A day of transport
Oct. 7th, 2022 04:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
garoteAndrew got up earlier than me and went out to buy a tool cart, which he brought back and stacked all of his tools in. The rest he packed into a suitcase.
The tool cart was heavy and a bit awkward, so he asked the Vrbo landlord if he could store it in the basement for the next few days even though we had to check out in a few hours. Once the car was running he could return and fetch it. The owner agreed. A few hours later we set off, just as our time expired at the rental, riding our bicycles with Andrew pulling the suitcase on its little wheels behind him. It looked janky and suspicious as hell but it was effective, as long as the pavement stayed flat.
The cleanup chores at the rental had delayed us too long, and we missed the train by only one minute. We watched it pull up, and realized we were caught on the wrong side of it and couldn't board.
As the train disappeared from view we stood around making a new plan. Our destination was an AirBnB much closer to the lot where the Porsche was being stored, quite a few miles past the last train stop at Kingston. The most straightforward and low-cost way to get all the gear there in time was to rent a U-Haul truck on a "local use" contract for the afternoon, drive everything over - including the tool cart from the basement - and then return the truck to Stoughton afterward. A one-way box truck would cost twice as much, and a one-way Lyft rental in a vehicle large enough to carry our bikes would be more expensive than the box truck and require a very long wait in our current location. Using our phones we found a truck for rent two miles down the road at a random gas station on the edge of town.
Andrew reserved the truck and rode to the gas station. Meanwhile I rode back to the Vrbo, dragging the suitcase. About 45 minutes later Andrew arrived with the truck and I loaded my bike and backpack while he extracted the tool cart from the basement and divided it between the cab of the truck and the rear, so we wouldn't lose anything on the windy highway. We set out in the truck and both remarked at how fast the highway speed seemed relative to the bicycle travel we'd been doing for the last week.
We got to the next rental after about an hour, and moved the cart and the suitcase inside. I emptied most of the ballast out of my backpack. Then we drove to the auto shop, and Andrew removed his bicycle. I left him there to deal with the paperwork and take possession of his car, and drove the truck back to the gas station in Stoughton, filling up the tank. I checked the vehicle back in, hauled my bike out of the back, and rode to the train station. All this wacky transport misadventure had cost time. It was already 4:00pm.
I rode the train up to Boston South Station and decided to hang around the city, since I couldn't be much use down in Kingston. I found a glass-walled cafe in the downtown area and opened the laptop. It felt good to wrap up some work-related stuff, and the greek salad and avocado toast were delicious! Is it a workday or a vacation day? The line has been very blurry this last week, and now the line is entirely erased.
I rode back to the train station with plenty of time, thinking about Andrew's bike accident the previous night. I didn't want to hurry. The train was late anyway, so I spent over an hour at the platform, leaning on the bike and listening to an audiobook.
The train compartment was stuffy and a bit cramped. The Kingston station was a welcome sight. I set out on the bike under a full moon bracketed by racing clouds.
Plymouth felt very similar to Santa Cruz. A richer satellite city of a much larger one, like Santa Cruz is to San Francisco, with a coastal vibe. I glanced into the restaurants down by the waterfront and found they were all filled with middle-aged patrons drinking and yelling away over too-loud music. Not my scene. I rode up to the main street and found a takeaway shop serving Chinese food, and grabbed a little bag of that. I lingered there a while to poke at my script code, then set out for the AirBnB.
The moon was out and even higher in the sky, and people had spooky decorations around their houses and yards. I took some delightful pictures, and eventually got on the phone with Rachel. We chatted happily for about an hour as I arrived at the AirBnB and settled in to eat my food. She read me two poems, one freeform translated work invoking birds and blowing leaves that was very appropriate for the setting, and another shorter one about skepticism. I read her the George Bilgere poem about the bear, and it brought her to tears. We chatted about my parents for a while.
Then she went back to her dressmaking and I went back to my food, listening to the audiobook "Why We Sleep".
Me: "Fun fact: Elephants require only 4 to 5 hours of sleep a day. Lions and and tigers on the other hand sleep for about 15 hours each day. The brown bat is the most sleep-hungry of all mammals. It sleeps for 19 hours every day."
Matt: "What needs the least? Other than front-end web developers, I mean."
Me: "There is some debate, but presently the best contender is the wild elephant, which sleeps 3-4 hours less than its zoo-bound equivalent. Just 2-3 hours a day. It's hard to pin down because they go for irregular runs of days with just 2 hours in apparent sleep, then get like 5 hours in one day."
