D minus 18 - Hither and Yon

This has been a very good week for weight loss.....I'll leave it at that, except there is an outside chance I may be reporting a weight on Saturday that is very, very close to my interim goal, if not at my goal.....it looks like my body has skipped past the plateau it was hovering around for a couple of weeks. 

I knew Wednesday would be a very full day, but I had no idea it would not slow down until almost 6 pm.  There were still a dozen bike parts to box up, so I got to it before 9 am.  I also learned something new about eBay.....if you print shipping labels (includes postage) using eBay you get as much as a $1.00 discount on the Medium Flat Rate Box postage....wow, who knew?  In order to take full advantage of the postage discount I need to obtain a small postal scale so I can weigh those items not going in flat rate boxes, but are going Priority Mail....then I will get the discount on them also.....but I have to know the weight.

Around 11 am I took all the flat rate boxes I had pre-paid postage on over to the local USPS and upon return TLE helped load the rest of the boxes in the VW around 11:30.  We decided to take them into the Rancho Cucmamonga USPS since I needed to stop by my son's office to pick up a few packages....4 to be exact......1) a new front tire for my bike, 2) two new tires for the tandem, 3) the receiver hitch riser, and 4) my new Samsung Note 3 phone.  

We stopped off at Subway to have lunch, then a trip into Costco to order our new eye glasses.  I got the progressive lenses again, and added transitional to them.....the lenses will darken when exposed to sunlight.  We should have them back in 10 days, or so.

Then it was up to Chris' office to gather the packages.....while TLE sorted through some more stuff in the warehouse I drove my packages across the street to the USPS to use the automated postal machine.....I love this particular USPS because they have four of these machines, plus people on staff whose whole purpose is to tutor people in how to use the machines.  I wish every USPS had these machines, and people showing you how to use them.  I was done in about 30 minutes.

From there we headed up to the LBS (local bike shop) to pick up a frame box, and wheelset box......I think this is the first time I have not been able to come up with a box a this store.....Rich said if I had been there 2 hours earlier I could have had my pick, but several people came in looking for boxes, and got them.  Rich will set aside two boxes on Thursday for me.  Nevertheless, I needed to ship the Trek Fuel 98 frame out Wednesday as I had promised the buyer I would, so we headed over to another bike shop I used to frequent quite a bit when we lived in Ontario, and was able to score at least a frame box.  

By this time it was after 3 pm, and I needed to have the frame box over to the local FedEx office before 5 to be sure it went out Wednesday.  We hurried home and I went straight to packing the Trek frame.  I finished around 4 and loaded the box into the Beetle then headed off with TLE to the FedEx/Kinkos over on Magnolia.....while I processed the box, TLE went into Ralphs for some grocery items, then we both headed over to Trader Joe's for a wine run.  We're already mapping out Trader Joe's on, or near our planned travel route the next few months......we have gotten so spoiled having a TJ's just a few miles away.

As we drove up Magnolia I noticed the local Goodwill and suggested we stop in to browse for a few minutes.......I came away with 3 sports shirts I will use for riding....you know, those kind that have the "coolwick" material.....they are really great for exercising, and I do have room for them.  TLE found a nice pair of capri style pants.  By the time we got in the car the sun had set.   

We arrived back home just before 6 pm, and for the first time in weeks had to enter the gate code to get back in the park.  I'm sure you noticed one important thing missing from my description of Wednesday......no bike ride.....there just was not enough time.  As a substitute TLE and I took off on a brisk, fast paced 1.6 mile walk around the walking path here in the park about 7:15.....had to give dinner a chance to digest first.

It was a very full, busy day, and I am sure many of the remaining days here in RJRP will be the same as we complete tasks that must be done before we leave....our eye glasses were one of those things to do.

I also have another bike (owned by one of the camp hosts, Mike) to resurrect from disuse, and it will be a lot of fun to take it apart and put it back together again so it can be enjoyed.  My friend, Carmello, came to pick up his bike a couple of days ago, and is going to start riding it, plus he promised to keep it in doors, and not out in the weather.  Apparently a number of people here in the park, and readers of the blog have been inspired by my riding and Subway sandwich consumption.....there is a lot more bike riding going on, plus a couple have actually bought bikes to ride.

Thanks for stopping by!