I woke up on Day 26 of our tour at 7:00 AM. Bing. I m wide awake. And everyone else is asleep. I was

I woke up on Day 26 of our tour at 7:00 AM. Bing. I m wide awake. And everyone else is asleep. I was alone with my thoughts. And my brain started buzzing be a travel agent right away with so many random thoughts about all that we needed to take care of today:
These sheets are nice. I m so glad I m not in a tent right now. No more stinky tent. No more skanky campground showers. I really hate showering at campgrounds. The stress. The dampness. The gross shower curtains. Where do I hang my clothes? The quarters. The dirty floor. I hate wearing be a travel agent flip-flops in the shower.  I can t wait to take another shower in this nice bathroom. It s luxurious. And the water doesn t turn off after 3 minutes. And I don t have to wear flip-flops. It s clean. I really do like these sheets, I should get new sheets when we get home.
This hotel is nice. Can t we just stay here? I want to stay here forever. This is so easy. I could just forget about everything else and just stay here. How much would that cost? I ll do the math Wow, that s expensive. We can t stay here.  [then I recalled a book I read last winter be a travel agent about a guy who got rid of his expensive London flat and lived in hotels for a year. ] What was that guy s name? Didn t he say it was cheaper to live in a hotel than it was to pay rent and utilities and insurance and all the other stuff you need when you have your own place? We could live in a hotel. I d do it with my family. But without all of the drinking. But that could be fun. That would be an adventure. The kids would love it. The nice people who work here would keep our room clean and cook our food. And wash our sheets ..We could write a book. It would be a different story than his. It would be about a family .Nah ..that s stupid. I don t want to live in a hotel.
We still have to ride to the border. be a travel agent And figure out how to get the bikes back to Seattle. Can t we just donate them to the hotel for guests to use? That could be fun. Maybe they want tandems? Or we could wheel them out to the street, and leave them unlocked with a Free sign dangling from the handlebars? I wonder how long before someone took them?
I need to figure be a travel agent that out. I have to keep my promise. We have to go shopping. Where should we go? Is there a Tilly s around here? How far away is Pacific Beach? There were fun shops in Pacific Beach. There s nothing in downtown San Diego she wants. Nordstrom is too boring. She wants fun clothes. How will we go shopping? How will we get there? If I suggest riding bikes, she ll kill me. I need to look at a bus schedule.
Crap, the border. Why didn t we do that yesterday? It s only 17 miles. We could have ridden 17 miles yesterday. Then we d be done. Oh yeah, now I remember, we were tired yesterday be a travel agent and it was too late.
Now we have to do it today. 17 miles, how long will that take? An hour and a half? We can do that. That will be fun. We can t skip it. We have to ride to the border. We can go fast and ride without all of our crap weighing us down. Wait, *should* we bring the bags, just to be legitimate? Nah, let s skip the bags. Who cares?  It will be faster. Riding the tandem without the bags is way faster. And kinda fun.
When we get to the border we can touch the fence. I can t wait to touch the fence. I wonder what the border park is like? Will it be crowded? How will we get back? Those people we met near Camp Pendleton said we can ride the trolley back. Can we really fit bikes on the trolley? How often does the trolley be a travel agent run?
We need a bike box. Where will we get a box? I need to call some bike shops. Tim already got quotes from shippers. FedEx or Amtrak? We just need to decide. There s a FedEx place around the corner. And a bike shop too. I wonder what time that shop opens? That will be easy. I m glad we chose this hotel. be a travel agent It s so close to everything. oh, we also need to weigh the box. Does the hotel have a scale?
Oh and what about the rental car? Good thing we already have a rental car. At least we have a reservation. When do we pick it up again? Oh, yeah, tomorrow. And where is the rental car place? I think it s close. Should we ride there? Or walk? We need to pick up the car before we can pack the bikes ..
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So true, Tim! I would probably go crazy living with my kids in such a small space. Maybe they could get their own room? But 2 rooms vs a house probably doesn t pencil out Ah well. It was a nice thought.
Car Free Days is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, expressed or implied. be a travel agent Riding your bike is serious stuff. Riding with kids even more so (but always better than riding in a car). Obtain proper training, use a helmet, ride smart, have fun, wear clean underpants when appropriate (but not under cycling shorts!), laugh a lot, and whenever possible, stay out of cars.