The tool cart was heavy and a bit awkward, so he asked the Vrbo landlord if he could store it in the basement for the next few days even though we had to check out in a few hours. Once the car was running he could return and fetch it. The owner agreed. A few hours later we set off, just as our time expired at the rental, riding our bicycles with Andrew pulling the suitcase on its little wheels behind him. It looked janky and suspicious as hell but it was effective, as long as the pavement stayed flat.
The cleanup chores at the rental had delayed us too long, and we missed the train by only one minute. We watched it pull up, and realized we were caught on the wrong side of it and couldn't board.
As the train disappeared from view we stood around making a new plan. Our destination was an AirBnB much closer to the lot where the Porsche was being stored, quite a few miles past the last train stop at Kingston. The most straightforward and low-cost way to get all the gear there in time was to rent a U-Haul truck on a "local use" contract for the afternoon, drive everything over - including the tool cart from the basement - and then return the truck to Stoughton afterward. A one-way box truck would cost twice as much, and a one-way Lyft rental in a vehicle large enough to carry our bikes would be more expensive than the box truck and require a very long wait in our current location. Using our phones we found a truck for rent two miles down the road at a random gas station on the edge of town.
Andrew reserved the truck and rode to the gas station. Meanwhile I rode back to the Vrbo, dragging the suitcase. About 45 minutes later Andrew arrived with the truck and I loaded my bike and backpack while he extracted the tool cart from the basement and divided it between the cab of the truck and the rear, so we wouldn't lose anything on the windy highway. We set out in the truck and both remarked at how fast the highway speed seemed relative to the bicycle travel we'd been doing for the last week.
We got to the next rental after about an hour, and moved the cart and the suitcase inside. I emptied most of the ballast out of my backpack. Then we drove to the auto shop, and Andrew removed his bicycle. I left him there to deal with the paperwork and take possession of his car, and drove the truck back to the gas station in Stoughton, filling up the tank. I checked the vehicle back in, hauled my bike out of the back, and rode to the train station. All this wacky transport misadventure had cost time. It was already 4:00pm.
I rode the train up to Boston South Station and decided to hang around the city, since I couldn't be much use down in Kingston. I found a glass-walled cafe in the downtown area and opened the laptop. It felt good to wrap up some work-related stuff, and the greek salad and avocado toast were delicious! Is it a workday or a vacation day? The line has been very blurry this last week, and now the line is entirely erased.
I rode back to the train station with plenty of time, thinking about Andrew's bike accident the previous night. I didn't want to hurry. The train was late anyway, so I spent over an hour at the platform, leaning on the bike and listening to an audiobook.
The train compartment was stuffy and a bit cramped. The Kingston station was a welcome sight. I set out on the bike under a full moon bracketed by racing clouds.
Plymouth felt very similar to Santa Cruz. A richer satellite city of a much larger one, like Santa Cruz is to San Francisco, with a coastal vibe. I glanced into the restaurants down by the waterfront and found they were all filled with middle-aged patrons drinking and yelling away over too-loud music. Not my scene. I rode up to the main street and found a takeaway shop serving Chinese food, and grabbed a little bag of that. I lingered there a while to poke at my script code, then set out for the AirBnB.
The moon was out and even higher in the sky, and people had spooky decorations around their houses and yards. I took some delightful pictures, and eventually got on the phone with Rachel. We chatted happily for about an hour as I arrived at the AirBnB and settled in to eat my food. She read me two poems, one freeform translated work invoking birds and blowing leaves that was very appropriate for the setting, and another shorter one about skepticism. I read her the George Bilgere poem about the bear, and it brought her to tears. We chatted about my parents for a while.
Then she went back to her dressmaking and I went back to my food, listening to the audiobook "Why We Sleep".
Me: "Fun fact: Elephants require only 4 to 5 hours of sleep a day. Lions and and tigers on the other hand sleep for about 15 hours each day. The brown bat is the most sleep-hungry of all mammals. It sleeps for 19 hours every day."
Matt: "What needs the least? Other than front-end web developers, I mean."
Me: "There is some debate, but presently the best contender is the wild elephant, which sleeps 3-4 hours less than its zoo-bound equivalent. Just 2-3 hours a day. It's hard to pin down because they go for irregular runs of days with just 2 hours in apparent sleep, then get like 5 hours in one day."
