cyberhobo

Vic and Lee play golf today, so after breakfast I go to the beach and write to the music of the surf. When I get restless, I ride north towards some big clouds. Soon I’m in a rain so wet I feel like I’m bicycling underwater. I take shelter at another beach with some surfers.…

Vic and I have cereal while Lee is on her morning walk. Then we spend a couple of hours washing the boat, which already looks clean to me. My reward for this is an outing on the windsurfer, which takes a while to put together. Somehow, once I’m in the water, my windsurfing experience from…

Cocoa, FL to Vero Beach, FL 8643 mi Bev cooks a good breakfast, we take some photos, and I’m riding again. I’m excited to get to Vero Beach to see what Vic, who I met cycling in Vermont, has in store for me. It rains on me for the first time since South Carolina. It’s…

I go to work with Jim in his very modest little Honda. He buys me a bagel and very good local orange juice for breakfast. The first thing that strikes me about Kennedy Space Center is the size. There’s a whole internal network of highways to get from one area to another. We check out…

Flagler Beach, FL to Cocoa, FL 8577 mi The trick is to get out of the park without any rangers spotting me. After some effort, however, I find the park entirely fenced in, so I have to exit through the gate. I luck out, it’s 7 am and the park doesn’t open until 8, so…

St. Augustine, FL to Flagler Beach, FL 8497 mi What a night. The first time I hear shuffling in my bags I wake with a shout. When I turn my light on I see two pair of shining green eyes peering back at me. The way they move makes me imagine creatures with long necks…

Jacksonville, FL to St. Augustine, FL 8459 mi After one last breakfast, Grandpa gives me a handful of bills. I know I have to accept them, so I give him my sincere thanks. I tell him I’ll try to use it to keep me happy and safe on the road. We take the bike down,…

I ask Grandma if she thinks Grandpa is making progress towards accepting his condition. She’s careful about being too optimistic. Other wives of Alzheimer’s victims she’s talked to have told her that they often reach a plateau followed by rapid deterioration. She’s bracing herself for this, as Grandpa has been about the same for several…

On our walk Grandma tells me a little of the tribulations of caring for Frieda – her miserliness, infinite pickiness, and loss of will to live. She says Frieda has perked up considerably for my visit. We all head off to church together. Amazingly, Grandpa lets me sit in the back of the car for…