Like Poo in the Bowels of Union Station

So. Today's title was going to be "Going" but, as you can very well see, I changed my mind.

Well, I believe we left off with Priscilla and the rack of her bike on her back and not on her bike (the rack, I mean). And when today dawned, said rack was still off of said bike, but happily no longer on Priscilla's back. No, on Priscilla's back were Priscilla's pajamas. And soon those were replaced by some clothes or something, and then that rack again, and off she went to Kozy's. The Kozy people stood in their cozy store and looked at the bike, at the rack, at each other, and then at Priscilla. "Go to Home Depot, little lady," they said, "Home Depot has what you need."
Hmph. Priscilla is not a fan of Home Depot, so she headed to Irv's Bike Shop for still more bikey goods, and then to Alvarez' Hardware Store. Mr. Alvarez didn't have the thing she needed for the rack, but do you think that stopped him? Duh! Of course not! Mr. Alvarez is our hardware hero! He up and made the necessary bike rack bracket extensions. He was also quite excited about the trip, and impressed with the teensy rear-view mirror on her sunglasses.

Then Priscilla met up with her helpful sidekick, Sarah. They chatted, tried to set up the new bike computer (that's what she got at Irv's... right) but the battery was dead, so they worked on a fun handlebar-mounted flipcard system for memorizing Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossions (hey, she's got 40 days alone ahead), and chatted some more.

They planned to meet their good buddy James at Damen and Ogden, but they were a little late-- in the immortal words of Jafar's pet parrot Iago, "I'm gonna have a heart attack and die of not surprised." Priscilla said goodbye to Sarah, and pedaled off with James to Sports Authority. This time, with no trusty assistant in attendance, Priscilla did all the dancing herself... dance dance yeah!

And then they picked up a bike computer battery at CVS and came back home where Priscilla's trusty assistant was most patiently waiting. Priscilla frenetically packed, James programmed the computer (it works! it has cadence! hooray!), and ol' trusty watched the clock and them. At eight o'clock on the dot, Amy arrived with the Pilsen Family Van. In went the bags! In went the bike! In went Priscilla and t.a.! Blam went the doors! Vroom went the van! Honk went... never mind. Amy is a polite and responsible driver and she did not honk! Instead she drove swiftly to Union Station while Priscilla unwrapped the absolute coolest t-shirt ever (courtesy of the Pilsen Family) and they all talked about stuff.

Upon arrival at Union Station, Cilla and trusty assistant went in to pick up her ticket, check her bike, and send Priscilla off when.... Kablooie went the plans! "Oh no, you can't put that bike on the train to Boston," ranted the ticket lady, "no, it's totally impossible, you're ridiculously late, blah blah blah, and so on!" Which isn't true, they weren't that late, and it totally would have worked... grrr..... But what could they do? The ticket lady is sort of the boss at the train station, right? So trusty assistant used her most charming voice and impressed the ticket lady with tales of Priscilla's plans. Naturally the ticket lady changed her tune and became all nice and whatever, but by then it really was too late.

Seeing there was no other way, Priscilla changed her ticket to a Tuesday night departure, and the ticket lady took them down to the basement. "Here, little ladies," she said, "this way!" And she led them into a broken elevator. Really. Like that was so helpful. They stood in the elevator, they pushed the buttons, they waited. They got out, got back in, got out, got into another elevator and FINALLY descended into the spooky depths of Union Station, where the bike boxes lurk! Priscilla bought a lurky bike box, and some gritty underground working man helped her pack up her bike and label it. And at least three of his gritty underground working pals came by and asked if the bike was to go on the Monday night train to Boston. See! They had so not been ridiculously late! Stinky ticket lady.

And so it was that Amy (who had been waiting all that time!) got quite a surprise when into the van hopped not only the trusty assistant, but Priscilla herself as well. And so it is that Priscilla will, Lord willing, be setting out again tomorrow night, but this time actually getting on the train and going. She'd had an inkling early this afternoon that "this is not that day" (in the immortal words as Viggo M. as Aragorn in The Return of the King, but I think he was talking about something else), and it turns out, despite her efforts to set off anyway, she was right.

We'll try for "Going" tomorrow.

Getting Set

...and so the preparations continue. This morning before church Priscilla whipped out the ol' ironing board and plugged in the iron. Why? What did she so urgently need to press?

A. Her Sunday best
B. Her sleek new bike shorts
C. An iron on transfer that reads "Cars are for nerds!"
D. An old wrinkly towel

Any guesses? C'mon...

What? E. None of the above? Why, yes! You are correct! She was actually ironing teensy plastic baggies, the better to repackage the bike computer that turned out to be the wrong one and needs to be exchanged tomorrow. Apparently it's very helpful to have a stopwatch-size bike computer to tell you not only how fast you're going, but also your cadence. Sort of like the bike version of rpms or something, so you don't wear out your knees (which are sort of like the bike version of a transmission... ).

And then off she went to the (ahem) Sunday service, home for lunch, and then hopped on her bike for more bikish errands, trailed by her trusty assistant (who fulfilled a lifelong dream en route and rode no-handed for well over 20 feet-- go trusty assistant!). First out west to Working Bikes for shoes (but it was closed, dagnabbit). Then back home for her phone (which she leaves in the most interesting yet unlikely places, like, say, the fridge), and then off downtown to renew her library card (yes, even fabulous biker-types must submit to the Laws of the Library). Next they headed a few blocks over to Union Station to check up on the details of checking bikes and fares to Boston, plus the option of a slide down the very long & prettily polished but uber-slow-sliding banisters (Priscilla declined) and then a bit of sitting in the waiting hall sipping Jamba Juice (after a successful finding of the food court, which is no small feat). Annnnnd eventually back home.

But only for a while: before long she threw a rack in her bag, snapped on her helmet, flicked on enough flashing lights to pass for a small UFO, and rode off into the night to borrow a computer that doesn't crash every five minutes in order to print out some route info. Probably to hook up the rack to carry her gear as well (it's tricky, the screws and the holes for the screws don't match, or something like that). What other important things might she do before the night is over? Tune in tomorrow, and if I remember to ask her about that, you just might find out!

Getting Ready

Priscilla is currently in the kitchen singing to herself and finishing construction on a tiny camp stove. It's composed of a few bits of wire and an old Lady Grey Tea tin. Oh yes, she not only bikes, but she re-uses! So much better than recycling, although she's been known to do that, too.

Today she did a little pre-trip shopping downtown. Very productive, albeit occasionally shocking. For example, she was probably a little shocked when she encountered somebody dancing right there in the Sports Authority store. Less shocking was the lack of comprehension on the part of the SA employee when he learned that the destination choices (Prince Edward Island as well as the Evangeline trail in Nova Scotia) were partly due to Anne of Green Gables and the Acadians. He hadn't even read one of the Anne books, poor soul. After much hemming and hawing and trying-on-in-the-aisle-over-one's-clothes, Priscilla and her trusty (but dancing) assistant made a detour to Blick (trusty asst. needed some non-bike things) and then on to Target for toothpaste and other very important items.

The stove is now complete, with hinges and everything, and is folded up inside an adorable pot with a lid. Tune in tomorrow for more fun with Biking Priscilla!

P.S. Actually, the tea tin thing is a windscreen for a stove James is lending her. My bad.