Quick Update

Well, I headed out of DC on New York Avenue, which was fine for a while. Eventually there were fewer and fewer cross streets and more on- and off-ramps. It wasn't labeled as an interstate and I never saw any signs saying I shouldn't be there, but I kind of figured it wasn't a place I was supposed to be. I was making good time until I caught up to a police officer that had a car pulled over. He told me I wasn't supposed to be on that road. He seemed a bit puzzled about how I had made it that far from DC without getting pulled over, but just told me to take the next exit. I meandered around until I arrived at the bay bridge to wait for my ride across it. I knew good and well that the bay bridge was not a place I wanted to be riding my bicycle. My friend's father was on his way to DC that morning, so he gave me a ride across he bridge. It wasn't too much further to get to the Maryland/Delaware border. I stopped to take my picture by the Maryland sign as I entered Delaware because I don't recall seeing a sign welcoming me to Maryland out of DC. The road I was on, however, did not have a sign welcoming me to Delaware. I'll have to catch that one on my way out of this state as well.

My next destination is the Akron, PA, area to visit the MDS headquarters. The problem is that we are in a holiday weekend, so they're not in the office until Tuesday. Now I'm trying to figure out what to do with myself between now and then. Yesterday I went to the beach. Today I'm watching Germany walk all over Argentina in the quarterfinals of the world cup and will meet a friend for lunch. It's one very long day or two shorter days to get from Greenwood, DE, to Akron, PA, so I might leave tomorrow (Sunday) and split the ride, or I could leave really early Monday and knock it all out in one day. I'm getting a little bit impatient as I sit here and fall further behind in m bike trip. I took two days off in Harrisonburg, three days off in DC, and already two more here in Delaware. That's 7 of the last 9 days off the bike. I know I can catch up from this, but it's still a little stressful.

On a very different note, when I arrived in Delaware and turned on my phone, I received a voicemail from my former employer, the Dean of Students at Hesston College. He informed me that Jason Marner, one of the Resident Assistants that I worked with during my first year working at Hesston College, had died that morning in a motorcycle accident. He has been living in Harrisonburg, VA, lately, but he was not in town when I came through. As I look at the task ahead of me and the miles that I need to cover, I am also exploring options of attending the funeral service in Iowa. I don't know if it is possible for me to attend.