Dec 5 - a great day

I'm only another day older but jumped a year, so they say. 

We were back at the beach to see Orion launch -- not much to see really, because of heavy cloud on the horizon -- and then a fast-moving star arcing upwards.  There was a fairly strong east wind so the surf drowned out any roar from Orion's engines.

Back home, I got organized later on and rode north into that ENE wind but there was so much East, that I made good time and rode back with the wind.  I'd swapped rear wheels, naturally; no issues on that ride.

Speaking of which, I couldn't find the spare spokes for the Rolf Prima wheels.  I had a group of six, two of each length, that I'd purchased before the ride across the country.  Perhaps they're up north ... I guess that I'll find that out shortly.  In the meantime, another set will arrive that I ordered from RP.

We had dinner with Gene and Judy at the SYC; first time eating in the dining room in a long time.  They are always, always great company and the food is always good.

 I was buried in messages on Facebook -- Bob Kassel sent me an email saying that one of the few good things about FB is the birthday reminders.  Yup.  The flurry of messages was a great reminder of so many friends and family.  I tried to thank each one individually but likely missed some.

The days are counting down.  The only trouble is that we're not sure what we're doing yet.  At the latest we'll leave here sometime Thursday, arrive at Jeffrey's sometime Friday, leave there early Sunday, stay with Jason Sunday night, stop to see Stef on the way up, getting to the cottage Monday.  Then Tuesday, yes, less than a day later, I drive back to Toronto for my dental work.  Ugh.  They need the wax model that I left at the cottage so we have to go there first.

We could also shift all of this a day earlier ...

We plan to stop and see Doris and Wayne Guymon in Chadds Ford (Philly area) on the way to Reading; may have coffee with Linda and Alec in Lexington VA; and we need a couple of overnights as Sandy doesn't like the really long days.  Oh well.

Oh yes, a really expensive internet order arrived yesterday, four snow tires on rims.  The four separate packages were delivered by UPS in a Penske rental truck ?  That was unusual.  Each package, because I suppose that if you put two of them together it's over the UPS weight limit, is labeled "heavy, over 70 pounds".  Yeah, those run flat tires weigh a lot !  It's hard to believe that 4 tires on rims could weigh close to 300 pounds, but they do.  Now I have to mount them on the car ...

 Onward ... soon Great White Northward !