On John's wedding and American soil

John and Caitlin's wedding was a distinct success. Jonathon S. summed up their respective qualities very nicely by describing John as someone who would walk over broken glass for a friend and Caitlin as someone who would remember to wear shoes! In the dancing portion of the reception, Thomas (Louise's significant other) was reluctant to dance with her until I informed him with tongue in cheek that he was either dancing with my cousin or his excuse would be he had a broken kneecap! ;-)

The next day was spent schmoozing with John's new in-laws in the morning. This resulted in my getting an offer of a bed in Seattle from Caitlin's father. This is particularly appreciated as my plan always was to bike to and visit Seattle after the wedding. I even had my Amtrak ticket reserved for both myself and Leonardo.

I spent the afternoon and evening with my parents, Alice, Anna, Stephen, Edward, Margaret and Margaret's parents who were in Victoria through some happy coincidence. Edward just had a birthday (his third) and I had organized Alice and Margo into getting him a bike. Carolin (Margo's sister-in-law) described to me just how touched Edward was to get the bike.

This morning I bid adieu to Margo, Chris and Carolin before zooming South to catch the Coho ferry to Port Angeles. There were a number of people waiting to board who were carrying life jackets. I knew they had been in Victoria for dragon boat races. However, I decided it would be much more fun to tease them about how they didn't trust the ferry! They took the joke with a smile.

From Port Angeles, I rode without incident to a little past the Robin Hill Farm State Park where I noticed my back tire was flat. This is the third or fourth flat that tire has had. My suspicion is that there is something amiss with the tire.

Unlike the last time I was down this way, the weather was bright and sunny. Consequently, there was much more traffic on the Olympic Discovery Trail.

I am now pleasantly drunk in my motel room Sequim.

Addendum

Margo has informed me (see comment below) that Alice had come to the bike-for-Edward idea independently of moi. Great minds thinking alike I guess, not to mention I think I got things mixed up. Anyway, Margo and Chris did do the ground work.