordinaire
Oscar: t-shirt design muse
Rachel: chauffeur #2
Art: medical advisor
Kathy Forbes: Boston connection
Jamie & David & Elijah Voss: host #1
Paul: host #2
Portland Park District: host #3 (unbeknownst to them)
fox: fodder for a story for future generations, whomever's loins they may spring from
Eddie & Lisa Comeau: host #4
Jennie & Kenny Wade: host #5 and local color
Janet & Gary Ness: host #6
the flatness of Nova Scotia: smooth, easy riding
Mary Comeau & Colin, Nicholas & Lilly MacDonald: host #7
Mervin & Theresa Mooney: host #8
Herb & Myrna: host #9
Lindsay Dickieson: trans-PEI driver
Mrs. Frances Leary: host #10
bridge shuttle driver: comic relief
David, Johnny, Martin, Charles, & Frazer of Sackville: host #11
Harold: friendly fellow biker
Kathy: friendly fellow biker
Donna & David Watson: host #12
Mike & Sue Watson: host #13
Steven, Melissa, Sarah, Kendra, Jake, & Kimberly Thompson: host #14
Beth & Lexie: host #15
Pam, Sharon, Joe & Edith Manley: host #16
Gail Raye: friendly bakery cashier
Mr. Rolf Schmalzer: host #17
Therese, Marcel & Catherine Turgeon: host #18
Claire & Lucien Bolduc: host #19
Isabelle, husband, Raphael, Zacharie & Emeryc Therriens: host #20
Catherine, husband & Maxime Dumouchel: host #21
Jean-Francois: another friendly biker and fountain of information
Julie, Stephane, Olivier & Loic Lemieux-Crete: host #22
John Scorgie: kindly pastor
Joyce & David Lindsay: host #23
lady at info center: provider of hot coffee
bookshop girl: provider of directions to Salvation Army
Linda & Kenny Cassell: host #24
Tim Horton's: delicous muffin dealer
horse arena people: host #25
Chris, Candice, Mackenzie & Madison Walter: host #26
Padraic & Fez: host #27
Neil de Toronto: provider of directions
Millie & John Sauve: host #28
Jojo Chintoh: knight in shining armor
Mark, Lori, Colin & Kathryn Driscoll: host #29 & ride across the border & beloved family...
All the Hicks in Hicksville: host #30
Kandice, Tammy & Jim: host #31
Jon & Paul: Merrillville connection
Angie: host #32
Roxanne: warm welcome home
me: trusty assistant & narrator

She's back!

She is indeed, standing in the living room as I type this. But we stayed up way too late talking, and now I'm too tired to post. So I'll do it tomorrow, but be assured she is back in Chicago.



C'est vrai, elle est la devant moi, je la vois avec mes propres yeux. Mais c'est deja tard (on a bcp discute la), et je suis trop fatigue. Alors, je raconterai aujourd'hui demain, mais t'inquiete, elle est bien rentree.

The Fantastic Four Riding Bikes

So early today Priscilla, Sarah, Steven & James set out on their respective bicycles and pedaled merrily for eighty-some miles! Yowza! And particularly impressive as this was the most Sarah had ever biked in one day, maybe Steven, too. Afterwards Sarah's knees started complaining, so she's been having to shush them now and then-- "Seriously, knees, if I hear another word out of you two..."



And all four of them are pretty pooped (imagine that!), but are happily benefiting from the hospitality of Angie in Merrillville. She isn't actually home yet, but she's still letting them in the house completely unsupervised. Hm. Of this we can be sure: if there were any dirty dishes lying around, they're gone now. Or at least washed.


Oh! Priscilla actually fell today, twice. All those hundreds of miles she had biked, over rivers and through woods, with no falls at all. Then she hits the indifferent landscapes of rural Indiana, and splat! Fortunately she was not injured either time, and Woodrow is fine as well. Priscilla also said it was rather strange to be biking with other people after so long alone, but seems to have handled the shock of it well.



Ce matin Priscilla, Sarah, Steven, et James ont monte leurs velos et sont partis. Ils ont couvert 80 miles, ce qui n'est pas mal, quand meme. Surtout vu que Sarah (et peut-etre Steven aussi) n'a jamais pedale autant pendant une seule journee avant cela. Ce soir les genoux de Sarah ont commence se plaindre, et elle les ont parle fermement: "Mais, arretez-ca, les genoux! C'est du chi-chi et compagnie! J'en ai un peu marre..."


Les quatre sont tous un peu fatigue (ils m'etonnent), mais heureusement ce soir ils profitent de l'hospitalite de Angie de Merrillville. Elle n'est pas encore chez elle, mais elle les a permit de faire comme chez eux quand meme. Courageuse quoi, les laisser sans surveillant. S'il y avait de la vaisselle a faire quand ils sont arrives, on peut etre sur qu'elle sera fait quand Angie arrive. Eh oui, ces types font la vaisselle sans meme demander permission.


Oh! Priscilla est tombee aujourd'hui, deux fois. Choque, non? Centaines de miles a travers collines, ponts, forets, provinces & etats entiers, aucune probleme. Le rien du tout, tout plat, tout vide qui est Indiana, et elle est par terre. Heureusement elle ne s'est pas mal, et Woodrow non plus. Priscilla dit que ca fait un peu bizarre de rouler avec d'autres apres tous ces semaines toute seule, mais elle s'habitue (et c'est pas a cause de ca qu'elle est tombee).

Karaoke & Pie

Alright, so last night Priscilla et al. went and picked up Sarah (i.e. her helpful sidekick) and Steven, thus doubling the et al. that is Priscilla's entourage. They were hungry and ready for some fun so they went to that pinnacle of tasty & riotous happiness that is Bennigans on karaoke night. Oh, yeah! Bring it on! Our friends did not actually karaoke their eyes out, at least that they're admitting.



