Rain, rain, go away . . .

Much excitement these last two days - mostly related to weather - some related to Patrick getting lost. He may add his own version of the "lost" story, but I'll try to preview it here. Suffice it to say, it has been raining. A lot. And windy. I decided to spend our last day in Nantucket cruising town and hanging out at "The Bean," my new found local coffee spot. Just bought Joan Didion's "The Year of Magical Thinking" and I am enjoying it immensely. Patrick biked off with the group, spirits undampened to ride to 'Sconset where we spent our first beautiful night on the island. I relaxed, read, drank coffee and went to a yoga class before dinner. Arriving at dinner at American Seasons (a fantastic restaurant), I noticed the absence of my husband. No worries, he was on the second van (wimps took a van to dinner after riding all day in the rain. I walked in the rain.)

Upon arrival I learned that Patrick had been lost - for a while - on the island. After dropping some of the group at The Bean, he headed back to the White Elephant to rest before dinner and ice his torn calf muscle (we brought that with us). Somehow he ended up on the wrong street, going the wrong direction and found himself a ways out of town without a clue where to turn. Being a guy, he waited a while to look for assistance, but finally at 5:30pm, he reached into his bike bag for his cell phone to call the leaders. Oops. IPhone sitting in a pool of water. Apparently those gale force winds with water blowing into the bike went right through the bike bag. IPhones do not like water and his was no exception. Looking around he found an immigrant worker who didn't speak English, but did have a phone. Somehow Pat talked this kind-hearted soul into letting him make a call on his phone. Got our leader Joel's message machine, so continued down the road. Except - now he has a flat tire on his bike. Meanwhile it is getting colder, darker, wetter, and no one is around. Fortunately the fire marshal came by about then in his fancy red truck and asked Patrick if he was all right. Fortunately, Pat said that actually he was not all right (good job not manning out on this one), and fetched a ride back to the hotel, giving the trip leaders a heart attack when they saw the emergency vehicle approaching with their charge inside.

A bath, some ice on his leg, a van to dinner, and a glass of wine later - it's a great story that turned out just fine. Lucky. I did have a twinge of conscience when I realized I was ohming my way through a restorative yoga class while Patrick was lost in the woods, literally. Glad it all worked out. Oh, along with drowning his phone, our camera also got soaked on this venture, so pictures for now are limited and all taken on my iPhone (which has managed to stay dry--mostly because I am a wimp and stay off the road when the weather is particularly wet).

Yesterday we took a boat to Martha's Vineyard and I actually did bike from where we docked in (name of town) to our B&B in Edgartown. Our first impression of Martha's Vineyard was something like seeing Eureka, CA in the rain. Why is it that all places in driving rain tend to take on the same characteristics? The scenery became much more beautiful on the ride to Edgartown and I felt very virtuous riding in what really was a drizzle. Once here, we set out again to find the best coffee shop. In Edgartown, it's called Espresso Love (quite a good name for a coffee hangout I think). Dinner was at a little place called Detente in the village. It took quite a sense of detente to get us to make the decision to go there. Bruce and Suzie and I scoped it out, then decided and told the rest of our group. Food was terrific and interesting.

Today we woke to more driving rain, still the hearty took off on their bikes this morning and many of our group rode for 34 miles total! Patrick and I rode in the van - first to a gallery, which was fun, then to see some cliffs, which we didn't see because of the rain. But we were able to greet the warriors as they slid into base.

Joyce and Guy, soaked

Timmy T and Steve - winners!