Today I spent a day with Sally in her beautiful waterside home overlooking Puget Sound. The actual Pacific cycle route passes by her home so we spent some time driving along part of the route I would have cycled had I headed north instead of south at Florence. I don't think I would have been disappointed had I gone that way. We stopped for 'a spot of lunch' at a trendy little organic cafe in one of the coastal towns where after a healthy hummus and bean soup and vegetarian wrap niethet of us could resist a piece of Grandma's chocolate cake. It is of course essential now that I restore my body back to it's 'pre cycling 5300 miles across America' shape. On the way back we then called in at the local supermarket and picked up a couple of live crabs for dinner.
Normally Sally would just step into Puget sound and pick one out of her crab pot but alas it has been stolen.
I also met Barbara, a friend of Sally's snd the first person I have ever met that actually went to WOODSTOCK in 1969. At the time she was working as a chambetmaid in Connecticut and drove over there with some friends only because it was the thing to do at the time, and not especially because she had a burning desire to see Jimi Hendrix live.
They arrived a day late so couldn't get close enougjh to the stage to see the bands and her most abidiing memory was all the trash everywhere and everyone being high.
Like most of us at the time she wore the clothes and had the hair but confessed to only really being 'a weekend hippie'
And leaving a day early meant she missed the legendary Hendrix rendition of tbe 'Star Spangled Banner' just as I missed all but the last ten minutes of his perfotmance at the Isle of Wight in 1970 because I fell asleep!
The day ended eating the delicious 'now passed away' crab and lively conversation with Sally's husband Greg who had strong opinions about the state of the American economy, nuclear powet, global warming, and indeed the world in general I think I could best describe Greg as a 'US' equivalent of my cycling buddy Ken back home. I must get them around the same dinner table sometime :)
And finally I have now raised over £5000 for Sheltetbox which including Gift Aid is well over £6000.. Thank you very much everybody for helping me reach my target. I will eventually be able to post on this blog which countries benefited from your donations.
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