Today, as you might have guessed from that picture over there, they are baking. As of around lunchtime they had already whipped up a swell batch of pumpkin spice muffins (inspired by Tim Horton's, perhaps?) and Priscilla was working on some pie crust. Just look at her hands go, a blur of culinary deftness! The crust is for apple & pumpkin pies (that is, apple pies & pumpkin pies, I believe-- apple & pumpkin together might be a little alarming... or it might be a new taste sensation poised to sweep the nation and so on... you never can tell).



And then this evening they're off to dinner with Kandice and her family, and a game or two (or ten) of Bang!, the murderous card game housed in an authentic giant bullet. Thanks to Bang!, they will all be riding their bikes back to Chicago over the next two days, instead of flying as originally planned. Because really, who's gonna let them on a plane with a huge bullet?


Alors, hier soir Priscilla et al. sont alles chercher Sarah et Steven, pour effectivement doubler le et al. Ils avaient faim, ils s'ennuiaient... donc entrer Bennigans, le super endroit pour s'amuser et bouffer, et en plus c'etait soiree karaoke! La chance! Ils n'ont pas avoue avoir fait du karaoke eux-memes, mais on leur connait...


Aujoud'hui, comme vous avez sans doute devine, ils font de la cuisine. Vers midi ils ont deja fait des muffins au citrouille, avec des projets tartes en vue. On voit Priscilla qui fait la pate a tarte dans le photo-- regarde combien vite elle le fasse! Incroyable! Donc, des tartes a la pomme et a la citrouille, mais pas les deux dans la meme tarte car ca, c'est berk et ce qui plus est, interdit par la loi.


Et puis ce soir ils vont tous diner chez Kandice et sa famille, suivit par un tournois de Bang!, jeu de cartes meurtrier et qui se porte dans une vraie balle gigantesque! Ca fait peur seulement la voir... et a cause de ca, demains ils partent tous en velo (ils auront deux jours de route), et pas en avion comme prevu, car qui leur permettrait de monter l'avion avec une telle balle? Ben, personne, bien sur! Alors, heureusement pour les velos, n'est-ce pas?

Today either

I mean, she didn't go biking today, either, at least not that I'm aware of. The plan was not to bike. I assume she stuck with the plan. Staying in Winona Lake with her friends.




Je veux dire, elle n'a pas fait du velo aujourd'hui non plus, au moins, pas a ma connaissance. L'idee, c'etait ne pas faire du velo aujourd'hui. Elle reste a Winona Lake avec ses amis.

No biking today

It's true-- today, as planned, Priscilla is not biking but rather is hanging out with friends in Indiana. She might still call to say exactly what they did, but I took Benadryl a little while ago, and am too groggy to write a coherent post much longer than this. Maybe I'll tell you about today tomorrow. If you're lucky.



C'est vrai, Priscilla ne fait pas de velo aujourd'hui. Elle s'amuse avec des amis Indianois, comme prevu. Ca se peut qu'elle m'appelera plus tard pour raconter tous ce qu'ils ont fait, mais j'ai pris du Benadryl se soir, et me trouve trop groggy (Tiens! On a ce mot en francais aussi, selon mon dico ang-fran! Trop sympa...) pour ecrire coherement. Peut-etre je vais raconter davantage demain. On verra.

Winona Lake Forever*

So, Priscilla's lone bicyclist days are over, at least for this trip. Today she overslept-- she'd been waking in the middle of the night throughout the trip thinking she'd overslept, but this was the first time she actually did it. Once she did deign to open her eyes and crawl out of the tent, she set off for Winona Lake, Indiana. And she made it there by afternoon, despite having been chased by a large dogs with ordinary-length legs (a German Shepherd, to be exact). She looked back and told it sternly, "No, go home!" and it did. You have to know how to talk to a dog, and she does.

So what else happened? She stopped at a bakery in Harlan, IN, which was chock full of donuts (not so nice), but also had apple fritters (niiiiice) and some very nice people (very nice, obviously, I mean, I just said so). It also had a post out in front of at least one of the parking spaces... for a horse and buggy to park! And one did so while she was there, and she saw it with her own two eyes! So exciting! Priscilla also rode in the rain for three hours and got thoroughly soaked (one last drenching for the last lone biking day). And a while later, well, she arrived safely in Winona Lake, that's what. And there she's staying with her friend Kandice for a few days, and I think maybe she's sleeping now.

*For those who don't know, Priscilla is a fan of Johnny Depp. He, of course, used to date Winona Ryder, got a "Winona Forever" tattoo and then they broke up (tattoos with names typically spell doom for relationships). He then had the "na" erased, which is supposed to be a painful & tedious process... would have made so much more sense to just throw in "Lake" and make all the inhabitants of that Indiana hamlet happy. Don't you think?



Priscilla ne roule plus toute seul, au moins pas pour ce voyage. Apres faisant la grasse matinee, elle est alle jusque Winona Lake, Indiana, ou elle reste pendant quelques jours chez une copine. Elle a ete poursuivi en route par un gros chien (un Alsatien) avec de jambes normales. Donc elle lui a regarde et dit "Non, tu rentre chez toi!" et il l'a fait. Faut savoir parler aux chiens, et Priscilla le sait.

Quoi d'autre? Ben, elle est arrive a Winona Lake belle et bien. Je crois qu'elle dort la, car de tout facon elle ne repond pas au telephone.

*Le titre fait reference a un tattouage de Johnny Depp, dont Priscilla est fan (de Johnny Depp, pas du tattouage). Mais il aurait du le transformer en "Winona Lake Forever" pour plaire aux habitants de cette jolie ville (ben, j'imagine, quoi, ne l'ayant jamais vue).