{"id":1386,"date":"2021-10-26T15:40:56","date_gmt":"2021-10-26T19:40:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/acrossthemapwithmatt.com\/?p=1386"},"modified":"2021-10-26T18:04:11","modified_gmt":"2021-10-26T22:04:11","slug":"family-and-friends","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/acrossthemapwithmatt.com\/?p=1386","title":{"rendered":"Family and Friends"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

On Friday I got back to my Mom and Dad’s house. I’m planning on leaving Wednesday to continue heading south. Between then and now, I have quite a bit of maintenance to do on my bicycle and gear. I also want to visit friends and family. Today is Sunday already! I spent the morning working on my bike and then in the afternoon we all went out for dinner at one of my favorite Mexican restaurants. Montezumas!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Me Uncle Bill Aunt Teresa Mom Dad Aunt Lou the baker<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In a previous post I believe I mentioned my rear hub broke. The company mailed a new one out immediately and it was at the house before I even got back from Swains Lock. It wasn’t a huge deal as I had a couple others in my parts bin. But none as pretty and shiny. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Some people collect watches I collect bike parts. Haha<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Im im very glad they did because the Velo Orange touring hub is pretty unique. The cassette (gear cluster) can be removed without tools. The reason thats important is if you break a spoke on the rear wheel drive side it’s a whole lot easier to change. And that is where 90% of spokes break.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The new hub!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As much as I enjoy seeing every body I’m pretty anxious to be back on the road headed south. I can’t help but feel winter is closing in on me. I have been fortunate with the weather so far. Except for the 5 days of rain up north, It has been perfect fall weather since I left Maine almost a month ago. Autumn has always been my favorite time of year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I wrote all the above on Sunday. Today is actually Tuesday now. My blog was down for a couple days due to an increase in traffic. I had 21,000 visitors on Sunday! It was awesome. I would like to think it was because I’m a spectacular writer and revealed the answer to the ultimate question of life and the universe. It’s not though and besides I think most everyone already knows the answer to that is 42*. No, the truth is on the trestle trail in Rhode Island I met a young couple who I thought were out for an afternoon walk. From their photography equipment I assumed they were taking pictures of the fall colors. Weeks later on Sunday morning my phone started going crazy. I had no idea what was going on. Many of the readers left comments along the lines of Kara and Nate sent me to your site. I racked my brain trying to think of who they were. Sadly our encounter was so brief I had not asked their names or even took there picture for my blog. Finally one comment said they saw me on Kara and Nates YouTube Channel. My phone was still blowing up so we had to use Dad’s phone to check out there vlogs. They are really cool people and great adventurers. The day I met them they were attempting to walk across Rhode Island in one day! That probably explains our short conversation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(* 42 refers to the book Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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