How I Became An Idiot 11/03/2009
And so it begins” As I recall, it was mid June of this past summer. On a strange whim I decided to ride my bike from my home in Truro center to Adrian’s Restaurant where I usually spend most of the spring, summer and fall hours of life. The ride is about a 6 miles straight shot, 35 minutes from door to door. This bike riding continued for a several days, and It felt great getting started in the early morning hours, not much traffic, to deal with except an occasional Pain D’ Avignon delivery truck screaming past me a bit too close for comfort , but heck I always ride with a helmet. I felt super energized arriving at work full of the wind and the early Cape dew on my face, great stress reliever if I say so. It was my favorite son Julian who started talking about an E-mail from “The Idiots “prodding him to join them in Turkey for the remaining part of the epic 10,000 mile bike trip that started in April from far away Russia. “If I don’t get an internship or a real job (as we all know waiting on tables in the family restaurant is never a real job) by the end of the summer I’m going”. How this all translated into me, and not my son joining The Idiots is the real mystery in the story. Perhaps it was in the stars and that’s why I started riding to work this past June, anyway Julian got the internship in DC. and Adrian got an Idea that sometimes one just has to act on what they feel is meant to be, sort of! Ellery’s Mom Susan mentioned that the Idiots were going to ride through northern Spain on The Camino de Santiago and on to the finish line in Porto. I got really excited when she mentioned this. Two years ago the not yet Idiots and Nate walked the very same Camino, I so wanted to join them. But being the responsible and reasonable person that I am it was no contest. I was to teach in Cambridge that fall, and that was the extent of my Camino that year. But this time was different. Why not join The Idiots! I can do this heck, I’m already riding 6 miles a day and I’m only 53, 54 by the time I meet up with Ellery and Levi in Saint Jean Pied de Port France in December. And besides ,The Camino is Religious Pilgrimage what about all those years in Catholic school, surly that has to be worth some special connection or indulgence. “ And so it begins”
