Palmer tour was very busy, and didn’t get a chance to find many hotspots. I’m currently in Buxton, with no return ticket to the US, but working on getting that straightened out. Houston performs tonight, and I’m singing at the concert Thursday, and maybe doing more next week…will try to post more later today if I can get a chance.
If you have emailed me, please be patient…currently downloaidng the 5000+ emails that arrived, and the junk filter is thrashing away!
Will try to post them each evening, depending upon access.
Here is Day 1.
First day in the UK: Landed, toured Penshurst Place (home of Sir Philip Bleedin’ Sidney) and Gardens, came to Chelmsford, rehearsed in Chelmsford Cathedral, dined at hotel, wandered around town with Camille, Paige, and Jeff. Pics up tomorrow…too zonked now.
Also, Stinky Pinkies delayed until I get home.
No, nothing to do with the rock group (although the Melobourne City Council is considering renaming a street after them; I’m instead referring to my destinations for my birthday trip this year, Atlantic City and Washington, DC. Flew up there Thursday and met Greg at his condo, dropped off my bags and grabbed some lunch. Spent the afternoon with Melissa (who had just returned from Russia the day before), then we went to a dim sum place in Bethesda for dinner. Friday futzed around with Greg’s laptop, got it working and wireless, then had dinner at Melissa’s (very cool house built in the ’20s) with a bunch of her coworkers from Baker & Botts…nice folks all around.
Saturday had to wait for my replacement Visa card (mine was stolen earlier in the week), then drove to Atlantic City through storms the whole way. Got there around 4, played poker at Bally’s and discovered I liked it, played through nonstop (save for the 2.5 minutes of the Belmont, when everything stopped) until Eb showed up around 8, then we all played for another hour, then off to the buffet…I lost the rochambeau. 🙁 40 minutes later and we’re all back at the tables, and don’t leave until 3:30 or so, but all of us winners! No rooms to be had for love nor money in AC, so we drive out the expressway and find a spot around 4.
Up at 9:30 for the free breakfast, then drop Eb off at the train station around noon, but decide that we can just take him to a line closer in, so go back and get him, and then go play at the Borgata…very nice, no smoking poker room. Tread water most of the afternoon, but win three pots in a row at the end! Walking out, see a roulette wheel that has had 7 ‘low’ numbers in a row, plop down $20 on the ‘high’ numbers, and hit it!
I fall asleep in the car, but wake up when we stop at a diner somewhere in NJ. You know it’s going to be good when the bread basket has Challah and banana nut bread. Despite Eb’s directions, we get him to a train station, then head back to DC, where we meet Melissa for a quick coffee.
Monday sleep in late, then meet Greg & Melissa for Mongolian BBQ, then museums until I realize my flight is in 90 minutes, subway back to Greg’s, grab my stuff, subway out to Ronald Reagan National, and make it there just as they start boarding. I love cutting it close. 🙂
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In bicycling, a one-hundred mile ride is commonly referred to as a century. I’ve done several in the past, including twice on the MS150, my ride from Bratislava to Esztergom, and until yesterday most recently from Oak Grove to New Iberia, LA, on my ill-fated attempted ride to DC. All these previous rides, though, had been point A to point B rides. Yesterday was my first circuit century (route in blue).
Ride notes: