This is the 27th of June, and Carol & I have been running the bikers' chuck-wagon for nine days, crossing our home state of Montana and the first 100-odd miles of North Dakota.
We'll be replaced later today by the Graysons (Parker's folks), and be on Northwest Airlines (a/k/a The Night Train to Sverdlosk) at 5 AM tomorrow, heading back to Boston.
Details of the trip to date are recounted below, and nothing of great consequence can be added by us. I am compelled to mention, however, that these bikers are feeding machines, taking in somewhere between six and eight thousand calories per person per day, much of it in the form of quick energy-producing simple carbohydrates: That's French for "junk food."
Early on, I advised 'em that if they were gonna eat crap, it needed to be the very best crap available, and thus the continuous quest for the ultimate maple stick (still eluding them), the penultimate hamburger (found and devoured) and the incomparable confections--Big Hunks and Pearson Nut Rolls (acquired in bulk and gobbled by the fistful).
On a mildly serious note, we have been parents for over 37 years, Brendon being the baby of the family. All of our children have had the great good fortune to meet and bond with very high quality peers, establishing marvelous friendships that carry on into adulthood.
Although Brendon had to temporarily break away from these friends to row at Nationals, we feel completely at ease in his absence. These kids are relentlessly cheerful, unfailingly polite and helpful, intellectually agile and tough as nails.
It's been a pleasure for both of us to have been associated with this contemporary "Voyage of Discovery," and we wish the cyclists a safe and smooth ride to the Atlantic!
by Howard Stoner
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