August 13-14, Wednesday & Thursday
Cape Cod … Boston … Pittsburgh … Cincinnati
Return to Reality.
We headed into town for our first victory meal. I forget the name of the restaurant, but it was nice place. We devoured a brief meal since David’s parents needed to get back on the road to head home. As we were leaving the restaurant, I asked a stranger to take a photo of all of us and then we said farewell and a huge thank you to David’s parents.
From there, we headed back to the beach to enjoy more of this incredibly beautiful day. Between dips in the ocean we tossed the Frisbee, picked up some rocks and ate some of the leftover food we had from our trip—peanuts, Twinkies and Gatorade, perfect beach fare. After a logistical meeting to determine our return trip to Cincinnati via Boston and Pittsburgh, we decided it was finally time to leave the beach.
We drove first to Rob's house near Boston to shower and change, and his mom greeted us with pizza and Sam Adams beer. From there, Rob took us on a three-hour speed tour of Boston—downtown, Cambridge and Harvard, the Commons, site of the Boston Massacre; we rode the subway, and saw the Boston Pops esplanade. It finished around midnight and was 1AM by the time we arrived back at Rob’s place to begin our thirteen-hour drive to Pittsburgh. David miraculously drove about ten hours of the trip (I tried but only lasted an hour and then fell fast asleep for the rest of the way). Before I fell asleep though, we added one a new state of the trip—New Jersey.
We rolled into Pittsburgh around noon, and while we were all tired, somehow managed to do a little sightseeing—downtown, University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Melon, the Pittsburgh Incline and Mancini’s Bread. Doug admitted that his tour wasn’t as good as Rob’s, but we appreciated it nonetheless. Most of our time over the next twenty-four hours in Pittsburgh was spent relaxing with his family as David and I tried to adjust to life off of our bikes.
The next morning, we all ate breakfast outside on the patio. It was a great breakfast under blue skies, cool temperatures and all without having to clean out our dishes after we finished. Afterwards, we loaded back into the car to begin the final leg of our journey—the five-hour trip to Cincinnati. Along the way, we added one final new state to the trip, West Virginia. David made Easy Cheese pictures on crackers for a couple of minutes (one supposedly of Mount Rushmore), but for the most part it was just your average road trip.
As we approached Cincinnati, David, Doug and I started singing “Chula Vista,” a random and incredibly repetitive song that David and I coined somewhere in the middle of Minnesota. “Chula Vista” was the name of a Mexican restaurant that we rode past with too little sleep and out of that delirium was born the song. We sang it for what seemed like forever—it must have gone on for fifteen or twenty minutes, and that was how was the trip ended.
Once back in Cincinnati, Lauren went home, Doug went to school, and David and I, not excited to be back, made a run to the nearest Cinnabon. I guess everything after that would just qualify as your normal, run-of-the-mill stuff. In the end, we had seven weeks, 8,000 miles, two trips across the country, a handful of photos and some great memories by which to remember the incredible summer of 1997.
Return to Reality.
We headed into town for our first victory meal. I forget the name of the restaurant, but it was nice place. We devoured a brief meal since David’s parents needed to get back on the road to head home. As we were leaving the restaurant, I asked a stranger to take a photo of all of us and then we said farewell and a huge thank you to David’s parents.
From there, we headed back to the beach to enjoy more of this incredibly beautiful day. Between dips in the ocean we tossed the Frisbee, picked up some rocks and ate some of the leftover food we had from our trip—peanuts, Twinkies and Gatorade, perfect beach fare. After a logistical meeting to determine our return trip to Cincinnati via Boston and Pittsburgh, we decided it was finally time to leave the beach.
We drove first to Rob's house near Boston to shower and change, and his mom greeted us with pizza and Sam Adams beer. From there, Rob took us on a three-hour speed tour of Boston—downtown, Cambridge and Harvard, the Commons, site of the Boston Massacre; we rode the subway, and saw the Boston Pops esplanade. It finished around midnight and was 1AM by the time we arrived back at Rob’s place to begin our thirteen-hour drive to Pittsburgh. David miraculously drove about ten hours of the trip (I tried but only lasted an hour and then fell fast asleep for the rest of the way). Before I fell asleep though, we added one a new state of the trip—New Jersey.
We rolled into Pittsburgh around noon, and while we were all tired, somehow managed to do a little sightseeing—downtown, University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Melon, the Pittsburgh Incline and Mancini’s Bread. Doug admitted that his tour wasn’t as good as Rob’s, but we appreciated it nonetheless. Most of our time over the next twenty-four hours in Pittsburgh was spent relaxing with his family as David and I tried to adjust to life off of our bikes.
The next morning, we all ate breakfast outside on the patio. It was a great breakfast under blue skies, cool temperatures and all without having to clean out our dishes after we finished. Afterwards, we loaded back into the car to begin the final leg of our journey—the five-hour trip to Cincinnati. Along the way, we added one final new state to the trip, West Virginia. David made Easy Cheese pictures on crackers for a couple of minutes (one supposedly of Mount Rushmore), but for the most part it was just your average road trip.
As we approached Cincinnati, David, Doug and I started singing “Chula Vista,” a random and incredibly repetitive song that David and I coined somewhere in the middle of Minnesota. “Chula Vista” was the name of a Mexican restaurant that we rode past with too little sleep and out of that delirium was born the song. We sang it for what seemed like forever—it must have gone on for fifteen or twenty minutes, and that was how was the trip ended.
Once back in Cincinnati, Lauren went home, Doug went to school, and David and I, not excited to be back, made a run to the nearest Cinnabon. I guess everything after that would just qualify as your normal, run-of-the-mill stuff. In the end, we had seven weeks, 8,000 miles, two trips across the country, a handful of photos and some great memories by which to remember the incredible summer of 1997.
(Photo: Rob, David’s mom and dad, Doug, Lauren, David and Tim outside of the restaurant on Cape Cod following our first celebratory meal.)
