This Sunday, an intermittently wet one up here in Brunswick, was a day of transition all over the Wide World of Apogee. Three trips wrapped up today — we were awash in hugs in Freeport as our Coast to Quebec group said goodbye in the same spot where, two weeks, more than four hundred miles, and thousands of memories ago, the group came together for the first time. I snuck a picture of Pete and Emily’s group in a last group hug. A last group hug that ended in a cry of “A-pogy,” apparently a common French-Canadian rendition of our humble name.
Down in Weston, Massachusetts, our second New England Mountains & Coast trip finished up in a similar flurry of red-shirted hugs. David and Anna’s group had a blast hanging out in Portland last night — they even found time to hit the ice cream joint where David’s sister works. David insisted that everyone order the most complicated item on the menu — nice, David. Real nice.
In Puerto Rico, our two trips both made it into San Juan early this morning, eager for a full day exploring the ancient cobblestone streets, and slightly less ancient tourist schlock stores lining the aforementioned cobblestone streets. Lidia took a picture of her ladies enjoying the vistas from the ramparts out over the Caribbean Sea.
We haven’t heard from our Montanans today, but when I talked to Rachel last night, they had an amazing experience, in perfect Montana summer weather, riding up and over Going to the Sun. Rachel said that she, Cameron, and Mark (the group riding up front yesterday) marked time by singing songs and counting bighorn sheep as they rode past snow fields. Not a bad afternoon. The group spent today off of their bikes, rafting the Flathead River. One more day of riding will bring them to Whitefish, where their trip, too, will wrap up on Wednesday.
And through it all, our Coast to Coasters keep chipping away at their miles — see the picture below of two of New York’s finest blasting through the Arkansas heat. After yesterday’s day off, they were back in the saddle today, making like bandits for the Texas border. After blasting through five states so quickly, they’ll be making their way across the hot, dry Texas flats for the next week. Anyone want to hazard a guess as to how many fence-posts and/or cows they’ll pass before they’re done with the Longhorn state?
